Balanchine and integration

Dance Magazine, July, 2004 by Karen W. Hubbard

I read with interest Clive Barnes' piece on ballet and nationalism (March, "Attitudes," page 114). Mr. Barnes, however, leaves out an interesting historical detail. Balanchine's prophetic vision included a racially integrated school and company. According to Lincoln Kirstein's 1933 letter to A. Everett Austin, Jr., published in I Remember Balanchine (1991, Doubleday), Mr. Balanchine was interested in having "four white girls and four white boys, about sixteen years old, and eight of the same, negros [sic]. They would be firmly taught in the classical idiom, not only from exercises but would start company ballets at once so they could actually learn by doing." [Editor's Note: This historical letter was referenced in January's "Balanchine Through the Eyes of Choreographers Now," page 188.]

So, it's puzzling why today there are still so few black dancers in American ballet companies.

KAREN W. HUBBARD

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

DANCE THEATER DEPARTMENT

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT

CHARLOTTE, NC