Dance Theatre of Harlem: crashing through barriers

Dance Magazine, March, 1997 by Valerie Gladstone

With its outstanding dancers, excellent choreography, and determined efforts in arts education, Dance Theatre of Harlem continues to play a significant role in drawing new audiences to dance. Beginning April 8 at the Kennedy Center, DTH puts all these elements together with its arts program "Dancing Through Barriers" and a one-week engagement, during which it will present world premieres by Robert Garland, the company's new assistant artistic director; South African Vincent Mantsoe; Royston Maldoom; and Choo-San Goh.

Long before outreach programs became commonplace, DTH cofounder Arthur Mitchell inaugurated one of the country's most comprehensive community arts education systems in Harlem. "I established the company in 1968 with three bylaws: artistic, educational, and social," explains Mitchell, who was moved to start DTH by the death of Martin Luther King Jr. "We began in Harlem, where I grew up, because the schools didn't have adequate arts programs. I believe that if you teach a child how to dance, you teach that child how to live."

The sixty-two-year-old former New York City Ballet principal looks as if no time has passed since he made history as the first black star with a major American ballet company. Since leaving NYCB, Mitchell has become a pivotal figure in dance, in part because of his dedication to youth. In 1993, he received a MacArthur "genius grant" and a Kennedy Center Honor for "an extraordinary lifetime of contributions to American culture through the performing arts." Among his fans are England's Queen Mother, Raisa Gorbachev, and Nelson Mandela.

In 1992 DTH started "Dancing Through Barriers" in Washington, D.C., and it now has programs in all of New York City's boroughs, Detroit, Miami, and London, introducing sixty thousand children yearly to the art and discipline of dance. Atlanta, Chicago, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, plan to sign on in the near future, reaching an additional 75,000 to 100,000 young people. For anywhere from four to eight weeks, DTH members work with local schools, colleges, and universities; they give lecture-demonstrations about dance, costumes, lights, and scenery; they teach classes and supervise teacher workshops and hold auditions for further study at DTH's school in Harlem.

Mitchell decided on the program's title when DTH went to South Africa in 1992, two years before Nelson Mandela's election. Apartheid still existed. "I was hesitant about going," says Mitchell, "but Mr. Mandela called me and said that it was very important at that time to show the children there that opportunities to excel did exist." Accompanied by several dancers and teachers, among them the distinguished Frederic Franklin, and some board members. Mitchell went to South Africa. What was supposed to be a three-week visit turned into a six-week sojourn. He made it clear to every political faction that he didn't want any trouble.

I explained that we came to share, not to teach," says Mitchell. Anything else would have been condescending." Whatever the South African students wanted to know, DTH s staff tried to explain, from how to get a visa to how to do a pas de deux in the style of Fokine. They stayed in the townships as well as in the cities. A Washington Post correspondent called DTH "a traveling university." Mitchell realized that they were dancing through barriers. "I don't mean just political barriers," he says. "I mean psychological and social barriers as well."

Mitchell developed his programs for "Dancing Through Barriers" with great care. To begin with, no student can take classes without at least a B average, because he wants to make sure that anyone who takes part is serious. An example of how he gets children involved in the art of dance is his athletes' program in which, among other things, he shows them how a good demi-plie makes a higher jump. In many lecture-demonstrations, he asks students to come up on the stage and do their own kinds of dances. He then breaks them down to their parts and shows how similar the steps are to those of ballet--quite a surprise to many hip-hop dancers.

At the end of each stay in a city, DTH gives a performance at a local theater. This in itself is a tremendous gift to the participants. "Ninety-nine percent of the people in this country have never seen a live theatrical production," says Mitchell, "and they are thrilled simply by the lighting and the women on pointe. Their whole perception of dance changes."

Nora Robinson has been in charge of the Washington, D.C., program from the start. She believes that what makes it work well on many levels is the variety of backgrounds represented. Students come from the prestigious Washington School of Ballet, Maryland Youth Ballet, small community-based schools, and three performing arts magnet schools in D.C. and Maryland. Approximately one-third of the students are white and two-thirds are black. What particularly pleased her about last year's session was the short ballet that Laveen Naidu, director of DTH's School Ensemble, had choreographed for the students in the advanced class. This participation is the kind of experience, Robinson believes, that can change young people's lives--seeing a choreographer in action and having a piece made especially for them.