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Arthur Mitchell, who paved the way for other minority dancers by becoming one of the first black dancers to join a major ballet company...died Sept. 19 at a hospital in New York City.
He was 84.
The cause was renal failure, said a niece, Julie Mills-Ross.
Mr. Mitchell, who described himself as the Jackie Robinson of the ballet world, was hired by choreographer George Balanchine in 1955 to perform with the New York City Ballet and won over audiences and critics with his technical brilliance and charisma.
Still, in an era when segregation was just beginning to crumble, his ascent to the upper echelon of dance met with many obstacles, from instructors who encouraged him to abandon ballet and take up other dance genres to shocked theatergoers who wrote letters expressing outrage about Mr. Mitchell being paired onstage with a white woman....
Read More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/local/obituaries/arthur-mitchell-black-dancer-who-became-jackie-robinson-of-ballet-dies-at-84/2018/09/19/67015ff8-bc25-11e8-b7d2-0773aa1e33da_story.html?noredirect=on
In 1969, he struck out with Karel Shook to form Dance Theatre of Harlem. His mission: Change the perception that black dancers don't belong in ballet...It has been under the direction of Virginia Johnson since 2009, and will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.
In January, we asked Mitchell whether the dance world had caught up to his dreams for it.
He told us, "Name all the companies in America. How many have a leading African-American ballerina? There's only one in a major company, that's Misty Copeland in American Ballet Theatre. There's still work to be done."
Read More: https://www.dancemagazine.com/arthur-mitchell-death-2606289088.html
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