E73- The Swan’s of Harlem
The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and the Reclamation of Their Groundbreaking History
By: Karen Valby
The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas, the first principals in the Dance Theatre of Harlem, who traveled the world as highly celebrated stars in their field and whose legacy was erased from history until now.
At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarça was a Black prima ballerina with a major international dance company—the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She was the first Black ballerina on the cover of Dance magazine, an Essence cover star, cast in The Wiz and on Broadway with Bob Fosse. She performed in some of ballet’s most iconic works with her closest friends—founding members of the company, the Swans of Harlem, Gayle McKinney, Sheila Rohan, Marcia Sells, and Karlya Shelton—for the Queen of England and Mick Jagger, with Josephine Baker, at the White House, and beyond.
Some forty years later, when Lydia’s granddaughter wanted to show her own ballet class evidence of her grandmother’s success, she found almost none, but for some yellowing photographs and programs in the family basement. Lydia had struggled for years to reckon with the erasure of her success, as all the Swans had. Still united as sisters in the present, they decided it was time to share their story themselves.
Captivating, rich in vivid detail and character, and steeped in the glamor and grit of professional ballet, The Swans of Harlem is a riveting account of five extraordinarily accomplished women, a celebration of their historic careers, and a window into the robust history of Black ballet, hidden for too long. During Covid, five ballerinas met weekly on Zoom and formed the 152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy Council. Karen Valby joined them and wrote their story
“These five original Dance Theatre of Harlem ballerinas fell in love with an art form that most of America believed was white and should remain so. Upon Arthur Mitchell’s founding of an all-Black company in 1969, they eagerly took their places at the barre and challenged themselves to the utmost. They triumphed. They showed that Blacks could not only excel at classical ballet but could also shape the art in their own vibrant image. Karen Valby weaves their stories together as a choreographer would: the women form an ensemble, yet each gets her own riveting solo. It’s thrilling to watch as they join forces at last and claim their unique place in American ballet’s past, present and future.”—Margo Jefferson
152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy Foundation
The 152nd St. Black Ballet Legacy is an independent non-profit organization created by five trailblazing Black ballerinas. Their professional careers began at the founding of Dance Theatre of Harlem, where their sisterhood was born. They have enjoyed and nurtured their sisterhood for over 50 years and continue to thrive for the sake of preserving our their rich history.
Lydia Abarca Mitchell is a founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and their first prima ballerina. She danced leading roles in George Balanchine’s Agon, Bugaku, Concerto Barocco, Allegro Brillante, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and Swan Lake, Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, Ruth Page’s Carmen and Jose, William Dollar’s Le Combat, and Arthur Mitchell’s Ode to Otis, Holberg Suite, and Biosfera. She was featured on the cover of DanceMagazine, in the movie The Wiz, and on Broadway in Bob Fosse’s Dancin’. It was a stunning career on the world stage.
Author of Welcome to Utopia, and contributor to The New York Times; O, The Oprah Magazine; Glamour; Fast Company; and Entertainment Weekly
Dance Theater of Harlem
The Dance Theater of Harlem was founded in 1969, during the Civil Rights movement by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook.
Elizabeth Howard, Producer and Host of the Short Fuse Podcast
Elizabeth Howard is the producer and host of the Short Fuse Podcast, conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and others whose art reveals our communities through their lens and stirs us to seek change. Her articles r
The Short Fuse Podcast hosted and produced by Elizabeth Howard, are conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and others who have a lens on contemporary thought and stir us to seek change. With their art, their music, their performances, and their vision they lead us through the social and environmental transformations sweeping across the globe.
“Artists are here to disturb the peace.” James Baldwin.
The Short Fuse is distributed through the Arts Fuse, a journal of arts criticism and commentary.
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