#janet collins

[abwwia]

Janet Collins photographed by Maya Deren, c. 1940s

Janet Collins, OblSB (Mar 7, 1917 – May 28, 2003) was an African American prima ballerina, choreographer, and teacher. She performed on Broadway, in films, and appeared frequently on television.She was among the pioneers of black ballet dancing, one of the few classically trained Black dancers of her generation.via W

Maya Deren (1917-1961) was a Ukrainian-born American experimental filmmaker and queen of avant-garde films. #PalianSHOW

[cartermagazine]

Today In History

Janet Collins broke color barriers in the 1950s when she became the first African American prima ballerina and one of the very few prominent black women in American classical ballet.

Collins was born in New Orleans, LA, on this date March 7, 1917, and today we are honored to share a glimpse into the life of a crucial figure in ballet history.

Ms. Collins made her debut as the leading dancer in the Met’s production of “Aïda.” She went on to become the first African American prima ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera. Ms. Collins was also a member of SAB’s guest faculty, teaching modern dance classes at the School from 1949-1950 and then again from 1967-1969.

“Everything was clear. But the speed with which Janet Collins moved was unbelievable,” said Arthur Mitchell an American dancer, choreographer, and director who was the first African American to become a principal dancer with a major ballet troupe, New York City Ballet. He later cofounded the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

“There was a wonderful feeling of flight all the time, but not flight to get away, flight to move. And she really reveled in the movement, she reveled in the movement. And as Balanchine said, ‘a dance is movement through time and space.’ She was the embodiment of that when she danced.”

CARTER™️ Magazine

[margotfonteyns]

Janet Collins in costumes of her own design for "Romanza" and "Rondo" from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, dances choreographed by Collins to the music of Mozart and first performed at a solo concert at Las Palmas Theater, Los Angeles, November 3, 1947.

"The pianist played the first movement—Allegro—I danced the Romanza—the pianist played the Minuet movement—and I danced the final movement—Rondo. Romanza was feminine and Rondo masculine."

[kiki-de-la-petite-flaque]

Janet Collins was an African American ballet dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She performed on Broadway, in films, and appeared frequently on television.

She was among the pioneers of black ballet dancing, one of the few classically trained Black dancers of her generation.

[swanlake1998]

janet collins and the rest of the artists photographed by w. eugene smith

[milkandheavysugar]

Janet Collins (1917-2003), prima ballerina of the Metropolitan Opera House in the early 1950's and one of a very few black women to become prominent in American classical ballet,

Ms. Collins taught dance, choreographed, performed on Broadway and in film and appeared frequently on television. But she was best known as the exquisitely beautiful dancer who was the first black artist to perform at the Metropolitan, four years before Marian Anderson sang there.[X]

[blackchildrensbooksandauthors]

Black History Picture Books

Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins

Janet Collins wanted to be a ballerina in the 1930s and 40s, a time when racial segregation was widespread in the United States. Janet pursued dance with a passion, despite being rejected from discriminatory dance schools. When she was accepted into the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as a teenager on the condition that she paint her skin white for performances, Janet refused. She continued to go after her dreams, never compromising her values along the way.

Michelle Meadows | Ebony Glenn | Henry Holt and Co. BYR, 2019

Get It Here 👉🏿 Amazon | IndieBound

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[historybizarre]

The History of African-American Casting in Ballet | JSTOR Daily

Ballet has been slow to accept African-American dancers in major companies, and those who make it tend to be offered limited roles.

In a review of Collins’s biography, Night’s Dancer, Debra Cash writes, “Some barrier breakers are battering rams. Others are butterflies.” Collins, she suggests, was the latter. According to Cash, Leonide Massine, director of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, told Collins in an audition when she was fifteen that she would have to perform in whiteface if she joined the company. Collins declined and then “went outside and cried her heart out.” After her experience auditioning for the company, she found many directors were hesitant to allow a black ballerina on stage.