Dance Theatre of Harlem is bringing its ground-breaking, colourful repertoire to Ireland, writes Christine Madden
When you mention the word "ballet", most people think of swans, dying or otherwise, of nutcrackers and sugar-plum fairies, frilly pink and white costumes, impossible lace-up slippers . . . a remote and posh art form that really has very little connection with the general public.
What they don't think of is a powerful, incandescent physical art that has the potential to override class distinctions and ethnic preconceptions in a prejudiced society on a grand scale. Luckily, these concepts came, famously, to the mind of Arthur Mitchell. He established his company, Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), in 1969 to create equal opportunities for African-Americans in the - financially but by no means creatively - impoverished part of New York where he grew up.
Mitchell struggled against the stuffy aura that surrounds ballet, and which prevented many talented non-white dancers from joining classical companies. Throughout most of the last century, the (mis)conception that black bodies were unsuited to ballet prevailed. Apparently their physique wasn't up to achieving the classical line, and their feet were too flat to achieve a proper relevé. Add to that the fact that the corps de ballet for the classical repertoire traditionally seeks to achieve uniformity and homogeneity (think swans, snowflakes), and less visionary directors steered away from casting anyone who would be, visually, the odd one out.
These explanations fail, of course, to obscure the prejudice against ethnic minorities that barred them from the high-profile mainstream. Fortunately, a visionary company director and choreographer - the legendary George Balanchine - saw through the smoke of bigotry, enabling him in 1955 to include and cast Mitchell as a soloist in the New York City Ballet (NYCB).
Born in 1934, Mitchell possessed a talent that brought him to the attention of both academic and dance schools. Rather than taking the safe route, which would doubtless have placed him prominently in a contemporary dance company, he accepted a scholarship to the NYCB's School of American Ballet, despite the knowledge that he would have to work twice as hard as everyone else. He subsequently came to the attention of Balanchine.
Mitchell's first appearance with the company in 1955 caused a stir, but nothing compared with the culture shock delivered to US audiences in 1957, when Balanchine cast him with Diana Adams in Agon, the final instalment of his collaboration with Stravinsky. To feature an African-American man partnering a white woman in a pas de deux with deliberate sexual undertones created a sensation. People walked out of performances, and Mitchell wasn't allowed to dance that pas de deux on US television until more than 10 years later.
Agon now serves as a staple of DTH's repertoire. As it was "created just for him", explains Lenore Pavlakos, a principal dancer with the company, Mitchell "can coach us firsthand on the way it's supposed to be done".
Pavlakos will perform with the company as it tours Britain and Ireland, appearing in Belfast for the first time as part of the Earthquake Festival of International Dance. The pieces chosen for the tour present an excellent cross-section of DTH's eclectic, colourful repertoire. "We do everything," says Pavlakos. "If we have to put on a tutu and do a Paquita or a Giselle, we can do that, as well as more neo-classical work from the Balanchine-type era, to new creative choreography."
The first programme features edgy examples of contemporary ballet. "We have Dougla," says Pavlakos, "which is more of an African ceremonial-style piece, and Return, which brings pop music - Aretha Franklin and James Brown - together. These pieces show how you can take the different styles of classical ballet and fuse them with funky movement. And then there is the Firebird, that old Russian folktale, which was revamped for the company in the 1980s. It keeps the same story line, but the setting is different, and the costumes - the Firebird doesn't wear the traditional tutu but a puff of feathers in the back, so you see the beautiful line of the ballerina."
The second programme pays homage to Balanchine, who was born 100 years ago. In honour of this, DTH presents Prodigal Son, first performed in 1929 with Diaghilev's Ballet Russes to music by Prokofiev, and Serenade, the first original ballet Balanchine created in the US to music by Tchaikovsky, as well as the groundbreaking Agon.
In the same year as Mitchell danced Agon on television, the assassination of Martin Luther King rocked the already shaky foundations of race relations in the US. Mitchell, who had been travelling back and forth to Brazil, experienced a Pauline change of tack. "He realised on his way to Brazil that he should come back to his hometown, to his roots in Harlem, and form a company there," explains Pavlakos.
Mitchell's school opened in 1969 with two teachers and 30 young students. It soon expanded, charging 50 cents a week for unlimited lessons, tempting boys in as well as girls with the promise of physical prowess. He'd promise them they'd be able to out-jump the six-foot-three guys on the basketball team - all they needed was more plié.
The company that emerged continued to expand and garner acclaim after its first performance on January 8th, 1971. In 1992, they experienced a triumph when they went to South Africa. "It was a monumental time," recounts Pavlakos, "because apartheid was still in effect, and the well-being of the company was in question. But we knew that if we were going over, invited by Mandela, everything would be fine. The tour ended up a success. And we did outreach programmes - we went to the different areas and took on children, and were able to share our form of ballet."
Reaching out successfully on all levels is what DTH primarily hopes to achieve. "Arthur Mitchell always like to view his company as a healing balm," Pavlakos explains, "an opportunity for people to be taken away from the everyday stress of life . . . At ballets such as Return, people just go crazy - they're like: 'Wow, I didn't know ballet could be this beautiful, and this fun!'
"There's this fire on the stage, the energy that the audience starts to exude, and the performers . . . together, there's just this thing that happens, and everybody goes away fulfilled and happy."