Arthur Mitchell

The Founder and Artistic Director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Arthur Mitchell created a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company. Born in Harlem, he graduated from the High School of Performing Arts in New York City in the early 1950s, and won a dance award and a scholarship to study at the School of American Ballet. Mitchell joined the New York City Ballet and quickly rose to the position of premier danseur, and, for the next 15 years, electrified audiences with his performances. Choreographer and director of the NYCB George Balanchine created the pas de deux in “Agon” especially for Mitchell and the white ballerina Diana Adams. Although Mitchell danced this role with white partners throughout the world, he could not perform it on commercial television in the United States before 1965, because states in the South refused to carry it. After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, Mitchell returned to Harlem, where he was determined to provide opportunit