BHS Day 17: Janet Collins

Hi! For our 3rd Music and Entertainment Spotlight of the month, I wanted to focus on an important figure in a style of dance I don't believe I've featured in BHS before. Ballet is often left off of the list of dances that Blacks have contributed to, but we're still accomplishing firsts there as well so I wanted to include it somewhere. I was a little conflicted about whether to put dancers in the 'Entertainment' or 'Art' categories since I think dance qualifies as both, but I ultimately put it here since you go to see dancers as an entertainment option. Anyway, today's entrant opened the door for more firsts to be created, which Misty Copeland was able to pull off a couple of years ago. Let's get into it!

Name:  Janet Collins, 1917-2003

Profession: Prima ballerina and dance teacher

Why is the Spotlight on her today? For breaking the color barrier in classical ballet and her contributions to the artform

Notables: --was the first Black prima ballerina for the Metropolitan Opera
--was the first Black artist in any capacity to perform at the Metropolitan
--performed as the principal dancer for the first time at the Las Palmas Theater
--got her experience working as a principal dancer from other performances such as Run Little Chillun and The Mikado in Swing
--got the attention of many famed choreographers, including Leonide Massine of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but turned down the opportunity after being told she'd have to paint her skin white for performances
--was awarded the Donaldson Award for Best Broadway Dancer
--was featured along with Katherine Dunham in the 1943 film Stormy Weather
--was honored by famed choreographer Alvin Ailey's American Dance Theater with a tribute celebrating her and Pearl Primus as Black dance pioneers
--was featured in the 1946 film Thrill of Brazil
--went on a tour with Talley Beatty in a nightclub act called Rea and Rico De Gard, which helped keep people from trying to figure out the ethnicity of both dancers, who were light-skinned
--during her time as prima ballerina for the Met, had lead roles in both Aida and Carmen
--was the principal dancer in Cole Porter's production of Out of This World
--was trained by prominent instructors Adolph Bolm, Lester Horton and Carmelita Maracci
--created her own dance troupe, which toured throughout the US and Canada
--taught modern dance at the School of American Ballet, Harkness House and the San Francisco Ballet School after the main part of her career was over, both to aspiring dancers and as rehab for the handicapped

Further reading links:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4


Quotes of the Day: 
"Janet Collins dances with something like the speed of light, seeming to touch the floor only occasionally with affectionate feet, caressing it as if she loved it and, loving, wanted to calm any fears it may have that in her flight she would leave it and never come back."

--Arthur Pollack, describing a Janet Collins performance
"It is so important to not forget the trailblazers. Janet was a beacon during a period of racial segregation in the United States. She led the way in the world of dance and even today its rare to find a female ballerina of color in our major ballet companies. We must never forget that or her." --Roberta Haynes, one of Janet Collins' biographers