| Other author/creator | Mitchell, Arthur, 1934-2018, interviewee. |
| Other author/creator | Richardson, Julieanna L., interviewer. |
| Other author/creator | Stearns, Scott, director of photography. |
| Other author/creator | HistoryMakers (Video oral history collection), production company. |
| Variant title |
History Makers video oral history with Arthur Mitchell |
| Portion of title |
Arthur Mitchell |
| Abstract |
Dancer, choreographer and artistic director Arthur Mitchell was born on March 27, 1934 in Harlem, New York. After graduating from the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan in 1952, he received scholarships to the Dunham School and School of American Ballet. He danced in Broadway's House of Flowers, and became the first African American permanent member of a major ballet company, the New York City Ballet (NYCB) when he performed in Western Symphony in 1955. George Balanchine choreographed Agon pas de deux, the first interracial duet in American ballet, for Mitchell and Diana Adams in 1957. Mitchell performed in numerous NYCB productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream and Bugaku. In 1969, Mitchell and Karel Shook co-founded Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), the first black classical ballet company, producing well-received ballets such as Dougla, The Firebird, and Creole Giselle. In 2015, Columbia University acquired Mitchell's archives, its first major dance collection. |
| Credits | Videographer, Scott Stearns. |
| Performer |
Julieanna L. Richardson, interviewer. |
| Date/time/place of a event note | Recorded New York, New York 2016 October 5. |
| Source of description | Vendor-supplied metadata. |
| Genre/form | Internet videos. |
| Genre/form | Interviews. |
| Genre/form | Nonfiction films. |
| Genre/form | Oral histories. |
| Genre/form | Oral histories. |
| Genre/form | Internet videos. |
| Genre/form | Nonfiction films. |
| Stock number | A2016.034 HistoryMakers |
