The Swans of Harlem
Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History
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4.6 • 19 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NOTABLE BOOK • Longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography • The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood, a legacy erased from history—until now.
“This is the kind of history I wish I learned as a child dreaming of the stage!” —Misty Copeland, author of Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy
“Utterly absorbing, flawlessly-researched…Vibrant, propulsive, and inspiring, The Swans of Harlem is a richly drawn portrait of five courageous women whose contributions have been silenced for too long!” —Tia Williams, author of A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarca was a Black prima ballerina with a major international dance company—the Dance Theatre of Harlem, a troupe of women and men who became each other’s chosen family. She was the first Black company ballerina on the cover of Dance magazine, an Essence cover star; she was cast in The Wiz and in a Bob Fosse production on Broadway. She performed in some of ballet’s most iconic works with other trailblazing ballerinas, including the young women who became her closest friends—founding Dance Theatre of Harlem members Gayle McKinney-Griffith and Sheila Rohan, as well as first-generation dancers Karlya Shelton and Marcia Sells.
These Swans of Harlem performed for the Queen of England, Mick Jagger, and Stevie Wonder, on the same bill as Josephine Baker, at the White House, and beyond. But decades later there was almost no record of their groundbreaking history to be found. Out of a sisterhood that had grown even deeper with the years, these Swans joined forces again—to share their story with the world.
Captivating, rich in vivid detail and character, and steeped in the glamour and grit of professional ballet, The Swans of Harlem is a riveting account of five extraordinarily accomplished women, a celebration of both their historic careers and the sustaining, grounding power of female friendship, and a window into the robust history of Black ballet, hidden for too long.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Misty Copeland made history when she became the first Black principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre in 2015—but there was curiously little mention of the prestigious Black ballerinas who’d come before her. Journalist Karen Valby corrects that erasure with this biography of the five key dancers who blazed a trail in the world of classical dance with the mid-20th-century troupe Dance Theatre of Harlem. We were floored by what we learned about Lydia Abarca, Gayle McKinney-Griffith, Sheila Rohan, Karlya Shelton, and Marcia Sells. Like how McKinney-Griffith was the only Black dancer in Juilliard’s ballet program when she landed her spot with DTH, and that Rohan’s epic achievements in dance came after a debilitating childhood bout with polio. These women performed for presidents and royalty and earned praise from the classical dance elite, all while dancing (and living) up to the troupe’s almost impossibly high standards. No history of ballet is complete without The Swans of Harlem.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Vanity Fair contributor Valby (Welcome to Utopia) paints a vibrant portrait of the "first permanent Black professional ballet company" in the U.S and the five trailblazing dancers who put it on the map. Originated in 1968 by George Balanchine protégé Arthur Mitchell, the Dance Theatre of Harlem featured "founding" ballerinas Lydia Abarca, Mitchell's "prized" dancer who later landed on the covers of Essence and Dance magazines; Sheila Rohan, who performed while running a household and raising three children; Juillard-trained Gayle McKinney-Grffith, who served as the company's "ballet mistress" and later taught choreography for the 1978 film The Wiz; Marcia Sells, who joined the company at just 16; and Karlya Shelton, who stepped in with little notice to star in the 1978 production of Serenade. The company shattered artistic boundaries even as it strained under financial pressures, the whims of the brilliant yet tyrannical Mitchell, and an old guard media that favored more renowned—and more white—troupes. Valby meticulously untangles the prejudices woven into the dance world and analyzes the politics of establishing a Black ballet company amid a period of backlash to the civil rights movement ("Let the gorgeous lines of his dancers' bodies serve as fists in the air," she writes of Mitchell's mission). In the process, Valby successfully counters the perception that Misty Copeland was the "first" Black American ballerina. The result is a captivating corrective to an often-whitewashed history.
Customer Reviews
A tell all story of the Dance Theater of Harlem and the dancers of this dynamic and talented group
My book club decided to read this and I’m glad we did. It’s like I was living in a parallel universe. Dance Theater of Harlem started when I was living away from NYC so I didn’t know they existed. I had never heard of Lydia Abarca or any of the extremely talented black women who were the stars of that company. But after reading this truly amazing and gut wrenching story of theses women, I am very happy to learn about them. Reading this book was like opening a box and finding more and more boxes. Each person’s story is incredible and I am in awe of their talent, ambition, and drive. After learning about each of these remarkable, strong, and talented women I am angry that it took all these years for them to get out their story. These are powerful women who not only were ballet dancers but went on to dominate whatever field in which they worked. One became a lawyer, another a professor, and one went on to be a Dean. Their stories will make you laugh and cry. I now want to scour YouTube to see the rare performances. Excellently written, this book is a must for all who think Misty Copeland was the first black ballerina. Let yourself be introduced to real first black ballerinas.