Throwback Thursday and Janet Collins
Before Misty Copeland, before Lauren Anderson and other black
ballerinas, there was Janet Collins. She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on
March 7, 1917. At age five, her family moved to Los Angeles where she began her
dance studies with Lester Horton and Adolph Bolm – two teachers that would
accept a black student.
At age fifteen, she auditioned for Leonid Massine, ballet
master of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and he offered her a position with
the company. But when she was told she would have to use white make-up on her
face and body in order to perform, she chose not to join the company. Instead,
she headed to New York and in 1951 became the first black ballerina in the
Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company.
She also performed on Broadway and won the Donaldson Award
for best dancer on Broadway for her role in Cole Porter’s Out of This World. She continued to dance into her late forties, until
she retired from performing in 1955. It was the same year Arthur Mitchell http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2014/01/throwback-thursday-and-arthur-mitchell.html
was hired by the New York City Ballet. She went on to teach at The School of
American Ballet and at Manhattanville College.
Later, she joined a Benedictine order as an oblate and also
became an accomplished painter. Janet Collins died in 2003 in Fort Worth,
Texas. She was 86.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Dance History Factoid #104:
“Janet Collins was
an early black ballerina who helped pave the way for those who followed.”
Link of the Day:
Quote
of the Day:
“You may
encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be
necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can
rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
― Maya Angelou
― Maya Angelou
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