[TRAFFIC NOISE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Go across the floor.
Look away.
That's better.
No shoulders, no shoulders.
Good.
So it's soft.
1, 2, 3, 1, 2-- like you're hugging
the ground with your legs.
Virginia Johnson, the first African-American prima
ballerina, and was basically told, you're great,
but you're not white.
When I was growing up, we would, like,
sit in a circle and watch, riveted, Virginia Johnson
dancing.
It was such a huge part of my ballet education.
So Chelsea, what was your favorite thing to do?
Was it jumping, turning, Adagio?
Ooh.
Oh, not the Adagio.
[LAUGHTER]
I've always had too much energy.
The idea that you might make it in traditional ballet company
was kind of farfetched.
It took a lot of inner strength.
It took a lot of what we call gutsiness.
I mean, you've spent more than 50 years
creating it and proving it and opening doors,
sometimes having to knock him down.
The first time I saw a Black dancer on stage,
and I wanted to be that.
And seeing someone that looks like you,
it just gives you that, like, go-ahead
to be able to achieve your dreams.
How old were you when you saw a Black dancer?
I was five.
I told my mom, I was like, Mom, I want to do that.
And she was like, well, there's the Dance Theater of Harlem.
But in 1969, Arthur Mitchell created the Dance Theater
of Harlem, DTH, right here in New York City, which
at the time was the only venue centered on Black and Brown
dancers.
I've read enough about what Arthur Mitchell and you
and the others who were in on the creation were up against.
And here we are, in this rehearsal space,
and it used to be a garage.
(LAUGHING) Yes.
Some of these students that we're teaching
have never been in a studio.
Oh my.
Oh, wow.
So what is that going to be when they actually come into a room,
and they can move across the floor?
It's going to be amazing.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
OK, here we go.
We were in Brazil last year, and we
went to Poland and Lithuania and all these great places,
you know, being able to see different audiences
and touch different lives.
I did not speak English at all.
Like, I was like--
signs.
But she could dance.
She could dance.
That's the universal language, right?
We're passing it on to show that it is reality for any color,
any race, any background.
Oh, she jumped.
I wanted to soar, but I was trying very hard to not move.
It's the closest thing to flying.
It felt like freedom.
Right?
This is Harlem now.
We are Harlem now.
OK, one more time.
Same thing.
You know, what we've been watching you
practice is from a ballet called Passage.
DTH commissioned the ballet, Passage,
to commemorate the 400th anniversary of 1619,
working with two women of color, choreographer Claudia Schreier,
and composer Jessie Montgomery.
It is depicting people being abducted and thrown
into slaveships.
The ballet is really thinking about what
it was to be on that first ship landing here.
The music is just so exquisite.
It's an augmented string quartet.
So it's a very small orchestration.
It's intimate.
Yes.
Painful, and also uplifting.
Embodying the Middle Passage and what
that meant for our ancestors, you move forward,
and you're reaching up, and there's, like,
a desperation and a hope, and it just really encapsulates
all this human emotions.
Especially at a time when there are
lots of states that don't want us to actually teach children
historically accurate American history.
I grew up in a state like that, so
coming to DTH has been really interesting and wonderful
and deepening for that reason.
It needed to be part of everybody's awareness.
Right.
Because it changes you when you know the history.
Right.
The place you first performed it was Norfolk, Virginia.
That was one of the places where the first slaves were
delivered.
Hampton Roads.
And the people of Virginia wanted
to recognize what had happened.
Sitting in the house that night, I
could feel the excitement turn to, oh, wait,
there's something else happening here,
where you felt everybody just go, oh my god, I actually
get emotional when I think about it.
We all know about the story of slavery,
and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
But it's that remote kind of-- it's a history thing,
but through this work, it became real.
The beautiful thing about Passage
is, it's not a ballet that goes, ugh, bad things happened.
It's a very uplifting ballet.
You go on a journey and passage.
It gives you an opportunity to experience
a sense of loss, of uncertainty, but also hope and possibility.
So you guys like to dance?
Yeah.
Yes?
Are you guys going to come dance with us
at the Dance Theater of Harlem?
You guys are very good.
Thank you.
We want to see your moves now.
Show me what you got.
Yes!
Oh, that was a nice sosay.
Very good.