African American ballerinas discuss their groundbreaking careers

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The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York: Pioneering African American Ballerinas

Aesha Ash, Debra Austin, Virginia Johnson, and Lydia Abarca Mitchell

Thursday, February 27 | 7 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center

Join four pioneering African American ballerinas as they discuss their groundbreaking careers and their paths to national and international stardom. The panel includes: Virginia Johnson, prima ballerina and current director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH); Lydia Abarca, first prima ballerina of DTH; Debra Austin, first ever African American ballerina with New York City Ballet (NYCB) and principal ballerina with the Pennsylvania Ballet; and Aesha Ash, former ballerina with NYCB

 

http://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/events/index.php

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also

Blacks in Ballet: The Shadow World

Theresa Ruth Howard

Thursday, March 19 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center

Join Theresa Ruth Howard for an enlightening lecture documenting the history of Blacks in ballet. A former ballerina, Howard is now a writer, lecturer, and consultant. She is also the founder and curator of Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet (MoBBallet.org), a website filled with the biographies of nearly 500 dancers of color.