![](\"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/arthur-mitchell-you-must-believe-in-what-youre-doi.jpg\")
\n\t\t Arthur Mitchell as Puck in A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, 1962. Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Collection, Columbia University.<\/small>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\tThroughout his remarkable career, the fiercely determined, intelligent and energetic Arthur Mitchell has become accustomed to being called a trailblazer. \u201cBeing a typical Aries, I like being the first,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing all my life.\u201d<\/u><\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
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\n\t\tThis is true, especially when it comes to the discussion at the forefront of today\u2019s national dialogue about dance: diversity in ballet.\n\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t Arthur Mitchell as Puck in A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, 1962. Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Collection, Columbia University.<\/small>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\tThis weekend, \u201cArthur Mitchell: Harlem\u2019s Ballet Trailblazer,\u201d an exhibition celebrating the accomplishments of New York City Ballet\u2019s first African American principal dancer and co-founder of Dance Theatre of Harlem, opens at Columbia University\u2019s Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery.\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t<\/u> \n\t\tBut, clearly, Mitchell says, there is still work to be done. That\u2019s where young, up-and-coming trailblazers come in.<\/u><\/u><\/u>\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tSharing advice he received from George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein, Mitchell says, \u201cThey said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to take the bull by the horns and do what you have to do. You must believe in what you\u2019re doing and, against all odds, against anyone else\u2019s feeling and vision, you must stick to it. And, eventually, know that the world will catch up with what you\u2019re doing and appreciate it.\u2019 \u201d\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t \n\t\tHas the world caught up with his own dreams and visions?<\/u><\/u><\/u>\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t<\/u> \n\t\tWhile he is no longer director of Dance Theatre of Harlem, Mitchell, now 83, continues blazing trails under the auspices of the Arthur Mitchell Project, which is funded by the Ford Foundation.\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t \n\t\t<\/u> \n\t\tOn view also is dancer Charmaine Hunter\u2019s costume and headpiece designed by Geoffrey Holder for Firebird<\/em> (1982), one of DTH\u2019s signature works. There are posters from DTH\u2019s innumerable tours, photos, performance footage of Mitchell in Agon, Four Temperaments, Midsummer Nights Dream<\/em> and more. The exhibit also has an online component<\/a> that will include a detailed timeline and numerous essays, all open to the public.\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t \n\t\t<\/span> \n\t\t<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n The post Arthur Mitchell: “You Must Believe in What You’re Doing And, Against All Odds\u2026Stick to It.”<\/a> appeared first on Dance Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Throughout his remarkable career, the fiercely determined, intelligent and energetic Arthur Mitchell has become accustomed to being called a trailblazer. \u201cBeing a typical Aries, I like being the first,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing all my life.\u201d This is true, especially when it comes to the discussion at the forefront of today\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":842,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions\/842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t\tBack in 1975, Mitchell told Dance Magazine<\/em>, \u201cWe have to prove that a black ballet school and a black ballet company are the equal of the best of their kind anywhere in the world.\u201d Both his own performing career and the critical response to DTH in the years immediately following its official debut would have been enough for him to say \u201cmission accomplished.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/arthur-mitchell-you-must-believe-in-what-youre-doi-1.jpg\")
\n\t\t Studio outreach class at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, 1970s. Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Collection, Columbia University.<\/small>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\u201cNo,\u201d says Mitchell. \u201cHow many black girls are there now dancing in ballet? Name all the companies in America. How many have a leading African-American ballerina? There\u2019s only one in a major company, that\u2019s Misty Copeland in American Ballet Theatre. There\u2019s still work to be done. There\u2019s got to be more training. There\u2019s got to be teachers who are working in the black communities that are taking into account what these dancers have to face.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/dancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/arthur-mitchell-you-must-believe-in-what-youre-doi-2.jpg\")
\n\t\t Arthur Mitchell shortly after joining the New York City Ballet in 1955. Photo by Carl Van Vechten. Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Collection, Columbia University.<\/small>\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\tThe \u201cHarlem\u2019s Ballet Trailblazer\u201d exhibit features an amazing array of treasures from a life well-lived, including the telegram from Lincoln Kirstein to Mitchell inviting him to join the New York City Ballet and an eight-foot-long DTH puzzle created by Frank Bara in 1991 that chronicles the first two decades of the company\u2019s history with illustrative detail of its artists, heroes and friends.\n\t<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/supplychainstrategynow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/arthur-mitchell-you-must-believe-in-what-youre-doi-3.jpg\")
\n\t\t Dance Theatre of Harlem ballerina Lydia Abarca, 1970s. Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Collection, Columbia University.<\/small>\n\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\u201cThis exhibition pays homage both to Mitchell\u2019s creative magic and to his visionary achievements, revealing to those who never saw him dance his charismatic stage presence and the full scope of his career as an artist,\u201d says curator Lynn Garafola. \u201cAt the same time, it places the Dance Theatre of Harlem, which he co-founded and directed for more than 40 years, at the crossroads of political, artistic and racial change in the United States and beyond.\u201d<\/u><\/u><\/u>\n\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tThe show will run through March 11<\/span>.\n\t<\/p>\n