The Swans of Harlem

For fans of Hidden Figures and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'The kind of history I wish I learned as a child dreaming of the stage!' MISTY COPELAND'Vibrant, propulsive and inspiring' TIA WILLIAMSHarlem 1969; it's the height of the Civil Rights era and the community is still reeling from the assassination of Martin Luther King. Arthur Mitchell, the first Black principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, takes his protest to the stage and establishes the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Here begins the story of the five extraordinary women at the heart of this book.Both a group biography and a story of a particular time, this is a book about ballet, the enduring allure of ballet for young girls, and about how these pioneers broke into a world that was closed to them and changed ideas of what a classical dancer could be. It is about the heart-breaking impact of the AIDS epidemic which claimed the lives of so many of the male dancers. It's about racism and activism through art. And it's about the eternal glamour of ballet; these swans appeared at the grandest opera houses and theatres, dancing at the White House, and even for the Queen. Their fans included Mick Jagger and they performed alongside the likes of Michael Jackson and Josephine Baker.But most importantly it tells the universal story of female friendship, and in particular how these five young women formed a bond - while experimenting with different ways of dying ballet shoes and tights to match their skin tones - which still endures many decades later.

About the author

Karen Valby is a writer living in Austin, Texas. Her work has appeared in Vanity Fair, where she is a frequent contributor, the New York Times, O Magazine, Glamour, Fast Company, and EW, where she spent fifteen years writing about culture.

Product details

• Authors: Karen Valby
• Publisher: Zaffre Bonnier
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 01.03.2025
• EAN: 9781786582522
• ISBN: 978-1-78658-252-2
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Theatre, ballet; Non-fiction book; Harlem, Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, Human Rights, PERFORMING ARTS / Dance / Classical & Ballet, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Human Rights, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Civil Rights, c 1960 to c 1970, Ballet, Social and cultural history, c 1954 to c 1968 (era of the American Civil Rights Movement), Civil rights & citizenship, Human rights, civil rights, Relating to African American / Black American people