Biography

He founded (along with the late Karel Shook) the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969.

He is a dancer and choreographer.

He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1995 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.

When he was hired by choreographer George Balanchine in 1955 to join the New York City Ballet, he was one of the first black dancers in a major American ballet company. He made his debut with the company in 1955 in "Western Symphony"; two years later he was the lead male dancer in "Agon".

He was the oldest of five siblings; their father was a janitor. When he was a teenager, a school guidance counselor saw him do the jitterbug and encouraged him to apply to New York's prestigious High School of Performing Arts. He auditioned with a Fred Astaire-inspired tap routine and was accepted. After he graduated, he turned down a scholarship to Bennington College's respected modern-dance program, and attended the School of American Ballet.

I could wait for others to change things for black Americans. Here I am running around the world doing all these things - why not do them at home? I believe in helping people the best way you can; my way is through art.

I said I would [join the New York City Ballet] with one condition: that there be no publicity that a negro - at that time we used the word 'negro' - was breaking any kind of racial barrier. I wanted to get in the company on my own merits.

When Dance Theatre of Harlem started, there was still a fallacy that black people could not do classical ballet. People said to me, "Arthur, you're the exception." "No," I said, "I had the opportunity."