Dance Theatre of Harlem disbands

[Katharine Kanter]

It is most regrettable to have to report here that the Dance Theatre of Harlem, founded in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell as a powerful and positive reaction to the muder of Martin Luther King, has been disbanded this week.

The troupe has forty-four dancers, who have been told to take leave for one year, while attempts are underway to restructure its finances. So far as I understand, leave is unpaid. Everyone in the trade knows what that may mean.

This is a dreadful shame, a crying shame really, and a very sorry reflection on the state of artistic awareness in the United States at this point of time.

Now, here in France, Marseilles seems to be about to bite the dust as well.

One can only hope that these events will serve to strengthen our will to fight like dogs for the classical dance.

[haydn]

Pour les non anglophones, Katharine Kanter vient de nous confirmer une nouvelle que l'on pouvait craindre depuis un certain temps, à savoir le démentèlement du Dance Theater of Harlem, compagnie de ballet qui, depuis l'assassinat de Martin Luther King, s'était beaucoup impliquée dans la lutte contre le racisme aux USA. Il semble que pour ce genre de gens, il n'y ait pas de place dans l'Amérique de M. Bush...

[haydn]

Leur site web est apparemment encore en service, profitez-en.


http://www.dancetheatreofharlem.com/

[Katharine Kanter]

Selon le New York Times de ce jour, l'école de Dance Theatre of Harlem vient de suspendre tout l'enseignement, car ils ont appris la semaine dernière que les compagnies d'assurance ne veulent plus assurer l'école.

Selon le journal,

"On Friday, the troupe announced that it had lost its insurance and would have to close the school - indefinitely, Mr. Naidu said.
It was the first time classes were cancelled. "It's one of those terrible things," Mr. Naidu said in a lobby thronged with pigtailed girls in toe shoes. "A kid comes up to you and asks, 'Are we coming back next week?' And you don't know the answer. How do you explain?"

When Arthur Mitchell, the school's founder and artistic director, learned last week about the loss in liability insurance, he reluctantly decided to shut the school.

"I'm a little in shock because this is the last thing I expected," Mr. Mitchell said, sitting in a conference room with his financial director. He said that contributions to the school and to the company that runs it had plunged by half since the World Trade Center towers fell.

[Mr. Naidu] also encouraged [parents] to call their representatives in Congress, their city council members, the state, the city - anyone who could help."

Jusqu'à ce que des mesures puissent être prises aux USA pour sauver cette école, qui offre aux danseurs noirs la possibilité de recevoir une formation professionnelle de haut niveau, peut-on espérer que certaines des grandes académies européennes prennent quelques uns des meilleurs éléments de l'école de DTH, afin que des carrières ne soient pas perdues ?

Russia, France, Denmark - any ideas ?