Dance Theatre of Harlem prepares for changes after Sarasota performances

Dance Theatre of Harlem was created in 1969 to provide new opportunities for younger people in Harlem. Even through a series of downturns and pauses, the mission hasn’t changed, as the company prepares for a new burst of creation.

Virginia Johnson, who was among those younger dancers, was a founding member of the company that was launched by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook. At the time, she was studying at the NYU School of the Arts..

“I dreamed of being a ballerina growing up and was told I could never be one because I was Black,” she recalled in a recent Zoom interview. “At Dance Theatre I danced just about everything I wanted to. It was a place that enabled me to fulfill that dream, but also a place that gave me a sense of purpose far beyond my personal career.”

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She enjoyed a nearly 30-year dance career with DTH before retiring and becoming editor in chief of Pointe magazine. But Mitchell reached out in 2009 and asked her to take over as artistic director and help resurrect the company that had been on hiatus for financial reasons since 2004.

Johnson will be with a company of 18 dancers in Sarasota Feb. 24-27 for performances presented by The Sarasota Ballet in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. The eclectic program is meant to demonstrate the company's range and reach.

“When Arthur Mitchell created Dance Theatre of Harlem, he was trying to show what dance could be, who was dancing, who was making the dancers and what we were dancing about,” she said. “When he asked me to come back as artistic director, I completely understood what he was talking about. DTH is a unique company. People think of it as a Black company. I think of it as a company of the future, representative, not just of what you see, but why you see it. We’ve had a glorious past and we want to keep moving forward, something that people in their everyday lives can go to and feel transformed and uplifted.”

Later this year, Johnson will step down as artistic director and turn over the company to choreographer Robert Garland, whose “Higher Ground,” set to the music of Stevie Wonder, is part of the company’s Sarasota program.

“He’s a choreographer. I’m not. I’ve done some choreographic works and I’m fortunate the world has not had to see them,” she said. “Robert has his pulse on the fields of art. We are still somewhat siloed in Black representation, white representation. Robert can span all of that and that’s why he can take Arthur Mitchell’s vision forward.”

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The Sarasota program also features George Balanchine’s “Allegro Brilliante,” which Johnson said is “one of my favorite ballets and it’s great to have it back in the repertoire.”

The program also includes Helen Pickett’s duet “When Love” and William Forsythe’s “Blake Works IV (The Barre Project).” It is a tribute to the importance of the ballet barre and one of several related pieces Forsythe has created for different companies.

While the pandemic created disruptions for many dance companies, Johnson said it also created opportunities for them to “pay attention to what they were and why they were in their local cities. I’m hoping that this idea of relevance, of diversity, of connecting to their broader communities that was a big topic of conversation during the pandemic won’t get lost as shows get back on stage. We have to keep transforming.”

Dance Theatre of Harlem

Presented by The Sarasota Ballet performs Feb. 24-27 in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets start at $35. 941-359-0099; sarasotaballet.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: After reviving Dance Theatre of Harlem, artistic director is retiring