The Dance Theatre of Harlem will go just about anywhere.
The predominantly black, neoclassical ballet company was the first American troupe to perform in the former Soviet Union as part of a cultural exchange program. It was also the first ensemble from the United States to bring a show to South Africa after a 30-year cultural ban was lifted.
Now, embarking on a six-month, worldwide tour, the critically acclaimed dance company will bring its unique blend of dance traditions to Popejoy Hall this weekend. The program includes three ballets, "Return," "South African Suite" and "Firebird," all of which are based on different dance principles.
"Our eclecticism is our strength, not a weakness," ballet master Keith Saunders said. "We take the best from different disciplines and traditions, giving us a deeper well from which to pull."
"Return," he said, takes the company's base training in ballet and combines it with street and social dance, creating what he called a "post-modern, urban" work choreographed to songs by James Brown and Aretha Franklin. "Firebird," is a traditional Russian folktale in a new context that gives the ballet "a more universal setting," Saunders said.
The inspiration for a "South African Suite" came during the company's tour in South Africa in 1992. After a performance in Johannesburg for an audience that included Nelson Mandela, one of the school's founders, Arthur Mitchell, attended a reception where the Soweto String Quartet was performing. The group of African musicians played a melody that haunted Mitchell, and because of this, the suite came into being, Saunders said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Saunders has been working with the Dance Theatre of Harlem School since 1975, when he began dancing under Mitchell. According to the school's Web site, Mitchell founded the school along with Karel Shoo as a "personal commitment to the people of Harlem following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."
Still, Saunders insists that the school's goal is not necessarily a political one.
"There is no political bent," he said. "We're artists. As artists, we feel that we can perhaps go where politicians might fear to tread. Our statement is an artistic one."
Saunders said the dancers in the school's professional company come from all over the world, but the school's students are predominantly African American. Still, Saunders is quick to note the Dance Theatre of Harlem is not the first to use black dancers in neoclassical ballet.
"It's certainly not a new thing," he said. "We are the first firmly established African American company, but as far back as the '30s and '40s, there were efforts to give an opportunity and venue for African American dancers to perform. We were the first with the ability to sustain."
Saunders said the school was founded on a three-tiered platform and its goals remain the same - to be artistically excellent, socially aware and educationally active in the community.
"What we have done, and continue to do, is demonstrate palpably that given the opportunity, any child, any person, can succeed in any activity that they want to do," he said.
