Arthur Mitchell, Artist Extraordinaire > Photograph Album
Arthur Mitchell shortly after joining the New York City Ballet, 1955. Photograph by Carl Van Vechten.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Arthur Mitchell at his home on West 78th Street, New York City, late 1960s. Photograph by Sigrid Estrada, New York.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Arthur Mitchell in class, late 1950s. Photograph by Milton Oleaga, New York.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Arthur Mitchell with the composer Gian-Carlo Menotti, founder of the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, at his home in Mount Kisco, New York, late 1950s. Unknown photographer.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia
"Le Tredici Perle del Festival di Spoleto" (The Thirteen Pearls of the Spoleto Festival), with a photograph of Arthur Mitchell and Mary Hinkson rehearsing Donald McKayle's Rainbow 'Round My Soulder in the Piazza del Duomo, Spoleto, Italy, 1960
Reproduced from unidentified Italian clipping.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook, 1970s. Photograph by Kenny Grossman, New York.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Mitchell began studying ballet with Karel Shook in the early 1950s at the Katherine Dunham School in New York. In classes that catered to aspiring African-American professionals, Shook's inspired teaching transformed the young modern dancer into a ballet dancer. Shook became Mitchell's life-long mentor, and in 1969 the two joined forces as co-directors of Dance Theatre of Harlem. A master teacher, Shook was instrumental in developing the company's school and curriculum.
Arthur Mitchell as Puck in Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1962. Unknown photographer.
In her poem "Arthur Mitchell," inspired by his performance as Puck, Marianne Moore wrote: "Slim dragon-fly / too rapid for the eye / to cage, / contagious gem of virtuosity / make visible, mentality. / Your jewels of mobility / reveal / and veil / a peacock-tail."
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia
Arthur Mitchell with Gloria Govrin in the last movement of Balanchine's Western Symphony, 1962. Photograph by Fritz Peyer, Hamburg.
This photograph was probably taken during the New York City Ballet's season at the Hamburgische Staatsoper, September 1-2, 1962.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia
Arthur Mitchell and Allegra Kent rehearsing the Agon pas de deux. Photograph by Fritz Peyer, Hamburg. This image was probably taken during the Stravinsky Festival, Hamburgische Staatsoper, June 24-28, 1962.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia
Arthur Mitchell and Allegra Kent in the Agon pas de deux, Stravinsky Festival, Hamburgische Staatsoper, June 24-28, 1962. Photograph by Madeline Winkler-Betzendahl, Stuttgart.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Arthur Mitchell (as the Snake) in Todd Bolender's Creation of the World, New York City Ballet,1960. Unknown photographer.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Arthur Mitchell as the Dark Angel with Edward Villella in the title role of Balanchine's Orpheus, Stravinsky Festival, Hamburgische Staatsoper, June 24-28, 1962. Photograph by Fritz Peyer, Hamburg.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia
Arthur Mitchell dancing the role of Phlegmatic in Balanchine's The Four Temperaments at the Teatro Castro Alves, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, March 1967. Unknown photographer.
Arthur Mitchell Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
In January 1967 the U.S. State Department, under an agreement with Brazil's Ministry of Education and Culture, sent Mitchell and the Mexican-born choreographer Gloria Contreras (then dancing with the Joffrey Ballet) to Rio de Janeiro to direct the new, federally-funded Companhia Nacional de Ballet. On March 4, 1967 the company inaugurated the Teatro Castro Alves in Salvador, Bahia, where Mitchell performed the Agon pas de deux with Alice Colino. Mitchell returned to Brazil in 1968, this time as artistic director of the Companhia Brasileira de Ballet, for which he choreographed Rhythmetron and a number of other works.