Dance Theatre of Harlem

Instead,[3] he would found a classical ballet school for the children of Harlem, the poor and predominantly black New York neighborhood where he was raised.

Following the original blueprints set forth by his mentor George Balanchine, Mitchell groomed the school's top talent as a group of performers.

In 1984, Dance Theatre of Harlem premiered its most famous work, Creole Giselle (restaged by Frederic Franklin), which was set in the 1840s Louisiana Bayou.

In 1988 DTH embarked on a five-week tour of the USSR, playing sold-out performances in Moscow, Tbilisi, and Leningrad, where the company received a standing ovation at the famed Kirov Theatre.

In 1997 during negotiations between management and the American Guild of Musical Artists to renew the terms of the existing AGMA contract, the company's dancers went on strike.

Janet Lee was a local promoter based in Shanghai that assisted in ticket sales and company performance fees.

In 2006 President George W. Bush honored Dance Theatre of Harlem at the White House for an evening of performances given by the DTH Ensemble and former company members.

Since the return of the Dance Theatre of Harlem as a full company, Johnson has commissioned world premieres from Helen Pickett, John Alleyne, Tanya Wideman-Davis and Thaddeus Davis, Darrell Grand Moultrie, and Robert Garland.

The new Dance Theatre of Harlem company has also presented ballets by George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, Donald Byrd, Ulysses Dove, Christopher Huggins and Alvin Ailey, among others.

These include photographs of the backstage visit by Nelson Mandela during the historic DTH tour to Johannesburg, South Africa, a handwritten score by Karel Shook, and designs by Salvatore Ferragamo.

Dance Theatre of Harlem now has a Pre-Professional Residency program at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., for dancers aged from eight to 18.