First Negro Classic Ballet - Misplaced Pages

Ballet company in California, United States

First Negro Classic Ballet
General information
Name	First Negro Classic Ballet
Year founded	1946
Closed	1956
Founder	Joseph Rickard

The First Negro Classic Ballet or First Negro Classical Ballet was a ballet company formed in Los Angeles, California in 1946.

History

The First Negro Classic Ballet was founded in 1946 and directed by the German dancer Joseph Rickard in Los Angeles, California.

In 1946, Joseph Rickard, a white dancer, saw an African American child turned away from a Los Angeles dance studio because of her race. Motivated by this injustice, he opened a dance studio for Los Angeles's Black community. By 1947, Rickard founded the First Negro Classic Ballet, offering a place to perform and choreograph.

The company held its debut recital on October 19, 1946, at the Danish Auditorium in Los Angeles, and premiered professionally on November 19, 1949, at Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara.

Joseph Rickard was engaged by New York choreographer, Edward Flemyng, who proposed combining their companies. Rickard's First Negro Classic Ballet and Flemyng's New York Negro Ballet were merged in 1956 after the dissolution of the First Negro Classical Ballet.

References

Isenberg, B. (2019, March 6). A Ballet Troupe’s History Recaptured : Dance: Joseph Rickard’s First Negro Classic company got its start in 1947. Now his archives are at the Huntington Library. - Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com
^ First Negro Classical Ballet’s Orbit: Joseph Rickard – MOBBallet.org. (2021, November 2). Retrieved from https://mobballet.org/index.php/2021/11/02/first-negro-classical-ballets-orbit-joseph-rickard/
Archival Outlook. (2003). United States: The Society.

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References