Dance Theatre of Harlem to join Pipino Performing Arts Series
January 31, 2020
For its next performance, the Donald P. Pipino Performing Arts Series will welcome the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) to the DeYor Performing Arts Center in downtown Youngstown Wednesday, February 12 at 8:00 PM.
DTH, celebrating its 50th anniversary as a dance institution, is comprised of an international touring company, a training school, and an arts and community engagement program. Founded in 1969 by the legendary Arthur Mitchell and his teacher, Karel Shook, DTH has grown into a globally acclaimed dance institution that occupies a distinguished place in New York’s cultural landscape and is at the forefront of American artistic achievement.
The 18-member, racially diverse company tours nationally and internationally. Within the last year, DTH performed before nearly 60,000 people across the United States. The group has performed in 41 countries, spanning six continents, since its conception.
A previous trip by DTH to Youngstown in the mid-1970s resulted in the discovery of what would become one of the company’s most celebrated prima ballerinas, Stephanie Dabney, who danced as a child with Ballet Western Reserve and was 16 when she attended a masterclass taught by Mitchell during his stop in Youngstown. She joined the troupe as an apprentice, went to Harlem in 1975 and, in 1982, performed in the title role of “The Firebird.” The performance fueled the ballet and quickly became DTH’s signature work for the following two decades.
Tickets for the performance are available online at www.deyorpac.org, by phone at 330-744-0264, or in-person at the DeYor box office.
The event is co-sponsored by 88.5 WYSU-FM; Ballet Western Reserve; the DeYor Performing Arts Center; numerous YSU colleges, including the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services, the Beeghly College of Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, and Education, and the College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; the Cliffe College of Creative Arts’ Department of Theatre and Dance; the YSU Division of Student Experience; and the YSU Office of Research Services.