Arthur Mitchell (dancer)

Arthur Mitchell
Arthur Mitchell in 1955 by Carl Van Vechten
Born	(1934-03-27) March 27, 1934 (age 82) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Dancer, Choreographer, Artistic Director, and Co-Founder of The Dance Theatre of Harlem

Arthur Mitchell (born March 27, 1934) is an African-American dancer and choreographer who created a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among other awards, Mitchell has been recognized as a MacArthur Fellow, inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, and has received the United States National Medal of Arts and a Fletcher Foundation fellowship.

Mitchell is one of four siblings and grew up in the streets of Harlem, New York. Forced to assume financial responsibility for his family in the wake of his father's incarceration, at the age of 12 Mitchell worked numerous jobs including: shoe-shining, mopping floors, newspaper delivery, and work in a meat show. Despite his duties Mitchell became involved with street gangs, though this did not ultimately deter him from finding success.

As a teenager, Mitchell was encouraged by a guidance counselor to apply for admission to the High School of Performing Arts. Upon being accepted he decided to work towards having a career in classical ballet. Following his graduation in the early 1950s, he won a dance award and scholarship to study at the School of American Ballet, the school affiliated with the New York City Ballet. In 1954, following his 1952 Broadway debut in the opera Four Saints in Three Acts, Mitchell would return to Broadway to perform in the Harold Arlen musical House of Flowers, alongside Diahann Carroll, Geoffrey Holder, Alvin Ailey, Carmen De Lavallade, and Pearl Bailey.