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Janet Collins, Prima Ballerina of the Metropolitan Opera House in the 1950’s

Janet Collins, Prima Ballerina of the Metropolitan Opera House in the 1950’s and one of the miniscule African American women to gain prominence in American Classical ballet, went home to her Ancestors on Wednesday May 21, in Fort Worth, Texas. She was 86 at her time of death.
This gifted cultural African American Icon was a choreographer who taught dance, performed on Broadway and appeared quite regularly on television. She was respected as a graceful dancer who was the first African American to perform at the internationally renowned metropolitan preceding by four years, the African American Marian Anderson who sang there. To quote Godfrey Holder who had an impressive and enviable dancing career in North American, Ms. Janet Collins “…was a great inspiration to me as a child in Trinidad…. What she did by dancing the way she did – to be prima ballerina at Metropolitan Opera House – gave everybody hope.” 
Ms. Collins’ triumphant entrance to the New York Dance scene came in 1949, performing in her own choreography on a shared program at the 92nd Street “Y”. The highly regarded dance critic of the New York Times John Martin was captivated by her stellar performance. It led him to write that she was the most exciting young dancer who has flashed across the current scene in a long time. He regarded her innovative dancing styles as a mixture of modern dance and ballet. To Martin, “there is a wonderful sense of aliveness in the dancer’s presence and in her moving…. She is not self-absorbed but is dancing completely and whole solidly for an audience. On the other hand, there is no air of showing off about it, no coyness or coquetry, but only an apparent desire to establish and maintain a communicative contact.” He was effusive in his praises of this “fresh wind.” On the ballerina arena, he remarked about her sharp, clean precision, “the piquant tang, the arresting mental vigor” of Collins’ dancing and choreography.
Her next stellar performance was the following year on Broadway in Cole Porter’s musical, “Out of This World.” She played the central role of night which saw her dancing an airborne solo created for her by Hanya Holm. This performance catapulted her to the Metropolitan where she had the enviable role as the principal dancer. During her tenure there she had leading roles in “Aida”, “Carmen”, “The Dance of the Hour in La Gioconda” and the Bacchanal in “Damson and Delia.”
Ms. Collins’ career at the Metropolitan was cut short by the virulent racism which existed there. It took another two decades before she received attention once again on the New York Dance scene. This took place in 1974 when the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre expressed its appreciation to her and Pearl Primus for their unique and pioneering artistic contributions as Black women in the field of dance.
Ms. Collins was a dance prodigy who hailed from the African-American cultural Mecca of New Orleans. At the age of 4, she left with her family to Los Angeles, California where she got her first lesions in dance at Catholic Community Center. Later on, she went on to study under the tutelage of Carmelita Maracci who was as one of the few ballet teachers who allowed Blacks in their dance troupes. She moved on to study under the supervision of Lester Horton and Adolph Bolm.
She experienced difficult times in her initial attempts to dance professionally with a dance troupe. In her audition in Los Angeles, for the Ballet Russe, she was rudely told that there was no place for her unless she danced in a white face, or special roles would have to be crated for her. She took this message with a stone stance and decided she would succeed in this traditional White cultural arena.
She overcame all the barriers placed in her direction. She went to dance with Katherine Dunham which saw her having a leading role in the company’s 1943 film musical, “Stormy Weather.”
It is noteworthy to point out that Ms. Collins was very active in the late 1950’s when she toured with her own company throughout America and Canada. She had numerous stints at academies such as the School of America Ballet, which was affiliated with the New York City Ballet; Harkness House and the San Francisco Ballet School. She is survived by a brother, Earnest of Fort Worth, Texas, and a sister, Betty Wilkerson of Pasadena, California. 

Credit to New York Times

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