The Swans of Harlem
by Karen Valby
“We were five young Black ballerinas who helped build the Dance Theatre of Harlem and opened doors where none existed. After decades of silence, our stories are finally being told.”
The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood, a legacy erased from history - until now.
"Karen Valby's The Swans of Harlem brings to life the stories of Black dancers whose contributions to the world of ballet were silenced, marginalized, and otherwise erased. Karen introduces readers to important figures of our past, while inspiring us to courageously chase our dreams. This is the kind of history I wish I learned as a child dreaming of the stage!"
Misty Copeland, New York Times bestselling author of Black Ballerinas: My Journey To Our Legacy
The Swans of Harlem are founders of the 152nd St. Black Ballet Legacy
Young Adults Edition
United Kingdom Edition
A Most Anticipated Book of the Year from The Washington Post and Cosmopolitan
“There is joy in the way the women discuss their decades-long friendships and trailblazing performances in this book. Valby gives each dancer space for their stories to naturally flow, writing them as fully realized individuals.”
- Library Journal
Until Valby’s utterly absosrbing, flawlessly-researched book, I never knew the story of the original Dance Theatre of Harlem ballerinas - and now, I demand that their lives be taught in schools! Valby finally sheds light on these towering dance pioneers, all of whom triumphed as dancers in a world that didn’t believe Black perople had a place in the classical art form. Vibrant, propulssive and inspiring, The Swans of Harlem is a richly drawn protrait of five courage women whose contributions have been silenced for too long!”
- Tia Williams, New York Times-best selling author of Seven Days in June
“Vibrant…A captivating corrective to an often-whitewashed history.”
- Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A skilled storyteller with an eye for significant details and thematic complexity…[A] dynamic, tumultuous, and inspiring journey of the five central ballerinas, the book is deeply researched and full of heart. A rich, detailed, and complex history of Harlem’s first prima ballerinas.”
-Kirkus
“These five original Dance Theatre of Harlem ballerinas fell in love with an artr form that most of America believed was white and should remain so. Upon Arthur Mitchell’s founding of an all-Black company in 1969, they eagerly took their places at the barre and challenged themselves to the utmost. They triumphed. They showed that Blacks could not only excel at classical ballet but could also shape the art in their own vibrant image. Karen Valby weaves their stories together as a choreographer would: the women form an ensemble, yet each gets her own riveting solo. It’s thrilling to watch as they join forces at last and claim their unique place in America ballet’s past, present and future.”
- Margo Jefferson, author of Constructing a Nervous System”