"Everyone said I was crazy" - 50 years of the first black ballet

BBC has a nice video-article about the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the first Black classical ballet company, founded by Arthur Mitchell in a converted garage in Harlem in 1969. They talked to Virginia Johnson, one of the first dancers to join the company, now DTH's artistic director, who says that at the beginning "there were black people who didn't want us to do white man's art form, and there were white people who told us we don't have that talent in our bodies". This year they are touring in celebration of their 50th anniversary. So, what is ballet again - "the closest that you can get to flying", Johnson says.