JANET COLLINS
With her unique way of dancing, Janet Collins was one of the first African-American ballerinas. She went through many rejections because of her ethnicity and the color of her skin. She may have been better then even the Caucasian ballerinas. Janet Collins was a beautiful ballet dancer and she proved that color doesn’t make a dancer better technique does and she had graceful technique.Janet Collins was born on March 7, 1917 in New Orleans, Louisiana and moved with her family to Los Angeles. She attended Los Angeles City College and the Los Angeles Art Center School. Later on when she became an accomplished painter, she was able to save enough money to move to New York. She wanted to pursue a career in dance. Later on she preformed in the world-renowned Black dance troupe directed by Katherine Dunham in the year 1941.On November 3, 1948 Janet performed at the Las Palmas Theater in Los Angeles. Critics loved her unique performance and hailed her as a unique performer. She had designed her own costumes and was noticed for that. She later paid for her own train ticket to the East Coast, which she earned, from most of her portrait paintings. When she arrived in New York, she had only two-hundred dollars to live on.
When Janet was fifteen, she auditioned for Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at the Philharmonic. She was then told that she would have to paint her face white. She refused to do so. She received this reply when she told her aunt what had happened “You get back to the barre and start your City exercises. Don’t try to be good, be excellent.” In 1949, Janet did a solo act concert in New York. In 1951, she became the first Black artist to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. She starred in the 1951 production of Cole Porter’s Out of This World. Hanya Holm had casted Collins for the performance. She won the Donaldson Award, represented as the best dancer on Broadway.
Zachary Solov, the new ballet master of the Metropolitan Opera House, saw Collins in Out of This World. Solov knew she was perfect for the new production of Aida. He went to Rudolf Bing and told him about Janet Collins who he mentioned was black. Bing approved. They featured her as an Ethiopian slave in the second act Triumphal Scene. She was partnered with two white men in black tights and black colored faces. Everyone applauded the wonderful performance.
On the outside of New York, Collins was not accepted. When they toured to Atlanta and Memphis Collins' parts were danced by understudies. Solov and Bing insisted they would not return unless they allow blacks into the theater and allow them to sleep in a hotel. Once in Toronto, Canada Collins and a friend went to eat after a performance they were not given service at a crowded restaurant. The man took one look at the two and said the place was closed. Collins acted maturely saying that she had heard nice compliments about the restaurant and if the man suggested another place to dine.
Janet Collins died on June 2003 in Four Worth, Texas. She appeared in Carmen (1952) as a gypsy, and La Gioncoda (1952) as Queen of the Night in the Dance of the Hours. Collins is known as the Metropolitans first full-time black company member or the pioneer who broke the color line. Though she lived in the rough times of segregation, it did not stop her from becoming a well-loved and gifted dancer.