Black ballet dancers grace the stage

Janet Collins, the first Black dancer to join the regular Metropolitan Opera House company, sits near the call board at the Met in New York on Oct. 3, 1951.

George Balanchine, director of the New York City Ballet Company, poses with two of the prima ballerinas of the San Francisco Ballet on April 13, 1965 in New York after they appeared at New York's State Theater at Lincoln Center. Ballerinas are, Virginia Johnson, left, and Shari White. Performance was opening performance of a week-long New York engagement for the San Francisco Company. (AP Photo/John Lent)

Judith Jamison, a principal performer of the Alvin Ailey dance company, is shown in May 1979.

Members of the Dance Theater of Harlem rehearse Swan Lake on the stage at City Center in New York City, Jan. 9, 1980. Lydia Abarca dances the role of the Swan Queen and Ronald Perry is the Prince.

Dancers of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform during a dress rehearsal in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008. The theater company, celebrating its 50th anniversary, was in Istanbul for a three performances as part of an international tour.

Desmond Richardson, the founding artistic director of the Complexions contemporary ballet company, lifts Christina Dooling while performing 'Rise' in Sydney on Sept. 15, 2010.

Dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform a scene from the Spring act during a dress rehearsal for Alvin Ailey's "The River" at New York City Center on Dec. 8, 2021.

Ballerina Misty Copeland performs at the Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan 3rd Annual High Tea at the Century Plaza Hotel and Spa on May 14, 2005 in Century City, Calif.

Dancer Clifford Williams from the Complexions Contemporary Ballet performs a scene from "Moon Over Jupiter" during the dress rehearsal before opening night at the Joyce Theater in New York on Nov. 16, 2010.

Constance Stamatiou performs during the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Revelations! at the Detroit Opera House in Detroit on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Ghrai DeVore-Stokes and Jeroboam Bozeman perform a scene from the act Twin Cities during a dress rehearsal for Alvin Ailey's "The River" at the New York City Center Dec. 8, 2021.