Louis Johnson, a Black trailblazer in ballet and modern dance

The recent publication of “The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History” by Karen Valby is on my reading list. It sounds like an incredible piece of ignored history and at the same time, it brings to mind Black male ballet dancers of prominence before Arthur Mitchell’s remarkable ascendance.  Louis Johnson is often cited as a premier performer, teacher, choreographer, and director whose work spanned ballet and modern dance, and who preceded Mitchell.

Johnson was born on March 19, 1930, in Statesville, North Carolina, and grew up in Washington, D.C. where he was raised by his grandmother and mother. As a child, he often participated in acrobatics at the local YMCA and it was only after the facility was undergoing renovations that he was invited to practice at the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet. His abilities impressed the school’s namesakes—Doris Jones and Claire Haywood—and he was offered a scholarship to attend the institution while still in high school.

During an interview with Historymakers.com in 2005, Johnson elaborated on his formative years. “I tap danced around with my acrobatics, and there was a gentleman named Derwood Brent and Melvin Hope who tap danced. There was a thing in Washington [D.C.] called The New Faces Guild that Ralph Matthews started. He gave a show once a year at the Lincoln Theatre, which was the only theater that Black people could go to.” Johnson gradually became adept at tap dancing and tumbling and later joined a troupe headed by the comedian Nipsey Russell. “He was a great acrobat like the ones you see in the circus and he taught the young kids to do that.”

Russell’s training and the subsequent dance lessons from Jones and Haywood enhanced Johnson’s natural ability. Soon his talent was so exceptional and his teachers suggested he consider enrolling at the famed New York City School of American Ballet, where he was immediately accepted. Under the tutelage of Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine, Johnson  gained recognition and was soon sought for performances on Broadway, including “Four Saints in Three Acts,” “House of Flowers,” “Damn Yankees,” and “Hallelujah Baby.” It was a thrilling time for musicals, and Johnson recounted those days, citing performances and other notable dancers he studied with.

“I had started…at the beginning and worked my way up the class levels and I was in advanced classes with Jacques d’Amboise, Eddie Villella, Melissa Hayden, Andre Eglevsky, Tanaquil Le Clercq, [and] Maria Tallchief,” he recalled. “They were my peers at the time. It was a learning experience like no other.”

Johnson acquired so much acclaim for his performances that he was asked to choreograph shows such as “Black Nativity” by Langston Hughes. His next assignment was a production of “Lost in the Stars,” which was followed by “Treemonisha,” and Ossie Davis’s “Purlie,” and that earned him a Tony nomination.

He welcomed an opportunity to bring his choreographic genius to several operas when requested by the New York Metropolitan Opera. Among the operas where his creativity thrived were “La Gioconda,” as well as “Aida” with the great Leontyne Price in the leading role. Those of you who remember seeing such films as “The Wiz,” starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, or “Cotton Comes to Harlem,” may not have been aware that Johnson was the choreographer.

His impressive resume included work with other ballet companies like Cincinnati Ballet and the Atlanta Ballet Company. Of course, many of New York’s leading companies benefited from his genius. In 1989, he inaugurated the Henry Street Settlement’s Dance Department and continued to work there until 2003. On the academic front, he taught the first Black theater course at Yale University and started the dance department at Howard University, a kind of homecoming for him.

He was the recipient of countless honors including the Pioneer Award from the International Association of Blacks in Dance at the Kennedy Center; an honor from the California chapter of the NAACP for his work with the Negro Ensemble Company; and a special tribute to him by the songwriters Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Johnson was also a gifted director of such productions as “Porgy and Bess,” “Miss Truth,” “Jazzbo Brown,” “Time in the Wind,” and “Ebony Game.” And it would be remiss not to include “Forces of Rhythm” in 1972, which is considered among his most enduring creations.

Johnson died on March 31, 2020, in Manhattan at the age of 90.