Lorraine Graves’ life literally flashed before her eyes Saturday afternoon.
The ballet legend expected to be recognized at a luncheon honoring the Dance Theatre of Harlem, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary and is in Norfolk performing this weekend.
Then a video dedicated to Graves quieted the audience at the Slover Library. Graves, surrounded by family and friends, became teary as she watched images of herself dancing as a child. Then on international stages with the esteemed Harlem troupe, and then as a teacher who came home to Norfolk to teach.
Graves then received the Virginia Arts Festival’s first Ovation Award, which will be given annually to artists with local ties who have made a national impact.
Rob Cross, executive director and Perry Artistic Director of the festival, said prior to the ceremony that Graves was the perfect candidate for the inaugural award.
“She’s a local girl with an international career and it seemed like no better time to do it.”
Graves, 61, said she was humbled by the close to 70 people, several who flew in from around the country, to share in her day.
“To be a little black girl from Norfolk, Virginia,” she told the crowd, “it’s been more than a dream come true.”
Graves was 5 or so when she started imitating the New York City Ballet dancers she saw on TV.
“I remember thinking, “I want to do that,”‘ she said. “I don’t want to just be a dancer; I want to be a ballet dancer.”
Her mother enrolled her into the Academy of the Norfolk Ballet under another dance icon, the late Gene Hammett.
Virginia Johnson, the artistic director for the Dance Theatre of Harlem, said earlier at the luncheon that she remembers when she first saw Graves. The company was performing in Norfolk and Hammett brought Graves, then 16, to audition for DTH co-founder, Arthur Mitchell.
Graves, who was always tall for her age, stood out for several reasons. Johnson said she had a focus and poise that was astounding for someone so young.
“Arthur Mitchell said right away that this was someone he wanted to be a part of Dance Theatre of Harlem,” Johnson said.
Graves’ mother, however, said no; her daughter was too young.
Graves graduated from Lake Taylor High and then studied ballet at Indiana University, where she graduated in 1978. She auditioned for a couple of companies who told her that at 5-foot-10, she was too tall or not quite the right fit; Graves said after Saturday’s luncheon that ballet was not ready then to fully accept African Americans as ballet material.
That is what made the Dance Theatre of Harlem so revolutionary. It formed a year after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Mitchell, the first African American principal dancer at New York City Ballet, was inspired to start a training ground for minorities. Karel Shook, a white ballet master who believed in the Mitchell’s idea, helped. Johnson was one of the founding company dance members.
Graves auditioned shortly after her college graduation and was a principal dancer within a year. She performed in some of the most prominent ballets including “The Firebird,” “Giselle” and several George Balanchine’s pieces such as “Agon.”
Graves danced and worked as Mitchell’s second-in-command or ballet mistress, which required her to know all of the choreography in the troupe’s repertoire.
Graves said of her many career highlights one of her favorites was when the DTH performed for Nelson Mandela in 1992. Mandela had spent 27 years in prison for protesting South Africa’s segregationist apartheid government and was released in 1990. They performed in a venue that was integrated for its first time.
“I remember he told us,” Graves said, “watching you all make me forget my troubles.”
Graves danced until 1996 when she was diagnosed with lupus. She returned home and continues to teach at The Governor’s School for the Arts, Todd Rosenlieb Dance and Ballet Virginia International.
Graves continues to work with the DTH and collaborated with Mitchell until his death in September. That ballet, “Tones II,” premiered in New York last month.
“She is a beacon,” Johnson said. “She shows exactly what is possible when you take that seed and you nurture it.”
