Long before African-American ballerina Misty Copeland danced her way into American Ballet Theater, Raven Wilkinson was already a living legend as the first African-American woman to be signed by a major ballet company.
Although she faced extreme racism and almost left her field, her resilience in the face of adversity is admirable. She was born Anne Raven Wilkinson in Harlem on February 2, 1935, to parents Dr. Frost Wilkinson, a dentist, and her mother, Anne. Along with her younger brother, the family lived a middle-class lifestyle in the famous New York neighborhood.
At age five, Wilkinson became enamored with ballet after seeing a Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo presentation. Her uncle enrolled her into the Swoboda School when she turned nine as a birthday gift, and she learned under Vecheslav and Maria Swoboda, both Moscow-trained dancers.
Later, the school became the official school for Ballets Russes. During her last two years of school, Wilkinson transferred to the Children’s Professional School in the Bronx, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the pioneering Black dancer, Janet Collins. Wilkinson auditioned for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, and was denied twice.
On her third try, however, company director Sergei Denham hired her when she was 20 years of age in 1955.The company was successful early on, but complications would arise as they visited the racist Deep South.
Fair-skinned enough to pass for white, Wilkinson was warned about revealing her true race. She also often wore makeup to lighten her skin even further, but she refused to hide during a confrontation in 1957.
When a hotel worker asked if she were Black, she stated the truth, which led to her being banned from staying at the establishment. As word got out, it became increasingly dangerous for Wilkinson to perform with the troupe. She left Ballets Russes in 1961, which folded shortly after, and no American company would hire her.
In 1963, she lived briefly as a nun in Wisconsin. Three years later, Wilkinson was given a soloist contract by the Dutch National Ballet. For seven years, she wowed audiences across Europe, returning to America in 1973.
She then joined the New York City Opera as an extra dancer, working there from 1974 until 1985. Now retired, Wilkinson performed in small roles well into the ’90s.
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