Night's Dancer: The Life of Janet Collins

By Yael Tamar Lewin and Janet Collins

Dancer Janet Collins, born in New Orleans in 1917 and raised in Los Angeles, soared high over the color line as the first African-American prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera. Thriving in an era in which racial bias prevailed, her brilliant performances transformed the way black dancers were viewed in ballet.

Dance scholar Yaël Tamar Lewin draws on extensive research and interviews with Collins and her family, friends, and colleagues to explore her development as a dancer, choreographer, and painter. Lewin gives us a profoundly moving portrait of an artist of indomitable spirit.

About the Author …

Yaël Tamar Lewin is a writer, editor, choreographer, and alternative medicine practitioner. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Barnard College and Columbia University, and has performed with several dance companies, including her own. She lives in New York.

Some Reviews . . .

“Night’s Dancer: The Life of Janet Collins is an enthralling read. It reinforces Collins’s struggle, personal strength and ultimate success. While following her dreams with endless energy, she leapt over boundaries.” (Karen Barr, Dance International)

“Lewin has done wonders to restore to the record the work of this pioneering woman. . . . Night’s Dancer is a fine contribution both to dance history and to the history of segregation in the United States.” (Judith Flanders, Times Literary Supplement)

Please see the Reviews section for more praise of Night’s Dancer.

Night’s Dancer: The Life of Janet Collins