Dance Theatre of Harlem Returns to Africa After Three Decades

The Dance Theatre of Harlem will perform in Africa for the first time in roughly three decades.

Robert Garland, the company's artistic director, is leading the tour. Garland knows the institution from the inside: before taking the top artistic job, he danced with the company as a principal dancer. He laid out the significance of the return in a conversation with NPR's Michel Martin.

The last time the Dance Theatre of Harlem appeared on the African continent was in the 1990s. The forthcoming visit ends a gap of some thirty years — a long silence for a company whose identity is inseparable from the African diaspora.

The Dance Theatre of Harlem was founded to prove that ballet belonged to Black dancers as much as anyone else. A return to Africa therefore carries weight beyond ordinary touring; it reconnects the company with a root of its own artistic lineage.

Garland's trajectory — from principal dancer to artistic director — gives the tour a personal dimension. He is not simply dispatching an ensemble overseas; he is taking a company he danced with, and now leads, back to the continent it last visited when he was still on its stage.

The announcement came through NPR, where Michel Martin interviewed Garland about the company's plans.

The tour signals renewed international ambition for the Dance Theatre of Harlem and, for African audiences, a rare chance to see one of America's defining ballet institutions perform at home on the continent.