[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 14, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E148-E149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             IN RECOGNITION OF THE DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 14, 2006

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express how content I was to 
see President Bush recognize the national treasure that is the Dance 
Theatre of Harlem at a dinner and performance Monday, February 6 at the 
White House and to enter into the Record a Washington Post article 
dated Wednesday, February 8 commemorating the event.
  In a tribute to the theatre which stands today as the first black 
classical ballet company, and its esteemed founder Arthur Mitchell, 
President Bush and many others were able to be exposed to the cultural 
jewel I am honored to have situated in my Congressional district.
  The Dance Theatre of Harlem, founded in 1968, is a leading arts and 
cultural institution dedicated to the advancement and cultural 
enrichment of youth from diverse backgrounds. Since its founding, it 
has brought modern and intrepid new forms of artistic expression to 
audiences throughout New York City and the world--embodying the beauty 
of the American spirit.
  Even as the performing company enjoyed international acclaim, being 
the first U.S. ballet company to perform in Russia and then performing 
in South Africa, the theatre has strengthened its roots in Harlem. 
Currently the school enrolls some 700 students per year in community, 
pre-professional and professional programs and offers courses in 
various dance forms ranging from ballet and tap to modern-, jazz- and 
African dance, and even Irish step dancing. With its exceptional 
dancers, dazzling choreography, and cultural pride, the Dance Theatre 
of Harlem continues to be a beacon for all communities.
  Mr. Speaker, again please join me in saluting the Dance Theatre of 
Harlem and expressing my gratitude to President Bush for recognizing 
its contributions.

                [From the Washington Post, Feb. 8, 2006]

                      En Pointe at the White House


  With a Fete for Founder Arthur Mitchell, the Bushes Give a Lift to 
                        Dance Theatre of Harlem

                           (By Sarah Kaufman)

       There were ballerinas and cavaliers, Broadway singers and a 
     country crooner, but it took the Rev. Al Green to really get 
     the party started at the White House on Monday night.
       The soul man turned soul saver worked his magic on the East 
     Room crowd, gathered to honor the Dance Theatre of Harlem and 
     its famed founder, Arthur Mitchell.
       ``I-I-I-I, I'm so in love with you,'' Green rasped in his 
     signature falsetto, arcing back like a bow about to launch 
     its arrow.
       Of course, there were many in the audience of 80 or so who 
     could sing Green's enduring hit ``Let's Stay Together'' in 
     their sleep. But was one of them President Bush? Green put 
     him to the test.
       ``Ooh, loving you forever,'' Green purred, ``is what I--'' 
     Suddenly, he thrust the microphone right up to the lips of 
     the surprised president, who recovered enough to mouth 
     something back.
       Whatever it was could not be heard, but Green was more than 
     satisfied.
       ``He said `Nee-eee-eeed!' '' squealed the amazed hitmaster, 
     hitting even higher notes than he'd been singing. ``He did! 
     He said `Neeeeed!' '' After laughter and applause for the 
     president's grace note, the set then became a singalong--was 
     that Karl Rove joining in?--and then a dance-along, after 
     Mitchell, a former star of the New York City Ballet, pulled 
     Laura Bush up onstage.
       President Bush, apparently pumped up after parrying to 
     Green's thrust, followed suit, taking with him Shirley 
     Massey, wife of Walter Massey, president of Morehouse 
     College.
       ``We got the president up onstage!'' exclaimed Mitchell 
     afterward. Not a man who ordinarily likes to share the 
     spotlight, Mitchell nevertheless gave Bush points for effort, 
     if not for style. ``He did really well,'' Mitchell said. ``He 
     was tapping his foot, and . . . moving. You know.''
       Mitchell is no stranger to the White House--he says he has 
     been invited there by every president since John F. Kennedy. 
     He's been there so often he knew many of the waiters by name. 
     But this night was different. The dinner and performance by 
     members of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and others were the 
     work of entrepreneur and philanthropist Catherine Reynolds, 
     chairwoman of the board of the predominantly black ballet 
     company. The show will air this summer on PBS.
       ``What better place to showcase Dance Theatre of Harlem 
     during Black History Month than the White House?'' she said. 
     ``It's a ballet company in the midst of Harlem--that in and 
     of itself is so American.''
       The presidential affair, she said, sprang from a 
     conversation she had a few months ago with Laura Bush about 
     the ailing company, on hiatus for the past year and a half 
     because of rising debt.
       Reynolds said the first lady asked, `` `How can I help?' '' 
     Reynolds had her answer ready, and the result was a cozy 
     little black-tie dinner in Mitchell's honor, with the guests 
     seated at intimate round tables mounded with roses. Among the 
     invited: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, undoubtedly 
     relieved to be anywhere but in the Senate hot seat where he'd 
     spent the day; donors and arts officials such as the Ford 
     Foundation's Susan Berresford, Kennedy Center President 
     Michael Kaiser and Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the 
     National Museum of African American History and Culture; and 
     a contingent of the black elite, such as ``60 Minutes'' 
     correspondent Ed Bradley and Spelman College President 
     Beverly Daniel Tatum.
       The menu favored creamy comfort foods: puree of parsnip 
     soup, cheesy grits and spinach alongside roast kobe beef, a 
     yellow pepper and avocado terrine, and whipped-cream-dolloped 
     lemon custard cakes with coconut ice cream and a blackberry-
     ginger sauce,

[[Page E149]]

     thick as syrup. It was not fare for the calorie-conscious. 
     But there weren't many of those to be seen, anyway; the 
     dancers were off warming up for the performance that was to 
     follow.
       Filing into the East Room after dinner, we found ourselves 
     chatting with Andrew Card, Bush's chief of staff, who seemed 
     eager to show his own artsy side.
       ``I hit a crossroads when I was a senior in high school,'' 
     Card said, describing a choice he faced between accepting a 
     scholarship to the Hartt School of Music (on the strength of 
     his trumpet playing) in West Hartford, Conn., or a Navy ROTC 
     scholarship at the University of South Carolina.
       Guess which one he chose.
       Still, he said, ``I believe in the arts very strongly. 
     Every once in a while I get the trumpet out. Of course, my 
     wife wants me to play it in the closet.''
       It being Monday night, and close to 9 by this time--fans of 
     Fox's ``24'' know how sacrosanct that hour is--we pressed 
     Card on another issue: Did he ever tune in to the Kiefer 
     Sutherland thriller, which recently revealed that the chief 
     of staff of the show's president is a murderous villain of 
     presidency-destroying dimension?
       Card's eyebrows shot up merrily. ``I hear the chief of 
     staff is kind of a bad guy. Didn't he drug the first lady?'' 
     Yep, and Card's TV counterpart also conspired to engineer a 
     nerve gas leak to incriminate a terrorist organization to 
     prove it had weapons of mass destruction.
       Card backed up in mock horror. ``I'm not him,'' he said 
     emphatically, eyes wide, waving his arms in front of himself 
     to ward off any notion of a link to reality. ``I didn't do 
     that.'' And then he was gone, spurred by a desperate need to 
     catch up with his wife.
       Addressing the audience, Mitchell pointed out his company's 
     oft-reported origins, that it was the assassination of Martin 
     Luther King Jr. in 1968 that inspired him to found a 
     classical ballet company of African American dancers--which 
     is, all these years later, still a unique institution.
       Left unsaid was what it would mean for black ballet dancers 
     if such a company could not survive. In fact, none of the 
     speeches mentioned Dance Theatre of Harlem's having come so 
     close to financial ruin, or the fact that its laid-off 
     dancers' unemployment claims ran out long ago.
       Bush, seated with his wife in the front row and within a 
     few feet of the small stage, smiled throughout the show, 
     which included children as well as professionals. Hands 
     clasped in his lap, he kept up a steady piston action with 
     one knee--an intriguing tic, yet what did it mean? 
     Restlessness? Excitement? A dream of mashing the pedals on a 
     mountain bike?
       Harolyn Blackwell, Audra McDonald and LeAnn Rimes each sang 
     solos as well as songs that accompanied more dancing. It was 
     all very classy, very polite, if somewhat restrained.
       Enter Al Green, the great uncorker, who got throats to open 
     and hands to clap--some on the beat, quite a few off--and got 
     the president to join in the dance.
       ``The whole evening was so relaxed,'' Mitchell enthused 
     afterward. ``That was a major miracle.''
       Speaking of miracles, Mitchell stated his favored outcome: 
     ``I hope this opens the door, that dance becomes a line item 
     in the federal budget so we can take the arts all across 
     America.''
       A different miracle may be a bit closer to actually coming 
     to pass. When she became board chairman and vowed to get the 
     troupe back on its feet, Reynolds told The Washington Post 
     that ``failure is not an option.'' So how close to success--
     and public performances--is the company now?
       ``We're close,'' she said. ``We'll probably be making an 
     announcement in the summer.''

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