The Turning: Room of Mirrors · iHeartPodcasts and Rococo Punch

The Swans of Harlem | Part Two

May 7, 2024·35 min·2 clips

Sheila lied about being a mother of three to audition for Arthur Mitchell's groundbreaking dance company.

1. The Turning's guest series features Karen Balby interviewing former Dance Theater of Harlem dancer Sheila Rohan about her career documented in the book The Swans of Harlem. 2. Karen Balby is the author of The Swans of Harlem, and Sheila Rohan is one of five Black ballerinas whose largely forgotten histories the book records. 3. The episode's core thesis is how a woman who survived childhood polio, motherhood of three, and institutional prejudice against Black ballerinas sustained a dance career into her eighties. 4. At age seven, Rohan contracted polio during the 1940s epidemic, lost the use of her legs, and overheard a doctor warn her mother she might be permanently crippled. 5. She responded to that overheard verdict with a private vow — 'I said, no, I am not going to be crippled' — and credits that internal resolve for her recovery. 6. Her doctor prescribed exercise to rebuild muscle, and the family enrolled her in a Staten Island neighborhood studio offering ballet, tap, and contemporary dance because gyms were not yet common. 7. Her older sisters Nanette and Evelyn, who were working, pooled money to pay the roughly five-dollar weekly class fee, a significant sum when the family had approximately twenty dollars. 8. Her sister Nanette, who was married to artist Romare Bearden, escalated Sheila's training by funding Manhattan classes and taking her to see the New York City Ballet Nutcracker. 9. Rohan says she did not believe at that time that a Black ballerina could attain the level of excellence required for a professional stage career, stating she was dancing 'because the love of it' rather than any career plan. 10. At 27, after years away from training due to motherhood, Nanette told her that Arthur Mitchell was auditioning classically trained Black dancers in Harlem, and Sheila attended without disclosing she was a mother of three. 11. Mitchell selected her at the audition with a simple 'You, come back,' and she never volunteered her family status, which she summarizes as 'I just lied.' 12. Her children, who sometimes came to the studio on Saturdays, were instructed to call her their aunt — a deception the family treated as a game. 13. Mitchell's training schedule ran from 9 a.m. — body conditioning, Pilates, company class, hours of rehearsal — through evening sessions, ending late enough that Rohan had to race for the Staten Island Ferry to reach home for school lunches and homework. 14. When Rohan's family situation became apparent as the company prepared for touring, Mitchell's response was 'you should have told me — I could have given you more money,' and her pay increased modestly. 15. Rohan describes Mitchell as capable of cruelty — telling dancers their 'thighs are too big,' calling them 'stupid' for repeating uncorrected mistakes — but says his seniority over her did not land the same way it did for younger dancers who 'got devastated to the point of tears.' 16. She describes her role in the company informally as 'auntie,' saying she and dancer Walter Raines were the oldest members and functioned as a stabilizing presence for younger colleagues. 17. The company's European tour — Italy, Amsterdam — produced audience reactions she found difficult to believe: 'encore after encore' and genuine ovation, prompting her to think 'we can't be that good.' 18. The interview is conducted in a warm, unhurried register, with Balby asking follow-up questions that push Rohan toward specific memories rather than general reflections, and Rohan responding with dry humor and candid admissions. 19. People interested in the history of Black classical ballet, the Dance Theater of Harlem's founding era, or first-person accounts of navigating motherhood inside demanding professional institutions will find this episode valuable. 20. Those seeking choreography technique discussion, a broad survey of the ballet world, or interviews with currently active performers will likely find the pacing and archival focus less engaging.

As heard by us

A grounded oral history of Black ballet, mothering, and being seen.

Sheila Rohan’s path to the Harlem program Arthur Mitchell was starting comes through with real texture. The audition for ballet dancers, the detail that she was a 27-year-old mother of three, the Saturday-school cover story, and the husband who backed her choice all land…

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want one dancer's hard-won memory of building a life in ballet.

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