Talley Beatty - Dance Background

Dance Background

Beatty began studying dance at the age of fourteen with Katherine Dunham. He learned her style of dancing which was heavily based on her African and Caribbean studies of dance in the West Indies. He was a part of Dunham’s company and performed in several shows with them. He also trained under Martha Graham in the 1940s. He left the Dunham troupe in 1946 to continue his studies in New York. He took ballet lessons in New York, but because he was African American he was forced to attend dance classes in the early mornings or late nights in a dressing room while classes were going on in an adjacent studio.

Beatty continued his work as a solo artist and choreographer. He explored a variety of different dance roles and styles. He appeared in films such as Maya Deren's A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945) and stage shows such as Helen Tamiris’s revue Inside U.S.A. (1948). He danced in Broadway musicals such as Cabin in the Sky. He was nominated for a Tony Award in 1977 for choreography for the Broadway show Your Arms Too Short to Box with God (1976).

He also danced in nightclubs, for musical theater, and on the concert stage. He even did a minstrel ballet titled Blackface. Beatty also choreographed for a variety of choreographers including Ruth Page, Lew Christiansen, George Balanchine, and Syvilla Fort. He choreographed over fifty ballets and did work in America and Europe.