Jones-Haywood School of Ballet
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The Jones-Haywood School of Ballet, now known as The Jones-Haywood Dance School, was founded in 1941 by Doris W. Jones and Claire Haywood in Washington D.C. to teach young dancers of color classical ballet.[1]
Its students have gone on to dance with Alvin Ailey , Philadanco, Dutch National Ballet, The Washington Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, on Broadway, and also become choreographers, actors and dance educators.[2] Famous alumni include Chita Rivera, Hinton Battle, Sylvester Campbell, Louis Johnson and Sandra Fortune-Green.[3][4]
Jones and Haywood also founded the Capitol Ballet Company, a racially integrated professional ballet troupe that operated from 1961 to 1989. The school was also home to the Jones-Haywood Dancers.[5]
Haywood died in 1978 and Jones died in 2006. The school is now directed by Sandra Fortune-Green.[6]