Virginia Johnson

was born in 1950 in Washington DC. Virginia began her training at 3 years old with Therrell Smith, the only black ballet teacher in the area at that time. On a full scholarship, at 13 she studied with Mary Day at Washington School of Ballet and graduated from the Academy of the Washington School of Ballet at the top of her class. She went on to be a university student in the School of the Arts at New York University before joining Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969 as a founding member  and stayed for 28 years retiring in 1997.

Virginia danced the leading roles in the DTH productions of  A Streetcar Named Desire for Dance in America on PBS, Creole Giselle, which was the first full-length ballet broadcast on NBC, and Fall River Legend, which won a cable ACE award from the Bravo Network. In addition, she was included in two acclaimed television dance series, Margot Fonteyn’s The Magic of Dance and Natalia Makarova’s Ballerina. Also well recognized as a choreographer, her credits include the television film “Ancient Voices of Children” in which she danced and an early self-produced solo concert for Rae Metzger’s Concert Socials. Later choreographic works include ballets created for Goucher College, Dancers Respond to AIDS, the Second Annual Harlem Festival of the Arts, Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center and Marymount Manhattan College, where she was also an adjunct professor. The latter two projects were an outgrowth of Dancers Making Dances, a collaborative choreographic project with former DTH colleagues, Judy Tyrus and Melanie Person. 

After retiring from performing, Ms. Johnson pursued a degree in communications from Fordham and founded Pointe Magazine, where she was editor-in-chief from 2000-2009. Johnson returned to DTH in 2009 as artistic director, at the request of Arthur Mitchell to replace him and charged with bringing back the touring company that had been on hiatus since 2004. She was successful in bringing the company back to life and in 2013 DTH made its resurrected debut. She continues to help the company thrive to this day. Her honors include a Young Achiever Award from the National Council of Women, Outstanding Young Woman of America, a Dance Magazine Award, a Pen and Brush Achievement Award, Washington Performing Arts Society’s 2008-2009 Pola Nirenska Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2009 Martha Hill Fund Mid-Career Award. As an advocate for giving back, she volunteers with New York Cares.

Find her on Instagram: @virginia_johnsondth