Arthur Mitchell born March 27, 1934 is an African-American dancer and choreographer who created a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among other awards, he has been recognized as a MacArthur Fellow, inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Hall of Fame, and has received the United States National Medal of Arts and a Fletcher Foundation fellowship.

Mitchell is one of four siblings and grew up in the streets of Harlem, New York. Mitchell had to grow up fast, at the age of 12 Mitchell's father was incarcerated and left the financial responsibility on Mitchell. He had to work numerous jobs to help support his family, Mitchell shinned shoes, mopped floors, delivered newspaper and worked at a meat shop to help his family make ends meet. Despite his strong work ethic and good head on his shoulders, Mitchell was involved in street gangs, but it did not stop him from finding a way out of his neighborhood.

As a young teen in Harlem, New York, Mitchell was encouraged by a guidance counselor who saw his talent to apply to the selective High School of Performing Arts. He was accepted and decided to work toward making a life in classical ballet. When Arthur Mitchell graduated from the High School of Performing Arts in New York City in the early 1950s, he won a dance award and a scholarship to study at the School of American Ballet, the school affiliated with the New York City Ballet. In addition to, in 1954 he performed in the musical House of Flowers, alongside Geoffrey Holder, Alvin Ailey and Pearl Bailey.

Arthur Mitchell may refer to:

Allegra Kent (born August 11, 1937) is an American ballet dancer and actress.

Born in Santa Monica, Kent studied with Bronislava Nijinska and Carmelita Maracci before joining the School of American Ballet. After graduating, she joined the New York City Ballet in 1953 at the age of 15, and was promoted to principal in 1957. Many roles in George Balanchine's ballets were created for her, including Seven Deadly Sins, Ivesiana and Bugaku. She danced the role of Dewdrop in the 1958 Playhouse 90 telecast of Balanchine's version of The Nutcracker.

She performed in such ballets as Serenade, Agon and Dances at a Gathering. She retired in 1981, becoming a ballet teacher, and in 1997 published an autobiography, Once a Dancer. In 2012, Kent published her first book for children, Ballerina Swan, with Holiday House Books for Young People, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Emily Arnold McCully. It has received rave reviews from The New York Times, Kirkus Reviews, and School Library Journal. Allegra currently teaches ballet at Barnard College, the women's college affiliated with Columbia University in the City of New York.

Marlos Nobre (born February 18, 1939 in Recife, Pernambuco) is a Brazilian composer. He has received commissions from numerous institutions, including the Ministry of Culture in Spain, the Free University of Music of São Paulo, the Neuchâtel Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland, The Apollon Foundation in Bremen, Germany and the Maracaibo Music Festival in Venezuela. He has also sat on the juries of numerous international music competitions, including the Cità di Alessandria Prize and the The Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition.

Nobre studied piano and music theory at the Conservatory of Music of Pernambuco from 1948 to 1959, and composition with H. J. Koellreutter and Camargo Guarnieri. When he received a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation, he pursued advanced studies at the Latin American Center in Buenos Aires, alongside Ginastera, Messiaen, Malipiero, Copland and Dallapiccola. He worked also with Alexander Goehr and Gunther Schuller at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood in 1969, where he met Leonard Bernstein. The same year he studied electronic music at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York.

African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States that have ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.

African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States. However, some immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations, or their descendants, may be identified or self-identify with the term.

African-American history starts in the 16th century with African slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón and progresses to the present day, with Barack Obama as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those landmarks there have been events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, including slavery, racism, Reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.