An American Ballet Story: Screening and Conversation

L-R Linda Strickler, Rebekah Harkness, Unknown Dancer, Harper’s BAZAAR November 1966

A Documentary about Rebekah Harkness and the Founding of the Harkness Ballet

Followed by a Q&A with Moderator Walter Rutledge, Editor-in-Chief of Out & About Magazine at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on April 20 at 6:00 p.m.

An American Ballet Story, a documentary about Rebekah Harkness that takes us into the stages and studios of the Harkness Ballet through the stories of the dancers who were there, will be screened at the Bruno Auditorium at the New York Public Library at the Performing Arts at 111 Amsterdam Avenue in NYC on Thursday, April 20 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with producers Leslie Streit and Robin McCain led by Walter Rutledge, a former dancer with the Harkness Ballet and editor-in-chief of Out & About NYC. The performance is FREE to the public with a reservation.

Synopsis:
1964 – A time of major shifts in civil rights, women’s and gay rights. New York City was alive – you could feel it on the streets. The Joffrey Ballet splits in two over a struggle for artistic control and the HARKNESS BALLET bursts onto the American arts scene. Bold and controversial, the Harkness revolutionizes the way dance is performed forever.

The Harkness Ballet produced two international touring companies, a youth ballet and its very own theater. They were invited to perform at the White House, seen on national TV and were an international sensation wherever they toured.

Founder Rebekah Harkness gave opportunities to emerging American artists no matter their race or heritage. Her goal was to create a truly American dance company. Yet she was hated by the New York critics and faced never-ending misogyny and ridicule. Ultimately the companies failed. But Rebekah had begun a movement of contemporary art, music and dance that still impacts artists and audiences today.

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AN AMERICAN BALLET STORY: DOCUMENTARY SCREENING AND CONVERSATION

An American Ballet Story is a documentary about Rebekah Harkness and the founding of the Harkness Ballet that takes us into the stages and studios by the stories of the dancers who were there. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the producers Leslie Streit and Robin McCain moderated by Walter Rutledge, editor-in-chief of Out & About Magazine.

Thursday, April 19, from 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Bruno Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at 111 Amsterdam Avenue in NYC.

FREE to the public with a reservation. Direct link.

Biographies

An American Ballet Story is a documentary about Rebekah Harkness and the founding of the Harkness Ballet that takes us into the stages and studios by the stories of the dancers who were there. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the producers Leslie Streit and Robin McCain moderated by Walter Rutledge, editor-in-chief of Out & About Magazine.

Thursday, April 19, from 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Bruno Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at 111 Amsterdam Avenue in NYC

FREE to the public with a reservation. Direct link

Leslie Streit, Director/Producer

Leslie Streit’s 2005 feature film, God Wears My Underwear, a documentary-narrative hybrid, tied the 1940s Jewish Holocaust to the 1950s genocide in Tibet. It was screened at several international festivals, including XXVII Festival Internazionale Cinema e Donne, DNA Film Festival in Toronto (won Best Film), WCFF, M- SPIFF, NYIIFVF and IFFS.

Her short films have been syndicated on television stations around the US and broadcast on KTEH (PBS). Honors include Selected Artist at the Hong Kong Arts Biennial 2002, a 2009 Webby Special Mention and several screenplay awards. Streit co-produced the historic VD2001 widely recognized as the first dramatic series on the web with support from Intel Corporation and several other Silicon Valley tech companies.

A second feature documentary Elly and Henry (2017) aka “The Inventor Who Escaped the Nazis”, is distributed by Espresso Media International and can be seen on Amazon Prime and several other online platforms. In 2021 she directed and co-produced an experimental short, 95 Days, about climate change that has received several international awards for best experimental film and best female director. A third documentary feature, An American Ballet Story has just completed a one-year festival run and won several awards including Best Documentary and Best Director. An experimental film The Ghost Stories Project is in the works. In addition, her company Cinematiks won the 2021 and 2022 San Francisco Award for the Film & Entertainment Industry.

Robin McCain, Producer

Robin Elaine McCain is a pioneer in applied multimedia, computer graphics and theatrical productions. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) where she has served as a board member of PGA NorthWest and on the PGA Documentary and Nonfiction Committee.

McCain has also been a member of USITT, Bay Area Video Coalition and Film Arts Foundation/SFFILM. She also co-produced and starred in the online comedy cooking series, The Evil Auntie Show, winner of a 2009 Webby award and co-produced VD 2001 recognized by many to be the first dramatic series on the web.

McCain co-produced the 2014 documentary Elly and Henry, currently appearing on Amazon and Amazon Prime, about the architect of the first solar house in America and received the Producers Mark, p.g.a., for her work.

In addition to An American Ballet Story she is co-producing The Ghost Stories Project about ghost sightings in California.

Walter Rutledge, Moderator

Walter Rutledge, choreographer, playwright and director, is a cultural commentator who writes on dance, theatre, fine art, fashion and literature. In 2014, he teamed up with the model and actor Adewale Adekanbi to create the popular online entertainment publication Out and About NYC Magazine. Rutledge is presently Out and About’s Editor-in-Chief.

A dance graduate of Temple University, Rutledge began his professional career at the Harkness House for Ballet Arts; advancing from scholarship student, to dancer, to school administrator and company manager of the last touring company. During his tenure with the Harkness Ballet Foundation, he was given the opportunity and encouragement to develop his choreographic and directorial skills. He became choreographer-in- residency and associate artistic director with the Nanette Bearden Contemporary Dance Theatre where he worked and collaborated with world-renowned collage artist Romare Bearden.