Karen Warrington used to be a lead dancer and choreographer with the Arthur Hall Afro-American Dance Ensemble, right from the company’s founding in 1967. The North Philly native grew up in the 1950s idolizing ballet dancers like Essie Marie Dorsey, Sydney King, Marion Cuyjet, and Philadelphia Dance Company founder Joan Myers Brown.
Each of those women infused African, Caribbean, and modern dance rhythms into traditional ballet practices and wasintegral in shaping Philadelphia’s dance community. They inspired young Black girls who faced immense gatekeeping when attending racially segregated ballet institutions, including a young Warrington.