When Judy Tyrus, ChromaDiverse founder and CEO, first saw Black ballerinas like herself on stage, she was not just elated, but filled with determination. Decades later, that same drive pushes her to pursue equity in the documentation and preservation of diverse dance legacies that are at risk of being lost through her 501(c)(3) nonprofit, ChromaDiverse.
Judy was born in 1960s California to an interracial Black and Japanese couple. Marriages like that of her parents were still widely disapproved of, as was the inclusion of Black dancers in classical ballet. Nonetheless, Judy would go on to play a vital role in the evolution of dance.
Judy’s parents, Satoko and Jack Tyrus. Photo credit: Courtesy of Judy Tyrus.
After training at the Oakland Ballet Company for seven years during her childhood and teens, Judy’s 31-year career with Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) commenced. Enthralled by a DTH performance in San Francisco, where she finally saw herself reflected on stage, Judy auditioned for a role in the company and was accepted as an apprentice, taking her to New York City at 16 years old.
Left: Judy’s first soloist role with Oakland Ballet Company. Photo credit: Courtesy of Judy Tyrus.
Right: Dance Theatre of Harlem Company, 1969. Photo credit: Unknown.
A Dancer’s Journey into the Archives
Over the span of Judy’s 22-year dance career, during which she advanced to principal dancer, she traveled six continents, going from London to Soviet-era Moscow with the company; these early years of DTH’s history were documented by photographers Marbeth Schnare, Jack Vartoogian, and Martha Swope, whose photos make up a significant portion of the DTH archive. “I remember dancing for Princess Diana in London and meeting celebrities like Michael Jackson, Sidney Poitier, and Cicely Tyson,” said Judy. “The women in the company needed escorts in Moscow because it was too dangerous for Black women to be out alone.” Her experiences as a Black ballerina with a Black ballet company represent DTH’s collective defiance against the Eurocentric standards that dominated ballet.
Left: The Company meeting Princess Diana after a performance in London, 1988. Photo credit: Unknown.
Right: Sidney Poitier and Arthur Mitchell watching a company rehearsal. Photo credit: Marbeth, courtesy of ChromaDiverse, DTH Book Extras.
When Judy retired from dance, Arthur Mitchell, the co-founder and artistic director of DTH, entrusted her with the role of company archivist and curator. In 2009, she curated the first major retrospective exhibition about the company at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts: Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts. She toured with the exhibition to major African American museums across the US, bringing visibility to DTH as a vital part of American history. Judy was beginning a project that continues today: preserving the trailblazing legacy of DTH so that it could become accessible for future generations.
Left: Poster for the exhibition. Illustration by Hilary Knight, 1987.
Right: Judy Tyrus installing an original costume from the ballet Firebird at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 2009. Photo credit: Courtesy of Judy Tyrus.
A collection of DTH posters alongside a handmade quilt that was presented to DTH in February 1993 by the Women of Color Quilters Network. Designed by Marie Wilson, this collection depicts many of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s signature ballets, including Firebird, Giselle, A Streetcar Named Desire, Medea, Dougla, and Forces of Rhythm.
The DTH archive is split between DTH headquarters and a New Jersey warehouse; both locations lack archival protection features. When Judy started caring for the archive in 2008, she found boxes of intermingled performance programs, posters, press articles, photographs, and deteriorating videos, all lacking inventories or updated cataloguing systems. With support from grant funding, she organized, remediated, and digitized large portions of the archive and completely inventoried the video and program collections, which stood at almost 5,000 items.
Comingled archival materials in the Development/Marketing office at Dance Theatre of Harlem. Photo credit: Judy Tyrus, 2008. The photo in the middle is of Zelda Wynn Valdez, a pioneering black costume designer whose work in fashion, performance, and dance changed the realm of possibilities for Black performers working against long–held, bigoted beliefs. She was DTH’s costume designer from 1969 through the 1990s.
Left: Archival Space before organizing, 2008. Photo Credit: Judy Tyrus
Right: Archival Space after being organized by Judy Tyrus, 2009. Photo Credit: Judy Tyrus
Left: Garbage can with archival materials from Arthur Mitchell’s office. Photo credit: Judy Tyrus
Right: Archival oversight saved this letter from Hilary Clinton to Arthur Mitchell from peril. Photo credit: Judy Tyrus
A History, A Movement, A Celebration: The Birth of ChromaDiverse
In 2014, Judy realized that the books being written about classical ballet overlooked DTH, so she and co-author Paul Novosel, former DTH pianist, began working on their book, Dance Theatre of Harlem: A History, A Movement, A Celebration. The project became the first authorized, objective, and well-researched history of DTH, from its beginnings following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination into the present. The book would be nominated for a NAACP Image Award in nonfiction in 2021.
Judy was also eager to share the trove of archival materials that she had spent years stewarding with a wider audience, to bring recognition to all those in the DTH orbit who had helped redefine what was acceptable in ballet—not just white bodies, but dancers of all colors, cultures, and ethnicities, laying the foundation for the diversity in dance that we celebrate today.
Dance Theatre of Harlem Company. Photo Credit: Eduardo Patino.
Judy’s intimate familiarity with the difficulties of keeping an archive safe, secure, and accessible—particularly for a dance company with limited resources—spurred her to found ChromaDiverse (CD), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to preserving, protecting, and amplifying dance legacies, especially those that are overlooked. After receiving contractual permission from DTH to use its name and archival materials for the book, which mostly came from photographers and alumni, the team at CD identified and contacted those in the photos, as well as all the photographers, requesting their consent to have their work featured in the book and obtaining signed releases. CD’s agreement with DTH provided DTH with the right to review the manuscript prior to the book’s printing. Virginia Johnson, a founding member and the artistic director of DTH at the time, reviewed the manuscript and approved it for publication. Judy had also originally offered to care for, digitize, and make the entire DTH archive accessible free of charge, respecting all ownership rights, with CD’s help. This offer was declined by DTH.
So far, CD has created ten digital archives representing eight dance companies, one individual artist, and one as an addendum to the DTH book. This addition, called DTH Book Extras, contains photos, press, performance programs, and more that didn’t make it into the book due to length constraints. Set to launch in February 2026, the DTH Book Extras digital archive will make another portion of DTH’s legacy accessible online, offering a rich resource in Black history, dance studies, media studies, and beyond, as well as a source of inspiration.
But there’s something missing.
Marbeth Schnare in a self-portrait, date unknown.