Robert Garland is the artistic director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, where he was a principal dancer and their first official resident choreographer.
11 Facts About Robert Garland
2.
Robert Garland has choreographed for the New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the Oakland Ballet, among many others.
3.
Robert Garland studied at the School for The Pennsylvania Ballet.
4.
At fifteen years of age, Robert Garland joined The Philadelphia Dance Company, under the direction of Joan Myers Brown, as its youngest member.
5.
Robert Garland has set new and established works for New York City Ballet, Oakland Ballet, and others.
6.
Robert Garland is the first Black choreographer to create a work for The Royal Ballet of London.
7.
Robert Garland has worked for Angelo Ellerbee's PR firm Double XXposure Firm.
8.
Robert Garland is a recipient of the Building Brick Award from the New York Chapter of the National Urban League, and is a member of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where Calvin O Butts III is pastor.
9.
For San Francisco Ballet's 2023 next@90 festival, Robert Garland choreographed a piece set to Mozart's Haffner Serenade with a mix of classical and West African-influenced steps.
10.
Former SF Ballet artistic director Helgi Tomasson contacted Robert Garland after seeing a New York Times article about institutional racism in the dance world where Robert Garland was quoted and asked him to create a piece for SF Ballet.
11.
Robert Garland has two sisters: Lana Garland, a film writer and producer, and Robin Kim Garland Bandura, a physical therapist.