Francesca Harper
{{short description|American dancer and choreographer (born 1969)}}
Francesca Harper (born 1969) is an American dancer and choreographer.
Early life, family and education
Harper is the daughter of dancer and educator Denise Jefferson{{Cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/2/5/francesca_harper_portrait/|title=Artist Spotlight: Francesca Harper {{!}} Arts {{!}} The Harvard Crimson|website=www.thecrimson.com|language=en|access-date=2017-02-25}} who directed The Ailey School and her former husband, attorney and activist John Roy Harper II. She is the niece of Pulitzer Prize winning writer Margo Jefferson.{{Cite book|title=Notable Black American Women Book III|last=Carney Smith|first=Jessie|publisher=Thomson Gale|year=2003|isbn=0-7876-6494-4|location=USA|pages=320}}
Harper was named a scholar of the arts in the Presidential Scholars Program in 1987.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/24/nyregion/presidential-scholars-named.html|title=PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARS NAMED|last=Ap|date=1987-05-24|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2017-02-25|issn=0362-4331}} She studied at the School of American Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet School.
Career
= Dance career =
Early in Harper's career she was a soloist with Dance Theater of Harlem.{{Cite web |last=Harper |first=Francesca |date=2023 |title=Unapologetic Body, Herstory |url=https://www.streamingmuseum.org/francesca-harper |access-date=December 17, 2023 |website=The Streaming Museum}} She was a principal dancer in William Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt from 1994 to 1999.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/2/5/francesca_harper_portrait/|title=Artist Spotlight: Francesca Harper {{!}} Arts {{!}} The Harvard Crimson|website=www.thecrimson.com|language=en|access-date=2017-02-25}} In 2005, she founded the non-profit dance company The Francesca Harper Project.{{Cite web |title=Artist Spotlight: Francesca Harper {{!}} Arts {{!}} The Harvard Crimson |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/2/5/francesca_harper_portrait/ |access-date=2017-02-25 |website=www.thecrimson.com |language=en}}
After deliberation by Robert Battle, artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Bennett Rink, Director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Harper was named artistic director of The Alvin Ailey II Company in 2021.{{Cite news |last=Kourlas |first=Gia |date=September 1, 2021 |title=Ailey II Names a New Artistic Director |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/arts/dance/ailey-ii-artistic-director-francesca-harper.html |access-date=December 17, 2023}}
= Film work =
Harper was a ballet consultant for the film Black Swan,{{Citation|last=Portman|first=Natalie|title=Black Swan|date=2010-12-17|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/?ref_=nm_flmg_msc_1|last2=Kunis|last3=Cassel|last4=Hershey|first2=Mila|first3=Vincent|first4=Barbara|accessdate=2017-02-25}} and has appeared as a dancer in the television series Boardwalk Empire.{{Citation|last=Buscemi|first=Steve|title=Spaghetti and Coffee|date=2012-09-23|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2392711/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast|last2=Macdonald|last3=Shannon|last4=Whigham|first2=Kelly|first3=Michael|first4=Shea|accessdate=2017-02-25}} She is currently engaged as an Executive Producer with Sony Pictures to develop a new project.{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Francesca Harper |url=https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/h/ha-hn/francesca-harper/ |access-date=December 17, 2023 |website=The Kennedy Center}}
Awards
Long Island University honored Harper with a Living History award during Black History Month in 2013.{{Cite web |title=Tribute to Excellence in Black Culture : Seawanhaka Press {{!}} LIU Brooklyn |url=http://www.seawanhakapress.com/2013/02/14/tribute-to-excellence-in-black-culture/ |access-date=2017-02-28}}
References
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20050413074538/http://www.thefrancescaharperproject.org/ The Francesca Harper Project]}}
- [https://www.alvinailey.org/about/ailey-ii Ailey II] on [https://www.alvinailey.org/ Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater]
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Category:American female dancers