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 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. Harper was named a scholar of the arts in the

Presidential Scholars Program The United States Presidential Scholars Program is a program of the United States Department of Education. It is described as "one of the nation's highest honors for high school students" in the United States of America. The program was establ ...

in 1987. She studied at the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

and the

Joffrey Ballet School The Joffrey Ballet is an American dance company and training institution in Chicago, Illinois. The Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at the Civic Opera House, including its annual ...

Career

Dance career

Early in Harper's career she was a soloist with

Dance Theater of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...

. She was a principal dancer in William Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt from 1994 to 1999. In 2005, she founded the non-profit dance company The Francesca Harper Project. After deliberation by

Robert Battle Robert Battle (born August 28, 1972) is a dancer, choreographer, and the former Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Early life and education Robert Battle was born on August 28, 1972 in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally fr ...

, artistic director of the

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Founded in 1958, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is the largest modern dance company in the United States.Dance Data Project (October 2024) 2024 Largest Contemporary and Modern Companies Report 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.

Film work

Harper was a ballet consultant for the film

Black Swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...

, and has appeared as a dancer in the television series

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter for the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s. The series sta ...

. She is currently engaged as an Executive Producer with

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

to develop a new project.

Awards

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...

honored Harper with a ''Living History'' award during

Black History Month Black History Month is an annually observed commemorative month originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the Af ...

in 2013.

References

External links

*
Ailey II
o
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Francesca 1969 births Living people American female dancers American dancers Joffrey Ballet School alumni School of American Ballet alumni