The 39th Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1957, 14-year-old Carlotta Walls was the youngest Little Rock Nine member to integrate Central High School. She and eight other Black students faced angry mobs, racist elected officials, and federal intervention by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was forced to send in the 101st Airborne to escort the Nine safely into the building. Little did she realize that day that this was the beginning of a journey that would challenge prevailing attitudes, break down barriers, and forever change the social landscape of America.

After graduating from Little Rock Central High School in 1960, Carlotta Walls attended Michigan State University and graduated from Colorado State College—now the University of Northern Colorado, which has awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters and on whose board of trustees she sits. In addition to receiving the Congressional Gold Medal and the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal, Carlotta Walls LaNier is an inductee in the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, Girl Scouts Women of Distinction, and the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She serves as president of the Little Rock Nine Foundation, created to promote equality of opportunity for all, particularly in the field of education.

Founded in 1974 as the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, Ailey II has advanced Alvin Ailey’s vision by giving early-career dancers the vital experience of transitioning from training as a student to becoming a professional performer. Ailey II dancers bring their technical mastery and emotional depth to works by the most daring established and emerging choreographers. Just as Ailey envisioned, the company continues to expand the audience for dance through global touring and community-based performances. 

Sylvia Waters, the company’s first artistic director, was personally chosen by Ailey and led the company for 38 seasons. In September 2021, Francesca Harper became artistic director. A former Ailey School student who has choreographed for both AILEY companies, Harper guides Ailey II with her unique perspective, paying homage to Ailey’s legacy while taking the company in bold, new directions. Under Harper’s direction, Ailey II is forging a new path for modern dance: one that’s inclusive, experimental, and transformative.

The Fire Ensemble Inc. is a community-centered production company that creates revolutionary new work rooted in music, ritual, and revelation by gathering through choirs that foster collective liberation. At the center of the company is The Fire Ensemble, an intergenerational pop-up choir community that centers BIPOC and queer folx who rehearse, workshop, and perform in transformative large-scale music theater works and rituals rooted in predominantly Black musical styles including gospel, R&B, and musical theater. Although performances are moments of culmination and expand the circle of sharing, the emphasis of our projects are on the process, and the space of community that is built through gathering.

Troy Anthony is a Kentucky-born composer, director, and theater-maker based in NYC rigorously practicing Black queer joy. He is the Founding Creative Director of Fire Ensemble Inc., where he focuses on the intersection between music theater, community practice, and social justice. He has presented work at 54 Below,  JACK, Joe’s Pub, Prospect Theater Company, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Commissions include 5th Avenue Theater, The Civilians, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theater, St. Louis Rep, and The Shed, where he’s completing the final year of a three-year residency. Troy has over 15 years of experience in youth and community development work with organizations such as the Kentucky Center's Governor's School for the Arts, the Vermont Governor's Institute on the Arts, and the Public Theater. He was the first Director of Legacy and Internship Programs at the DreamYard Project in the Bronx, where he focused on the importance of emerging leadership.