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The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood, a legacy erased from history - until now.. At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarca was a Black prima ballerina with a major international dance company - the Dance Theatre of Harlem, a troupe of women and men who became each other's chosen family. She was the first Black ballerina on the cover of Dance magazine, an Essence cover star; she was cast in The Wiz and in a Bob Fosse production on Broadway. She performed in some of ballet's most iconic works with other trailblazing ballerinas, including the young women who became her closest friends - founding Dance Theatre of Harlem members Gayle McKinney-Griffith and Sheila Rohan, as well as first-generation dancers Karlya Shelton and Marcia Sells.