Bernice Johnson collection, 1941-1999

Bernice "B.J" Johnson (1911-2005) was a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, who founded the Bernice Johnson Dance Studio in 1946 in Jamaica, Queens. Born in Portsmouth, Virgina, to a presser and a professional dancer, Johnson studied dance with Grace Giles, Archive Savage and Agnes DeMille; she performed with stars such as Ethel Waters, Redd Foxx, Lena Horne, and Billy Eckstine. She toured with musicals and danced at several New York nightclubs including The Cotton Club. In 1940, Johnson married the jazz saxophonist and arranger Albert "Budd" Johnson. They had one son, Albert; her grandson, also Albert, is better known as the rapper Prodigy of Mobb Deep.

In addition to dance, the school offered drama classes; for some time the Studio included the Malbrough School of Charm, managed by Clyde T. and Vivian Smith. Eventually, Johnson opened the Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center, which housed the Dance Studio. Students from the Studio performed all over New York City, in recitals and at educational and charity events. Senior students in the 1950s appeared on the TV show "Spotlight on Harlem."The dance curriculum was broad, with a special focus on African and Latin dancing.

The Studio enjoyed great longevity and popularity. Johnson taught thousands of students, many of whom had successful arts careers, including Ben Vareen, Ashanti, Michael Peters, Chuck David, Francis Morgan, Beverly Edge of Edge School of Arts and Carolyn DeVore of DeVore Dance Theater.

In 1996 Johnson celebrated fifty years of the Studio with an event at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, hosted by Ben Vereen. In 1998 she was honored at the symposium African American Women Focus on the New Millennium: Economics, Education and the Arts, organized by the Nassau Community College. In 2005 she received a Pioneer Award from the Black Spectrum Theatre. The Arts Center closed in 2000 due to Johnson's declining health. Alumni of her school maintain a website in her honor: https://bjalumni.com/