Greg Stevens's video: Paul Russell performs John Henry 1975

Paul Russell, dancer of Dance Theater of Harlem and the San Francisco Ballet, dancing to "John Henry", performed by Harry Belafonte. This aired in 1975 on the PBS program "Vegetable Soup." Born in Texas, Paul Russell was trained in New York City at the School of American Ballet and the Dance Theater of Harlem School. He made his debut as a performer in 1970, with the Hartford Ballet, and he joined the Harlem company in 1971. In 1977, he left the Harlem company to go to Leningrad to study with Natalya Dudinskaya, the director of the Kirov Ballet school. He performed with the Scottish National Ballet in Glasgow, where he danced Siegfried, before joining the San Francisco Ballet, where he danced from 1981 to 1986. He began to choreograph after a hip injury forced him to retire from performing. In 1988, he became artistic director of the American Festival Ballet of Boise, in Idaho. Paul Russell died from complications with AIDS at the age of 43 in 1991. He was survived by his partner, Randy Griffin.