workinprogress3

Thursday and Friday night, all 3 pieces were on pointe. The Thursday program slanted Contemporary, but the women in all 3 pieces were on pointe with only Complexions performance a mix of women and men on pointe as well as women/men in flat shoes. The audiences seems to enjoy all 3 pieces, the first and last more than the 2nd from the applause received. And Complexions received a fairly long standing ovation on Thursday night. I had to leave on Friday early. So while not everyone's cup of tea, I believe over the course of the week, there was something for everyone and that is what ballet needs to be.

So sad to see this. But, I am extremely proud of the dancers for standing up and being honest in the interview that their "retirement" was a forced one. The board was taking the easy road by trying to pass off so many as "retirements".

Excellant article except for the many grammatical errors. I have to agree with it's the mom on this. I know many dancers of color both young and older who feel they can't speak up about what the message is missing and who the message has left out. They do talk, amongst themselves, but any glimmer of speaking up leaves them being attacked. I admire Misty, I applaud her talent and her committment to her platform, but the PR team's focus on "firsts" and then when they falter, create another "first" which wasn't a "first" at all. I applaud the author from being willing to say what others have been saying and thinking behind the scenes.

I don't believe you do have to include them under those parameters. The issue we are discussing revolves around Classical Ballet companies. DTH in it's earlier years would fit in that category, but many others would not.

I would not attribute Misty being a trailblazer for many of the dancers you mentioned in the manner I believe you to mean. (Addison, DePrince, Rowser, Perry, etc.) While I am sure all the dancers mentioned admire Misty and are supportive of her successes, even applauding them and looking up to her. It is important not to assume that Misty has somehow helped these dancers land where they are or that she has made the way for them. They have done so at the same time Misty has been on her journey. Let's not lessen their individual successes by making those Misty's doing. It is also important to note the number of African American women dancing in unranked companies. In reality, those women will be the ones who make change. If every African American female dancer is not satisfied until they reach ABT or NYCB, then we will lose a generation of dancers who could be working dancers somewhere turning one voice into many. This in the interim of having a ground swell of more dancers of color training for classical ballet.

Thank you so much for that link to Lauren Anderson's interview. She has been an inspiration to our family as far as dance goes. (and football ) It's interesting to me that only major companies are considered as the epitome of achievement in this thread. Certainly they are "The" epitome of success in the ballet world and should be rewarded as such. But there are a handful of female dancers of color who are currently in medium and small regional companies where there is no ranking of the dancers. Those dancers are performing Principal roles but simply without the title of Principal. This simply because the company doesn't rank any dancers. Sadly, these dancers receive no press because of where they chose to dance. (And yes, some of them chose smaller companies because the opportunity to dance lead roles in classical ballets would be offered sooner than later). I'm happy to see that this year, even though it's likely the ballet press will ignore it, that two African American dancers we know personally will dance the role of Cinderella, Snow Queen and Sugar Plum in small-medium classical ballet companies. And they will have the opportunity to be cast well in other classical ballets for the rest of their seasons. While the companies they dance for are not major companies, the dancers themselves are deserving of credit for dancing the classical roles they are getting to dance. And lucky for them that in both cases they understand that with the exception of Lauren Anderson, they are breaking records. It's just sad that because it's not ABT/NYCB no one will notice. .

Is there someplace other than the IBC webpage to get information on this year's competition? And is there another source of daily information as it occurs?

If I remember correctly it was a search for information on Summer Intensives that brought me here. Came that first time and never left. Wonderful people here and wonderful information.

Does anyone know what ended up happening with this company after the one night performance? We have a former teacher who moved up to join that company with her husband also a dancer. From the last post, it doesn't sound good.

Is there a place to read an article about their defection? I just saw them in Georgia and wondered if that would happen while they were touring.

Not sure of the name, but I checked it out from the Public Library this summer. Check the Kultur Video website as I think it was one of theirs. I have Magic of the Kirov here from the library this week and it appears that I remember it being the same logos,etc.

"In The Heat of the Night" had a ballet episode as well. It was filmed at our studio using some of our students (who didn't make it on camera). Ballet teacher with a former shady past was the topic.

Unfortunately, even in 2002, slowly, carefully and to my dismay rarely. Aesha Ashe had to "fight" a few years ago to get cast in Snow....as the thought was Snow is white....no color, anywhere. If memory serves me correctly, she was Arabian in the Nutcracker that year and the only principal divertissement not also listed in the Snow cast. Casting people of color will depend greatly on the Artisitic director's views as well as the pocket books of the donors who in alot of cases are still very old in thought. These are the people who profess their hearts are clear of racist thoughts but would complain or be uncomfortable if Romeo was of color and Juliet was not. There are several places (Houston, Atlanta, Miami, etc) where casting the best dancer for the part has been done successfully regardless of hair color, ethnicity, etc. But there are some places where they are still fighting this part of the battle and how to deal with it.

Piccolo, I wholeheartedly agree. We're too hard on the movie or any dance movies for that matter. Sure, it was cheesy. Sure, it was strangely written in alot of places. But, it did bring our art back to the "Joe Sixpack" masses. Dance is a hard thing to portray realistically unless it is in a documentary sort of arena. So, sometimes whether we really like them or not.....we need to buy the video, go to the theatre, and see them. So that it will give the impression that there is a market for them. Someone will get it right every 10 movies or so and then we'll be glad we did.

Piccolo, I wholeheartedly agree. We're too hard on the movie or any dance movies for that matter. Sure, it was cheesy. Sure, it was strangely written in alot of places. But, it did bring our art back to the "Joe Sixpack" masses. Dance is a hard thing to portray realistically unless it is in a documentary sort of arena. So, sometimes whether we really like them or not.....we need to buy the video, go to the theatre, and see them. So that it will give the impression that there is a market for them. Someone will get it right every 10 movies or so and then we'll be glad we did.