kbarber Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Of course from the past, Lydia Abarca and Paul Russell who danced for DTH but whom I saw in Ruth Page's Nut as guest Sugar Plum and Prince. More up to date Michaela DePrince, who has left DTH for Holland I think? Yes she has joined Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company Link to comment
Carl Steeg MD Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Mel Tomlinson was a soloist at NYCB. Yes, and Mel A. Tomlinson should have been a principal - he was truly unique!! Presently, NYCB's Craig Hall is a soloist who should also be promoted. Other recent past black male dancers include Henry Seth, Darius Crenshaw, Sam Greenberg, and James (I think that was his first name) Johnson. There have definitely been more black male than female dancers with NYCB. Link to comment
Carl Steeg MD Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Mel Tomlinson was a soloist at NYCB. Yes, and Mel A. Tomlinson should have been a principal - he was truly unique!! Presently, NYCB's Craig Hall is a soloist who should also be promoted. Other recent past black male dancers include Henry Seth, Darius Crenshaw, Sam Greenberg, and James (I think that was his first name) Johnson. There have definitely been more black male than female dancers with NYCB. Oh, and I omitted the brilliant Silas Farley who is a recent corps member Link to comment
Tapfan Posted December 21, 2013 Author Share Posted December 21, 2013 Thanks to everyone for your responses. I realize that on the list of really important things, the dearth of active, black, female classical dancers is pretty low. And it's not as if my wee one doesn't love ballet dancers who happen to be white or Asian. It's just that we can't resist checking the head shots at major company sites hoping to find young, black, women who were obviously bitten by the ballet bug at my youngster's age. Our little one knows about Raven Wilkinson, Lauren Anderson, Tai Jimenez and Victoria Johnson. But their careers can seem like ancient history to children and adults alike. We also were aware of Kimberly Braylock at San Francisco Ballet, Christina Spigner at Miami City Ballet, Misty Copeland and Courtney Lavine at American Ballet Theater, Erica Lynette Edwards and Dara Holmes at Joffrey and Katlyn Addison and Whitney Huell at Ballet West. But somehow, we missed the fact that Miss Boisson had been hired at NYC Ballet. Baby steps! Yea! Link to comment
sandik Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 Thanks to everyone for your responses. I realize that on the list of really important things, the dearth of active, black, female classical dancers is pretty low. Oh my dear, do not downplay the issue. Just like every other public profession, we want all our kids to find examples of themselves in the adult world they hope to enter. We are in the messy middle of this long process -- things are not as dire as they were in the recent past, but we still have work to do. By encouraging the kids around us to explore their skills and interests we tell them that these pursuits are valued, and that the world is full of people who persevered and achieved -- that's a truly valuable lesson. Link to comment
kbarber Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 tapfan, you might want to check out the National Ballet of Canada's headshots: Tanya Howard, first soloist: http://national.ballet.ca/thecompany/firstsoloists/ Jenna Savella, second soloist: http://national.ballet.ca/thecompany/secondsoloists/ Adji Cissoko, corps de ballet: http://national.ballet.ca/thecompany/corps/ Link to comment
Jelly Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I attended the next to last performance of NYCB's Nutcracker yesterday afternoon. I thought it was a nice touch that Olivia Boisson and a new African American man in the company were cast as parents of two African American children in the party scene. I know that SAB has been holding community auditions around the city to attract more minority students but thus far there are many more Asian than African American children in the casts. Link to comment
mnmom Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 You may be interested to know that Balancing Pointe interviewed Olivia Boisson recently for a podcast. It's available free on iTunes podcasts, Episode #16. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/balancingpointe-journey-into/id764593885?mt=2 Link to comment
TheresaRuthHoward Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Thanks to everyone for your responses. I realize that on the list of really important things, the dearth of active, black, female classical dancers is pretty low. And it's not as if my wee one doesn't love ballet dancers who happen to be white or Asian. It's just that we can't resist checking the head shots at major company sites hoping to find young, black, women who were obviously bitten by the ballet bug at my youngster's age. Our little one knows about Raven Wilkinson, Lauren Anderson, Tai Jimenez and Victoria Johnson. But their careers can seem like ancient history to children and adults alike. We also were aware of Kimberly Braylock at San Francisco Ballet, Christina Spigner at Miami City Ballet, Misty Copeland and Courtney Lavine at American Ballet Theater, Erica Lynette Edwards and Dara Holmes at Joffrey and Katlyn Addison and Whitney Huell at Ballet West. But somehow, we missed the fact that Miss Boisson had been hired at NYC Ballet. Baby steps! Yea! This might be late in coming but there is vast adn growing list of AA ballet dancers on the ROLL CALL in the comment secion of my article...If you want to get an idea of how many AA ballet dancers their are/ have been check it out it's very powerful! http://www.mybodymyimage.com/the-misty-rious-case-of-the-vanishing-ballerinas-of-color-where-have-all-the-others-gone?preview=true&preview_id=6057&preview_nonce=f39d161b4d&post_format=standard Link to comment
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