TheresaRuthHoward

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

I agree. Trust me when I posted the article I never anticipated the level of participation for the #ROLLCALL. it has been very moving and inspiring and yes I am thinking of the ways and means to preserve this information and make it readily available to people who are interested...

If that is truly the case and she did not know, then all the more reason for the history to be known, Paloma would never be like "Makarova who?" right that would be crazy! When I interviewed her 3 years ago I did mention Sims, and Kimball adn she nodded in acknowledgement so I believe that she (perhaps not her people) knew. She did a project with DTH and rehearsed in the building so the she visited the house of the Black Ballerinas so she is aware , but I think the narrative is being driven by many not just one. I think there are many peolple in the equation that make a great deal of money off of the idea of "being the first" and only... it's much sexier to say that she is the first african american to dance the lead in swan lake than to say she's the 4th or 5th -- and the 3rd to do it with a partner of color...not so sexy. I think that if journalists come with factual information, then if in fact she did not know she can in that moment get the "ah hah" Oprah moment and everyone would be the better for it.

I think that this is well stated. We hope that once they experience the ballet (opera, theater) they will fall in love, or at least in interest and what to come back regardless as to who is dancing. I think that When Misty is cast you will always see a greater number of people of color than any other evening, and that's ok, but perhaps little by little it will change. I do think that havigng more diversity will help. if you look at companies who are more diverse Alvin Ailey, Philadanco, DTH Ballet Hispanico (and I know I will be slammed because the names I will list are African American companies...but in reality these are primarily the places where you see diverity on ALL levels so...) you see a much more diverse audience. This is because people gernerally like to see themselves represented, they like to feel a part of something...And Ballet being an elitest artform for many African Americans, they might feel as though they don't even belong in the audience...but that is a larger social discussion not for here. I think that the Washington Ballet Swan Lake proved that "If you build it, they will come". And I will tell you for a non-ballet lover Swan Lake is a eyeful! lol

When I said we "Endured" the first half I was speakign to the fact that on that particular night a GREAT portion of the audience was there to see Misty. We were like little children anxious to get to dessert and "enduring"dinner, even though dinner was great ( personally I loved the first half) Wendy Perron and I covered that program, SHE (then editor of Dance Mag) asked me to join her, for that program to cover Firebird. It was an event, the main event on that night, we did a See and Say on it http://dancemedia.com/v/7261. It was a great program, I'll point out what you missed inrecalling the night, Kevin Macenzie was ALSO being honored, and that was even a bit over shadowed because of Misty's debut. I was simply pointing out how important that night was for that partcular audience...

What you are sayign is true however I would like to say that if I did edit the Wikipedia page, it would have ot be from memory, I was not there at the beginning, or the middle..however DTH has a well preserved archive containing names, dates, theaters, casting, reviews...For the sake of accuracy I would think that DTH would WANT to be the one to handle the posting of their history. Why come at ME for simple pointing out how imcomplete that page is? and challenging them to do better?