Does anybody know Black Ballet dancers?

Question

Aside from Lady Dunham Aesha Ash or Kitty Phetla?

Answer 1

Hi there - I'm a black dancer.  I am fully trained in ballet and pointe, but tap/jazz/contemporary is my forte.  I think this is such a neat question.  Ever since the pioneers (like Katherine Dunham & Alvin Ailey) have pushed back the walls of segregation, you can't help but to notice that their efforts are amazing.....but nowadays, we still don't see many of our faces outside of the corps.  In many shows I've seen, they have one token ballerina in the ensemble, but all the principle dancers have been white.  

When I was growing up, that always bothered me.  And it always bothered me that while taking ballet, I was constantly being reminded to "tuck" my butt.  (Let me tell you, there is only so much I can tuck! - I'm 5'7, 115 with a dancer's build, just have a little junk in my trunk - lol)

Some say it has to do with racism, some say talent, some say body type, and others say lack of opportunities for black youths.....

Some pioneers of black dance:

- Janet Collins

- Katherine Dunham

- Raven Wilkinson

Some current black dancers:

- Aesha Ash (NYCB)

- Tai Jimenez (Dance Theatre of Harlem)

- Misty Copeland (Boston Ballet)

- Lauren Anderson (Houston Ballet)

- Alicia Graf (with Alvin Ailey)

- Cleopatra Williams (single black corps dancer)

Here are some great articles about it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/arts/d...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1...

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Current professional ballet dancers?

There are many...look at companies like the Dance Theatre of Harlem. There are other professional companies that have a more modern style than classical ballet, but widely known are Alvin Ailey and Alonzo King's LINES.

Some recent famous dancers are Misty Copeland, Lauren Anderson, Tai Jimenez, Alicia J. Graf, Virginia Johnson