Building Bridges Between Ballerinas of Color and Ballet Companies Ballet Auditions forWomen of Color in Dallas, January 2017


International Association of Blacks in Dance


auditionwhere therewere somany dancers of color. Therewere 87 female dancers traveling fromas far away as Spain to audition before 15 ballet-company directors fromacross the country. The International Association ofBlacks inDance (IABD) hosted themulti-company audi- tion during its annual conference inDenver,Colorado earlier this year.


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“Itwas the first time, a great opportunity, and Iwanted to be a part of an historicmoment,” saidAmandaMorgan,who trained in the ProfessionalDivision of PacificNorthwestBallet School in Seattle, Washington. “Iwas lucky to have the opportunity to study at a presti- gious ballet school and thiswas the final year before hopefully being offered a position in a ballet company.”Amanda started as an appren- ticewith PacificNorthwestBallet (PNB) in September of 2016. She is the secondBlackwoman to be hired by the ballet company.


“The audition played a role inmy hiringAmanda, even though shewas already in our ballet school. She held her own beautifully in the audi- tion and I decided Iwas not going to let another ballet company have her,” said PeterBoal,ArtisticDirector for PacificNorthwestBallet.He also offered two other dancerswho auditioned positions in the ProfessionalDivision of the PNBSchool.


“He offeredme a position as an apprentice even though I brokemy foot,”Amanda said of PeterBoal. “Itwas great that he believed inme. The positionwas unexpected. Itwas amiracle.”


More than 30 dancerswere offered opportunities as a result of the first BalletAudition forWomen ofColor.Maurissa Powell, a 15-year-old high school sophomore fromMadison,Wisconsin took part in a six- week, summer-intensive programatOregonBallet Theatre in Portland this summer after receiving a full scholarship through the IABDballet audition process. “It can be pricey just to audition for one company, so


henAmandaMorgan stepped into the roomfor the InauguralBalletAudition forWomen ofColor in January 2016, she felt a sense of pride. She had never been to an


Pictured:AnnWilliams. Photo:BrianGuilliaux


thiswas an incredible opportunity to audition in front of a panel full of companies that are looking for diverse dancers,” saidMaurissa Powell, who isworking hard to pursue her dreamof becoming a ballerina.


Most of the opportunitieswere for summer intensives or ballet school positions, but that starts the process for a dancer to land a position as an apprentice or part of theCorps deBallet. It can take years for a dancer towork through the pipeline of a ballet company andmany times it startswith an audition for a summer intensive programor an apprenticeshipwhile still a teenager.EvenMistyCopeland came to AmericanBallet Theatre to train at its school beforeworking herway up to become the firstAfricanAmerican to be a principal dancer at the ballet company.“I sawa picture ofMistyCopelandwhen shewas really young and that inspiredme,” saidAmandawho started training in bal- let at an early age.


WhileMistyCopeland broke the glass ceiling forAfricanAmerican female dancers at theAmericanBallet Theatre (ABT) inNewYorkCity, there is still roomformore female dancers of color tomake theirmark in professional ballet companies across the country.


Pictured: IABDaudition. Photo:AdrianVincent page 12 November-January 2017 www.thedancecouncil.org


“There are dancers of color all overAmericawho dreamof being “Ballerinas,” all they need is a chance to be seen or trained,” said Joan MyersBrown, Founder/ExecutiveArtisticDirector of PHILADANCO! The PhiladelphiaDanceCompany and Founder of IABD. “After one director toldme she didn’t knowwhere to find “them,” I decidedwe should find “them” for her and other directors like her. Then see howserious they are about having a diverse company, especiallyBlack female dancers.Wewant ballet companies to look like America. Theywill sometimes hire aBlackmale, but very seldoma Black female”


DANCE!NORTHTEXAS a publication of the dance council of north texas vol. 19 • no. 4


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