I just finished reading an article from the Washington Post dated, “November, 2013” by Lonnie O’ Neal Parker about the face of the African American ballet dancers’ struggle. The following is the Link if you would like to read the article. Very interesting and encouraging. washingtonpost/entertainment/theater_dance/shannon-harkins-the-face-of-african-american-ballet-dancers-struggle/2013/11/26/06c28738-5083-11e3-a7f0-b790929232e1_story.html I am also smiling, really chuckling quite heartedly, as I just received the following photo from our very good friend, Lauren Anderson, former Prima Ballerina of Houston Ballet and now their Education and Outreach Associate. Ms. Anderson as we know it today, is “second” only to Janet Collins as another African American Ballerina who rose to the top of a “major Caucasian classical ballet company in the world”. Ben Stevenson, former Artistic Director of Houston Ballet, when giving Ms. Anderson the role of Alice in Alice in Wonderland was quoted as saying... “Color is Just Art On A Canvas”. In a May, 6, 2007 article published in The New York Times, Gia Kourlas was quoted saying, “Ms. Anderson is The first — and until recently, the only — black woman promoted to the rank of principal at a major American company. In the telephone interview, Ms. Anderson said, “It seems like what matters is if you have a director or a choreographer who has the guts to do it,” But, why should it take guts? It’s art, it’s ballet, it’s dance and it’s for everyone.” Raven Wilkinson, another African American ballerina experiencing difficulty in the ballet world, joined Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as a corps de ballet member in 1954. Rising to soloist during her second season and staying with the company for six years, she became the first African American woman ever hired as a permanent member of a major ballet company. Ultimately she was forced to give up her position in the Ballet Russe when increasingly hostile racism made it impossible for her to tour in the South. After leaving the company, she joined a convent for 8 months before deciding to return to dance. Finding that no other American ballet companies would hire her, Wilkinson went to Holland, where she danced as a soloist with the Dutch National Ballet. In 1974, she returned to America to perform character roles with the New York Metropolitan Opera. Raven Wilkinson currently lives in New York City and continues to perform with the Opera. If you research the rosters of the nation’s top ballet companies, color line is a major problem and always has been. African American dancers are rare, while African American ballerinas are nearly non-existent. Ms. Anderson and the few who have gone before her have defied the odds of the color line. “Where are all the Black Swans”? Where are all of the African American Prima Ballerinas? Many define the title Prima Ballerina as one that has performed all of the leading roles in all of the major classic ballets. Ms. Anderson is one that has accomplished this and Swan Lake was one of them and now Misty Copeland is getting her chance and we congratulate her! So, it appears that Swan Lake is the catalyst or should I say the culprit of it all. Please enjoy these wonderful photos of Lauren Anderson performing Swan Lake and other leading roles defining her as one of the world’s greatest African American Prima Ballerinas P.S. As many of you know, Houston Ballet is the fourth largest ballet company in the United States, with a company of 52 dancers, an annual budget of $20 million and an endowment of $58 million. Hailed by The New York Times as “one of the nation’s best ballet companies, their 115,000 square ft. facility is the largest professional dance company facility of it’s kind constructed in the United States. Ms. Anderson performed with this prestigious ballet company for 25 years, retiring in December, 2007. Lauren Anderson in Swan Lake, partnering with Sean Kelly, Sugar Plum Fairy with Andrew Murphy, in Cleopatra with Timothy OKeefe and Dominic Walsh, with Carlos Acosta in Don Quixote, La Sylphide, Benjamin Brittens Pas De Deux, and Diane and Actaeon
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 15:13:57 +0000
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