What we don't see is sometimes as impactful as what we do.
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| Art by Soniya Hardy |
Images have power! As a young ballerina, I was always deeply moved whenever I had the rare occasion to come across the image of an African-American ballerina. Even as a young child I was aware of the deeply personal and moving nature of such imagery. The strong and beautiful lines projected onto canvas or in print were so exceptionally rare, so poignant—they filled me with inspiration and a sense of belief in myself. Only recently has Disney created a black character in The Princess and the Frog. Upon learning of this important breakthrough, after merely 100 years of filmmaking, I thought to myself, "how wonderful for a little girl of color to go to the theatre and see an animated princess who looks like her." As a young dancer, the absence of self-affirming images had a huge impact on how I felt about myself, and also affected the image I thought I needed to portray to be accepted.
I want to thank the artist like Soniya Hardy, Scott D. Allen, Amy Everhart as well as many other artist who choose to utilize African-American ballerinas.
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| Jazz Lady by Elena |
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| Oopsy Daisy Fine Art for Kids |
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| The Ballerina by Kevin Williams |
AESHAA ASH IS ONE OF THE MOST GRACEFUL BALLERINA I HAVE SEEN. HER MOVES ARE ELEGANT LIKE A DEGAS PAINTING. RYTHMIC FLOW, BALANCE, BEAUTY, AND HARD WORKING TALENT ARE JUST A FEW OF THE WORDS I USE TO DESCRIBE. THERE ARE NOT MANY ADVOCATED AFRICAN AMERICAN BALLERINAS WHO ARE PUBLICIZED AS MS. ASH. BUT THE NUMBERS ARE GROWING. LAUREN ANDERSON IS ANOTHER AFRICAN ARMERICAN WHOM HAS PLEE-AHHHH HER WAY THE CULTURAL ARTS AS A BALLERINA. SHE LIKE ASH IS WELL EDUCATED IN ACADEMICS AND BOTH ARE VITAL CONTRIBUTERS TO AFRICAN AMERICAN BALLERINAS COMING UP. IN PAST WE HAVE WITNESS JUDITH JAMISON DANCE AS A VIRTUOSO BALLERINA FOR THE ALVIN AILEY AFRICAN AMERICAN DANCE TROUPE. MS. JAMISON'S HARD WORK AND CONTRIBUTION HAS BEEN REWARDED AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF MR. AILEY'S TROUPE.
ReplyDeleteWALTTER WEBB (NCCU-ALUMNI)
FREELANCE WRITER