Black Swan

In many industries, race has always been a controversial issue. But, there's been some light on the other side of the very grim and whithering hill, mostly in the past year, even. From seeing more and more top Black models on the high-fashion scene to seeing the first African-American President lead a country, we have come a long way...in a sense.

But there is one field that is still in the dark, a field so far from change, that it is in the abyss of a black hole, sitting in the pits of hell on the dark side of the hill....

...Ballet.

The Ballet industry has maybe only seen 5 dancers in Major Ballet Companies in the history of dance, 2 of them being Principal's. Houston Ballet's Lauren Anderson and Boston Ballet's Tai Jiminez, who was forced to step down due to injuries. And that's all folks.

Being black myself, as well as a dancer, it bothers me.

Although, I think the Ballet world is completely biased in general, really.

They lie to people constantly, telling you that you "have a great deal of potential," but then you get cut from the audition at the end of the day cuz you "need to focus on your weight," or something like that.

At this point, people are like "Wait what? But i thought you said that i was..." Yeah. That's how it goes.

Here's the School of American Ballet's criteria for getting into their school. All dancers must be:

-skinny

-have good feet

-"pretty" (in an SAB sense)
-preferably white...sadly

here's their motto:

"We dont care if you suck, if you fit the criteria you'll definitely get in."

I'm not saying that all black people get rejected because of their race. Some of them actually aren't good. But at the same time we aren't perfect. All I'm saying is that the dancers that are good have definitely been put in the shadows. And something needs to be done about it.

For your eyeballs:

Here's a video of the Black Swan Pas de Deux from the ballet "Swan Lake" performed by American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancers Gillian Murphy and Angel Corella. It's in 2 parts by the way.

Here's a New York Times article on the issue of Black women in the dance industry (or lack there of).

It's really quite interesting.

This is the music video for Thom Yorke's song "Black Swan." It has absolutely nothing to do with racism or even dance for that matter,

i just thought it was a good song. He he he.

So for all you aspiring dancers out there, i say go for it. Times will change...eventually. Work hard and take your dance seriously, man. Prove those cocky, ignorant ballet directors wrong. We can make a difference!

A little somthin' somthin' i wrote. i am not responsible for any suicides from reading this...im sorry in advance.

waiting for that chance in front of the shadows

passion for the weak, the heavy-hearted

standing alone

blistering soul

The lights are out again.

I'm standing in the dark,

standing in the dark,

waiting for that chance.

That chance...in the light.

sorry about my rambling, tee hee...

Happy New Years Eve-"eve", dudes.

lez