It’s 2019 and we’re still learning of many Black “firsts”: the first Black member of the Royal Family, the first Black people to win Academy Awards for costume design and production design, and even the first Black secretary for the Smithsonian Institute. The list doesn’t stop there. As we close out the year and the decade, the New York City Ballet has finally chosen a Black lead for their annual production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker.
The Nutcracker is a seasonal tradition that has graced many stages since 1954. This year, the New York City Ballet has cast eleven-year-old Charlotte Nebres as the ballet’s main character, Marie. Charlotte, whose family is from Trinidad and the Philippines, will be joined by a diverse list of cast-mates including other young dancers with roots in China, Korea, Greece, and South Asia.
When Charlotte was just six years old, Misty Copeland became the first Black female principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre.“I saw her perform and she was just so inspiring and so beautiful,” she said. “When I saw someone who looked like me on stage, I thought, that’s amazing. She was representing me and all the people like me.”
Since then, Charlotte has had the iconic dancer to look up to. Seeing a dancer who looked like her promoted to principal dancer was confirmation that anything would be possible for Charlotte. Upon hearing from her mother that she wouldbe the first Black lead for The Nutcracker, Charlotte responded by saying, “Wow. That seems a little late.” No arguments there.
Charlotte attends the School of American Ballet, which is the official school of New York City Ballet. The school has been making efforts to diversify through admissions and casting. Over the past seven years, 62 School of American Ballet students have gone on to become City Ballet apprentices. Of those 62, 21 identify as non-white or mixed. 12 of those dancers identify as Black, 4 being women.
Dena Abergel, the children’s ballet mistress at New York City Ballet, has acknowledged the milestone that has been made by casting Charlotte as Marie. Abergel also made it very clear that Charlotte wasn’t cast as Marie because of her melanin or as part of an initiative for diversity. Charlotte has everything it takes to be the heroine of this classic tale. The Nutcracker is one of the most complex theatrical, staged ballets in the Company’s repertory. So the lead dancers must be well-rounded as actors and technicians.
“When I’m looking for someone who can do Marie, I’m looking for someone primarily who has an ability to act on stage and to convey a story,” said Abergel. “… It has to be someone who can command the stage and who has enough confidence and spontaneity to handle whatever comes her way.”
Although she’s young, Charlotte proves to be an extremely talented and expressive ballerina, especially on stage. Described as an introvert by her ballet mistress, Charlotte wasn’t quite as expressive when she got the news that she’d
be playing Marie. When she emerged from her audition, it was hard to tell whether she got the role and how she felt about it. “With that poker face of hers, she said, ‘Well, I’m Marie,'” Nebres’ mother told The New York Times. “And I just thought, oh my goodness — they really did it. I couldn’t believe it.”
The poker face was no indication about how she felt about landing the role or about dance in general. When asked why ballet is important to her, Charlotte states, “To me, it just feels like when I dance I feel free and I feel empowered. I feel like I can do anything when I dance. It makes me happy, and I’m going to do what makes me happy. You don’t need to think about anything else.”
Congratulations to Charlotte and the rest of the cast! This year’s production of The Nutcracker will be groundbreaking for New York City Ballet. In a culture that has historically “othered” people of color, this moment can serve as inspiration for more Black children hoping to land leading and principal roles in classical dance companies.
Jasmine Danielle is the Associate Editor of BlackDoctor.org. She received her BFA in Dance Education & Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has since done work as a certified fitness & wellness educator, blogger, dancer, and designer.
Misty Copeland: Accepting Her Body And Breaking Barriers
Beautiful ballerina, Misty Copeland made history with the American Ballet Theatre as their first Black principal dancer. The American Ballet Theatre has been around for 75 years and this is the company’s highest honor.
Before this well-deserved promotion, the 37-year-old ballerina was only the third African-American woman to ever achieve the rank of soloist in the American Ballet Theater company’s history. She is also the first ever ballerina to be endorsed by the fitness clothing company Under Armour, has danced for the likes of Prince and other music royalty and now, with the release of her memoir, Life in Motion, she’s also an author.
But it wasn’t always glitz and glamour for the ballerina. There were so many who told her “no” or tried to derail her from her passion. Some even said that her attributes, being “curvy AND Black” would go against her in the world of ballet. That led to being unsure about herself and her body.
Copeland is not built like a ‘typical’ ballerina. She is shorter, more busty and — like her counterparts Serena Williams in tennis and Simone Biles in gymnastics — visibly muscular.
“As an adult, I was told that I didn’t have the right skin color… I was too muscular. I was too curvy. My breasts were too big. I was too short.” — Misty Copeland
Copeland is a true departure from the traditional image of a ballet dancer as fair-skinned, tall and lithe, so she carved her own path.
“Being a woman in general it’s hard to be completely comfortable and confident with how you look,” explained Copeland. “Especially in an art form like this when it is about your physicality and what you look like. It’s difficult being critiqued and judged on that basis.”
But it wasn’t until she accepted who she was as a woman, a Black woman, that allowed her to go to new heights.
“I had a breakthrough with accepting my body,” confessed Copeland. “I surrounded myself with other women who looked like me and who were successful – other successful black women. Even though they weren’t in my field, having that motivation helped me to come to terms and accept myself.”
RELATED: Khandi Alexander Shows How To Get A Dancer’s Body
In a recent interview with the LA Times, Misty described how she stayed focused no matter what the distraction is:
“Just the way ballet is so beautifully structured it ingrains this commitment into you. There’s so much happening and so much you’re trying to understand, and something that’s so beautiful about a dance class is that you don’t feel like you’re…
…just doing repetitive movements, but you’re enjoying it and you’re listening to music and it doesn’t seem like work. When you’re really dancing or exercising, the way you feel, your body starts to crave it. The more consistent I am about going, the easier it becomes to go because I need that feeling again.”
“I mentor a lot of young dancers, and something I’ve learned from being a mentor and being mentored is that it’s so powerful and important to surround yourself with people who act as your support system. So many of us think, “I can do this on my own. I’m strong. I’ll be fine.” But we’re human beings, and we have those moments of being fearful and having doubts, and that’s the time you need to be surrounded by people who are going to reassure you that you have a purpose and a mission.”
For more on Misty Copeland, visit her website here.