In celebration of Black History Month, Houston Ballet took its Breaking Boundaries series live for a virtual conversation with three current and eight former Black Houston Ballet dancers. The series, which began last fall, includes four episodes entitled “Firsts”, “Nows”, “Through an Educator’s Lens” and “Through the Male Dancer’s Lens”. The live fifth installment on February 10 was a continuation of these previous discussions and further explored the BIPOC experience in ballet. Additionally, the series brought to light how Houston Ballet has approached diversifying a traditionally Eurocentric art form and demonstrated the Company’s continued commitment to breaking boundaries in the ballet world.
The legacy of change began in 1976, when Adrian Vincent James became the first Black dancer at Houston Ballet under the leadership of the newly appointed Artistic Director, Ben Stevenson. Over the course of Stevenson’s directorship, many Black dancers joined the Company and graced the Houston stage, such as Sandra Organ in 1982 and Houston Ballet’s first Black principal dancer, Lauren Anderson, who began dancing with the Company in 1983.
Not only was Stevenson different in that he prioritized talent over the aesthetics of a particular skin color, but he demonstrated a commitment to exposing children of all races to ballet. Lauren Anderson reflected on her time as principal under Stevenson’s directorship during the most recent Breaking Boundaries conversation. “I remember when I was younger and we would go to the Miller Theatre…and Ben [Stevenson] would throw me on as the Sugarplum Fairy in the student matinée and he would say ‘I’m putting you on because little kids need to see you because it’s the student matinee and that’s when a lot of these Black kids get to come to the ballet,’ and that really makes a difference, because I do that now,” explained Anderson.
The attention to Black dancers’ experiences in the ballet world did not begin and end with Stevenson’s directorship, thankfully. This past summer, with Black voices speaking out about the continued presence of racism and discrimination in America gaining traction and being given a voice in mainstream spaces, Houston Ballet, along with much of America, set aside time to listen and learn. “I was really impressed with Houston Ballet when the Black Lives Matter movement happened this summer,” expressed Harper Watters, a Houston Ballet Soloist and one of the three current Black dancers in the Company. “We really united as a Company, the dancers and with our staff, and we had conversations…We found that it wasn’t that they weren’t wanting to say anything, they just didn’t want to say the wrong thing…The more you educate yourself, the more confidence you will have in identifying racism and implicit bias.”
Naazir Muhammad and Kellen Hornbuckle, two current Black dancers within Houston Ballet’s Corps de Ballet, also joined this live conversation and shared about the joys and pressures of representing all that it means to be a Black dancer in ballet. While echoing the earlier sentiment of Lauren Anderson and Ben Stevenson about how important representation is, Muhammad said, “I think that they aren’t as into it because they don’t know anyone that looks like them that does it. Representation matters. We see LeBron James and Kobe, so they all want to play basketball. We see Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, so they want to go play football. We see Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, so they want to play baseball, but they don’t see classical male ballet dancers of color. If we got that [ballet] to appeal to the masses, I think that would change.”
Black representation was not the only topic that was covered. Over the course of the hour-long event, hosted by ABC13’s Melanie Lawson and streamed live on ABC13’s apps, the panelists dove into the complexities of typecasting, how influential social media is in showing solidarity and the importance of resources like scholarships to diversifying ballet. “I would love to see there be an abundance of scholarships for Black students,” expressed Cleopatra Williams. Williams began dancing with Houston Ballet in 2000 and was its first Black dancer to perform the role of Clara in its production of The Nutcracker. “I love what Houston Ballet is doing as far as outreach…I think our ballet companies need to understand that they are going to need to help these Black students to finance that [their ballet education] until they can make their own money.”
Overall, the event had a hopeful air for ballet becoming a more inclusive artform. The panel and virtual audience members alike were imbued with a sense of pride in work Houston Ballet is doing to achieve this. Former Houston Ballet dancer Kiya Sturm-Lind captured the spirit of the night by saying, “I am just happy there are people of color in this predominantly white community and that they’re showing a force. We can do anything, we just need forums like this, more people to do outreach like Lauren [Anderson] is doing…For Houston to set the precedent for all of these other places is pretty phenomenal.”
This event would not have been possible without the support and time of Houston Ballet’s past and present Black dancers. Thank you to Lauren Anderson, Daniel Durrett, Kellen Hornbuckle, Adrian Vincent James, Ayisha McMillan, Caleb Mitchell, Naazir Muhammad, Sandra Organ, Kiya Sturm, Harper Watters and Cleopatra Williams. Special thanks to ABC 13’s Melanie Lawson for moderating Breaking Boundaries LIVE.
Watch the full conversation on YouTube now.