Mid-Year Blog Recap: 2022
The Brown Ballerina Blog serves to unite, inform, and celebrate dancers of color from all backgrounds, skill levels, and ages. Every month, we publish articles and interviews that we hope will inspire dancers to continue their journeys while passing down wisdom for generations to come.
If you’ve been out of the loop, that’s okay! Below, we’ve rounded up highlights from our blog for the year so far.
Dance Career and Goals
The start of the year is when many people feel motivated to start new habits, try new challenges, and set new goals. That’s why we used the month of January to focus on goal-setting techniques, taking risks, staying focused, dance résumé essentials, audition season goals, the pros and cons of freelance dancing, reimagining your dance career during the COVID-19 pandemic, and renewing your motivation if you start to feel burnt out.
Black History Month
In February, we celebrated Black History Month by featuring several dancers who are making history today or have a passion for trailblazing in the dance industry:
Reflecting on Creating History with Brown Ballerina Ambassador Kennedy Simone
Artistic Trailblazing with Brown Ballerina Ambassador Gracie Butler
Making History Today: Brown Ballerina Ambassador DianaStarr Robinson
Making History Today: Brown Ballerina Ambassador Daneya Celestin
We also highlighted Black ballerinas in history, 6 ballet companies supporting dancers of color, and 7 dance films to watch during Black History Month.
Brown Ballerina Advice
Ballerinas have to stick together, and when we share our wisdom, knowledge, and experiences, we help one another learn and succeed. In the spring, we listed tips from our Brown Ballerina Ambassadors and motivational quotes for dancers. We also spoke with dancer Jazz Bynum, who taught us all about having faith and resilience in our dance journeys.
5 to Watch 2022
The month of May was all about spotlighting the 2022 “5 to Watch” honorees. Each dancer is hand-picked by Brown Girls Do Ballet’s founder, TaKiyah Wallace. She chooses younger dancers who show potential to be a force to be reckoned with in the dance industry. The dancers typically exemplify skill, diligence, determination, passion, and humility. This year’s “5 to Watch” honorees were:
Since May was Mental Health Awareness Month, we also interviewed Tyde-Courtney Edwards, the founding director of Ballet After Dark. In her interview, she explained the power of movement as a tool for healing from sexual trauma.
Is there a topic you’d like to see covered on the blog? Get in touch with our Blog Manager today!
