Tag: those LINES

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Brooklyn Mack

Raised in Elgin, South Carolina, Brooklyn Mack initially took up ballet as a way to improve his football playing and athleticism when he was 12 years old. At the age of 15, he began training in Washington, D.C. on a full scholarship with the prestigious Kirov
Academy of Ballet.

Currently, he is in his fifth season
as a principal dancer with the Washington Ballet and has found international
fame in his craft, helping to break down racial barriers in the world of
ballet.

Mack has received awards from
the Helsinki International Ballet Competition, the USA International Ballet
Competition, the Boston International Ballet Competition, and the Korean
International Dance Competition, among many others. In 2012, he became the
first African-American man to win a senior gold medal at the renowned Varna
International Ballet Competition (sometimes dubbed the Olympics of
ballet). 

Of being a black ballet dancer,
Mack told Ebony Magazine: “People
can pretend all they want but race is still very much an issue. You’re either
blind or in denial if you think it’s not. And there’s a reason that seeing an
African American person or a dark skinned person on a ballet stage stands out.
It’s because you don’t see much of that. Still in a lot of circles there are
idiotic misconceptions. You’d hear things like black people are anatomically
not designed in a way that they can do ballet. Or black people can’t point
their feet. Just stupid stuff still today. There’s less and less thank God, but
still.” 

He added: “So it’s
great to talk about diversity because unfortunately a lot of youth especially
are so impressionable. Had I had a different family, I easily could have been
crushed by those things that people say. I think it’s really important to talk
about it, so that young people can know there are no limits. Throughout history
we’ve excelled at everything we’ve had a chance to do. That’s part of my goal.
I want to shed as much light as possible.”

Mack will continue to exemplify
excellence in dance while paving a way for more African-American dancers to
receive support in ballet. Indeed he is slated to make history by starring
alongside Misty Copeland in the Washington
Ballet’s ground-breaking production of Swan Lake.