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https://www.blackenterprise.com/ballet-dancer-60s-skin-tone-pointe-shoes/
After 60-plus years, Robin Williams, a ballet dancer, recently experienced a first: performing in pointe shoes that actually matched her brown skin tone.
Williams, herself in her 60s, purchased brown pointe shoes and tights for her Nutcracker performance this past December. Her shoes came with dyed ribbons and elastics to match her complexion perfectly, CNN reported. The store was not named, but her purchase marked a milestone, as today’s Black dancers are now able to buy shoes that match their hue.
Williams reflected that early in her career in the 1960s, as the lone black ballerina in her company, brown pointe shoes weren’t an option. Her teacher emphasized that the pink tights were supposed to match the dancers’ skin. “I thought about it when she said that because I was like, ‘Well our skin isn’t pink.’ And I never forgot that,” Williams recalled, according to the outlet.
The traditional pink shoes and tights break the visual line of the body on Black dancers, disrupting the intended graceful effect. Some directors still make dancers of color wear pink for the sake of “uniformity.” While more shades have become available since 2020, “pancaking,” or slathering pointe shoes in makeup or foundation to modify the color, remains a common practice.
World-renowned ballerina Misty Copeland shared a video of her painstaking pointe shoe makeup routine, saying the lack of options always made her feel excluded. Last September, Copeland started a petition for more diverse shades for Apple’s ballet shoe emoji.
For Cortney Taylor Key, who teaches dance at the Misty Copeland Foundation, watching Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem performing in tights that matched their skin tones was groundbreaking. “There’s no amount of money that would make me disrespect Arthur Mitchell by wearing pink tights,” she said, according to CNN. She called traditional European pink “a tradition, and it can change.”
While grateful for the progress, Taylor Key still modifies her own shoes to match her tone. The pancaking process is tedious, frustrating and costly, she said, and it wears shoes down faster. She hopes Copeland’s petition accelerates change for the better.
Meanwhile, for Williams, finally being able to perform in shoes her own shade was a breakthrough moment and a sign of hope for a more inclusive future of ballet.
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The start of a new year is the perfect time to set goals and make positive changes in our lives. I may sound a little biased, but the perfect new year’s resolution is to indulge in more books.
Just like any muscle in our body, our brain needs exercise to stay sharp; to be entertained; to be challenged. Reading regularly stimulates cognitive functions, improves memory, and enhances analytical thinking.
Whether you’re looking to escape with historical fiction or get some practical advice to help you achieve your goals, the new year has no shortage of great new books by Black authors. Here are my stand-out picks for January releases.
Black Women, Ivory Tower by Jasmine L. Harris
Black women are heading to college in record numbers, and more and more Black women are teaching in higher education. Unfortunately, our safety is not guaranteed in these spaces. Willpower may improve achievement for Black women in school, but they don’t secure our belonging. The very structure of higher education ensures that we’re treated as guests, and even outsiders to the educational institution.
Dr. Harris shares her own experiences attempting to be a Vassar Girl and reckoning with a lack of legacy and agency. She also examines the day-to-day impacts on Black women as individuals, the longer-term consequences to our professional lives, and the generational costs to our entire families. I am so excited for this one.
The American Queen by Vanessa Miller
Set in the mid 1860s, The American Queen is a gripping novel based on actual historical events. Over the twenty-four years she was enslaved on a Montgomery plantation, Louella learned to hate. She developed hate when her mother was sold and for when her daddy was left to hang from a noose. It’s a hate so powerful there’s no room in her heart for love, not even for the honorable Reverend William, whom she likes and respects enough to marry. The book centers around Louella’s hope that leads her to become the only known queen of a kingdom built on American soil.
I Did a New Thing by Tabitha Brown
Years ago, Tabitha Brown started a 30-day personal challenge that she called “I Did a New Thing!” Every day she would do something she’d never done before, from trying a new food to speaking to someone she’d never had before. I Did a New Thing is the perfect book to help you get 2024 off to the best start. Whether it’s trying a new food or updating our wardrobe, Auntie Tab encourages us to step outside our comfort zone to create positive change in our lives. We are here for it!
The House of Plain Truth by Donna Hemans
The House of Plain Truth is a gripping story about family secrets and sacrifice. When her father dies, a woman is sent on a mission to find her estranged siblings and learn the truth about a secret that tore her family apart. Moving through time and place, from Cuba to Montego Bay and from Brooklyn to Havana, The House of Plain Truth traces Pearline’s reconciliation between what she thought she knew about her family and the real truth.
Get the F*ck Out Your Own Way by MJ Harris
If you need someone to give it to you straight, look no further than MJ Harris. Following Harris on social media is one experience, so I know that his new book, Get the F* Out Your Own Way, is going to be good! This book hopes to help you identify the ways in which you block your own blessings and to give you the tools you need to let it all go. It’s the perfect book to start the year off right.
Madness by Antonia Hylton
In Madness, award-winning journalist Antonia Hylton tells the story of Crownsville Hospital, one of the nation’s last segregated asylums located in Maryland. In 1911, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of a forest. Under the supervision of a doctor, the men were forced to clear the land, pour cement, lay bricks, and harvest tobacco. When construction finished, they became the first twelve patients Crownsville Hospital for the Negro Insane. It is a vivid account of the inhumane conditions, including Black patients forced to undergo experimental treatment without their consent. This book will definitely be difficult one to read but necessary.
And Then We Rise by Common
Rapper, actor and activist Common has achieved success in many areas of his life and career, from music to acting to writing. But for a long time, he didn’t feel that he had found fulfillment in his body and spirit. And Then We Rise is about Common’s journey to wellness as a vital element of his success. The book is composed of four different sections, each with its own lessons: This will be another good one to help you live your best life in the new year.
All books will be available wherever books are sold. Consider purchasing from Bookshop.org, where every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores. The platform gives independent bookstores tools to compete online and financial support to help them maintain their presence in local communities.
Today it was announced by Carmen Smith, Senior Vice President, Creative Development — who leads product development and inclusive strategies for Disney parks and recreation — shared a new update on their blog about the latest on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disney World.
The attraction has now added a custom handcrafted weathervane by Louisiana’s master blacksmith, Darryl Reeves. Following in the spirit of New Orleans, you can walk within two city blocks to see the metalwork by Darryl, a third generation master blacksmith and Vietnam Veteran. Whether it’s historic wrought iron fences or intricately designed custom pieces, his work is displayed across the city, and in fact, around the world. His craftsmanship comes with 50 years of service to his city, and the weathervane is one of the high points of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
The immense artistry and complexity displayed by Darryl and his apprentices is evident in the dozens of works displayed in his gallery.
“I take metal and do anything I want with it,” the master blacksmith proudly says. “To have a free hand to design and fabricate the weathervane for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure…that’s an honor.”
What sets Princess Tiana’s weathervane apart is that it’s crafted using centuries old techniques with a subtle African flair. You can feel the love Darryl and Karina have poured into this smoldering iron to shape it into a masterpiece.
One of Walt Disney Imagineering’s highest priorities is to bring the authenticity of New Orleans to Disney parks and resorts to immerse guests in this inspiring tale. According the Disney Parks and Rec team, for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, they want you to feel like taking a trip down the Louisiana Bayou in a way only Disney can bring to life.
Guests can experience this incredible collaboration between Walt Disney Imagineering, Darryl Reeves, and Karina Roca when Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, an attraction inspired by the story from the Walt Disney Animation Studios film “The Princess and the Frog”, opens at Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida in 2024.