For decades the prominent image of a ballet dancer has been a white body with pale clothing. It took 75 years for American Ballet Theatre to have its first African American female principal dancer, Misty Copeland. When TaKiyah Wallace-McMillian went to enrol her three-year-old daughter into her first ballet class, she immediately saw this lack of diversity and representation-even on her local dance studio's website. Within weeks TaKiyah, a freelance photographer, began shooting a project she called Brown Girls Do Ballet, which eventually became an Instagram hit and a non-profit organization that provides resources, mentorship, inspiration, and encouragement to young dancers of colour worldwide.
For her first book, The Color of Dance, TaKiyah travelled around the United States seeking out dancers of African, Asian, East Indian, Hispanic, and Native American ancestry. With these more than 190 breath-taking images of colourful ballerinas of all ages and levels, both amateur and professional, TaKiyah gives a voice to dancers who have been underrepresented for too long.
With dozens of quotes throughout from ballerinas themselves, The Color of Dance redefines what this classically Eurocentric art form has looked like for centuries and will inspire dancers-and all of us-to pursue our dreams no matter what barriers are put in front of us.
