Here is a clip from a documentary that tells the stories of how two Black women entered the world of ballet in the 1950s: Delores Brown, and Raven Wilkinson. Being from Philadelphia I had the pleasure of taking class a few times with Ms. Brown and one of m y first ballet teachers was Marion Cuyjet. In fact Ms. Cuyjet was the person who told my father that I should got to Pennsylvania Ballet School because I could be a ballet dancer, so I have been personally touch by this portion of history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marion Cuyjet

 

 

When you hear some of then things that Ms. Wilkinson had to endure as a member of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo…it is maddening and amazing. To think of the personal strength and determination that it must have taken to go out on that stage every night, or travel through the southern states…They are both aspirational and inspirational…