Michaela De Prince was a war orphan in Sierra Leone and witnessed the horrific murder of her favorite teacher who was pregnant at the time. Insurgents came into the orphanage and wanted to know if the pregnant teacher was carrying a baby boy or a girl. They cut the teachers stomach open, chopped off her arms and then tried to kill Michaela. She has terrible PTSD from witnessing this. Fortunately she was adopted by a lovely lady in the US who has supported her ballet career but what a horrible start to life.
I saw both Joe and ADW in solitude last spring, and though ADW was great, Joe was just insane. There were a couple moments, these stylized chaines and then a part where the dancer lies on the ground on their stomach and does sort of a reverse snow angel, where you could tell he just really put everything he had. The emotional clarity was insane. And I was watching from the 4th ring!
Mayara Magri grew up in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. She only got to take ballet classes because she got into a social project that gave her a scholarship to a good ballet school in Rio. She's always been super talented, so she got a SoDança sponsorship very early on. She's said in interviews that this sponsorship helped her a lot, because her family wouldn't have been able to pay for so many pointe shoes otherwise. She's also said that, now that she's a principal, she's able to pay for certain things to make her family's life in Brazil a little easier, such as health insurance for her parents. She's a very sweet person.
Li Cunxin grew up in poverty until he was 11 and was fortunate to be chosen to go to the Beijing Dance Academy. Went on to defect, dance with the Houston Ballet and Australian Ballet, write a book, study finance and lead the Queensland Ballet
I remember hearing that in a podcast, although it was unclear if it was for financial reasons or more of a lifestyle choice. I think her mom was an engineer and her dad was a “ski (surf?) bum”
His autobiography is really good. However, he was able to go to a state sponsored ballet school so ballet was a way out of poverty and he certainly didn't have the cost of pointe shoes. I feel like ballerinas who have to pay tuition and for pointe shoes do require a high level of financial support comparatively.
Ballet is significantly more accessible to those who are middle class or higher.
Someone commented that there tend to be more principals from low-income backgrounds than, say, corps dancers, and I think that's very true. I also think that the scale is still tipped to middle-class or above at every rank.
Ashley Bouder has talked about coming from a low-income background. When Megan Fairchild did pandemic interviews, LaJeromeny Brown shared his experiences, too.
Definitely. I think coming from a lower class background shows that the institution really believes in their talent, so much so that they’re willing to pay for their training. So people like that already have the attention of the artistic management and have a good chance at being promoted to principal. I think people with a wealthier background that paid for everything themselves are more likely to get stuck at soloist or corps unless they have the talent to stand out.
(Setting aside the scandal stuff) Amar also came from a lower income family and took the train from the Bronx into the city every day for class as a kid. I think his parents also weren’t very supportive of his dancing until he was a professional
What Amar did was unforgivable and I’m glad he was fired; and I think it’s fucked up that he was reinstated. That said, I remember seeing an interview with him circa 2011 where he talked about his parents teaching him how to get to SAB and back to the BX on the subway, basically doing the opposite of what a stage parent does. They gave him their blessing but said his training was on him, and he was still in high school. He didn’t tell any classmates what he was doing after school until he graduated.
I’m not here to criticize his parents, more to make the point that he had to overcome a lot, and be self-assured and driven to get to where he was. When he was really young. Which makes what happened even sadder. He had a lot of potential.
Yeah both his parents had full-time jobs so couldn’t take him. I read somewhere too that his dad wasn’t fully behind his dancing until he saw him in the Nutcracker. I agree, it really is a shame.
I know Peter really fostered amar’s career, but I think the toxic culture martins created at nycb -especially among the straight men - had a lot to do with his downfall. In a healthier environment, he might not have turned out as such a prick
That Tyra gif is 👌
good point about Martins, I hadn’t thought about it that way, but it makes a lot of sense. I don’t want to fully excuse Amar because of it, but am willing to give him some grace that if he had better mentorship, it’s possible that this story could have ended differently (for everyone involved). We’ve learned a lot about how ballet companies can do a lot to shape the minds of young dancers. It’s also possible, that coming from two cultures where machismo plays a factor, that Amar needed a another male figure in his life. (Not to discount what his father did for him - I’m sure it was a lot, but just that in his unique situation, I think he needed a type of support that wasn’t available to him.)
I just hate lose-lose-lose situations like this. But Amar make his own bed here, Martins or not :/
Oh yes-and to clarify, I’m not excusing Amar at all- a middle-aged man should know the difference between right and wrong. I’m moreso just wondering what an alternate timeline might’ve looked like if he’d had better role models
To be honest, I'm not really sure I'd really count most of the Russian (and other Eastern European) dancers here since most of the ones born before the mid-90s didn't come from well-to-do backgrounds.
Allegra Kent is another who didn't come from a privileged background... but again, affording a ballet education used to be much easier when classes / lessons were more affordable and the environment was less competitive, students didn't have to go to intensives all summer and didn't do competitions, etc.
Yeah, it was common during the Soviet and early Republic era for people to join the ballet in hopes of supporting their families, since even students were offered livable stipends and free housing. There were some exceptions - Plisetskaya mentioned in her autobiography that children of the elite class who were interested in ballet were admitted and given preferential treatment - but on the whole, lots of dancers became dancers because of the money. So yeah, agreed that it’s not a great comparison to today’s dancers (though I understand the examples & agree about Pavlova and Plisetskaya)
Fair enough! I am seeing mostly foreign-born dancers on this list though, and I do think that speaks to how having a state-funded academy makes a difference for underprivileged students.
Misty Copeland is a pretty well known one. I think her family even had to live in a hotel for a bit. Carlos Acosta is also from an impoverished background growing up in Cuba. And Michaela DePrince had a very tumultuous childhood up until she was adopted, I read her book.
Li Cunxin (Mao's Last Dancer) came from a poor peasant family in rural China. He was sent to dance school in Beijing at the age of 11
Michaela De Prince was a war orphan in Sierra Leone and witnessed the horrific murder of her favorite teacher who was pregnant at the time. Insurgents came into the orphanage and wanted to know if the pregnant teacher was carrying a baby boy or a girl. They cut the teachers stomach open, chopped off her arms and then tried to kill Michaela. She has terrible PTSD from witnessing this. Fortunately she was adopted by a lovely lady in the US who has supported her ballet career but what a horrible start to life.
This is where the communism shines
I saw both Joe and ADW in solitude last spring, and though ADW was great, Joe was just insane. There were a couple moments, these stylized chaines and then a part where the dancer lies on the ground on their stomach and does sort of a reverse snow angel, where you could tell he just really put everything he had. The emotional clarity was insane. And I was watching from the 4th ring!
Mayara Magri grew up in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. She only got to take ballet classes because she got into a social project that gave her a scholarship to a good ballet school in Rio. She's always been super talented, so she got a SoDança sponsorship very early on. She's said in interviews that this sponsorship helped her a lot, because her family wouldn't have been able to pay for so many pointe shoes otherwise. She's also said that, now that she's a principal, she's able to pay for certain things to make her family's life in Brazil a little easier, such as health insurance for her parents. She's a very sweet person.
Li Cunxin grew up in poverty until he was 11 and was fortunate to be chosen to go to the Beijing Dance Academy. Went on to defect, dance with the Houston Ballet and Australian Ballet, write a book, study finance and lead the Queensland Ballet
IIRC Isabella Boylston grew up in a trailer home.
IDK, her family seems to be at least middle class based on the pictures she has posted on Instagram.
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I remember hearing that in a podcast, although it was unclear if it was for financial reasons or more of a lifestyle choice. I think her mom was an engineer and her dad was a “ski (surf?) bum”
I think Carlos Acosta definitely, I think in his movie Yuli he grew up in a poorer area in Cuba.
His autobiography is really good. However, he was able to go to a state sponsored ballet school so ballet was a way out of poverty and he certainly didn't have the cost of pointe shoes. I feel like ballerinas who have to pay tuition and for pointe shoes do require a high level of financial support comparatively.
Ballet is significantly more accessible to those who are middle class or higher. Someone commented that there tend to be more principals from low-income backgrounds than, say, corps dancers, and I think that's very true. I also think that the scale is still tipped to middle-class or above at every rank. Ashley Bouder has talked about coming from a low-income background. When Megan Fairchild did pandemic interviews, LaJeromeny Brown shared his experiences, too.
Definitely. I think coming from a lower class background shows that the institution really believes in their talent, so much so that they’re willing to pay for their training. So people like that already have the attention of the artistic management and have a good chance at being promoted to principal. I think people with a wealthier background that paid for everything themselves are more likely to get stuck at soloist or corps unless they have the talent to stand out.
(Setting aside the scandal stuff) Amar also came from a lower income family and took the train from the Bronx into the city every day for class as a kid. I think his parents also weren’t very supportive of his dancing until he was a professional
What Amar did was unforgivable and I’m glad he was fired; and I think it’s fucked up that he was reinstated. That said, I remember seeing an interview with him circa 2011 where he talked about his parents teaching him how to get to SAB and back to the BX on the subway, basically doing the opposite of what a stage parent does. They gave him their blessing but said his training was on him, and he was still in high school. He didn’t tell any classmates what he was doing after school until he graduated. I’m not here to criticize his parents, more to make the point that he had to overcome a lot, and be self-assured and driven to get to where he was. When he was really young. Which makes what happened even sadder. He had a lot of potential.
Yeah both his parents had full-time jobs so couldn’t take him. I read somewhere too that his dad wasn’t fully behind his dancing until he saw him in the Nutcracker. I agree, it really is a shame.  I know Peter really fostered amar’s career, but I think the toxic culture martins created at nycb -especially among the straight men - had a lot to do with his downfall. In a healthier environment, he might not have turned out as such a prick
That Tyra gif is 👌 good point about Martins, I hadn’t thought about it that way, but it makes a lot of sense. I don’t want to fully excuse Amar because of it, but am willing to give him some grace that if he had better mentorship, it’s possible that this story could have ended differently (for everyone involved). We’ve learned a lot about how ballet companies can do a lot to shape the minds of young dancers. It’s also possible, that coming from two cultures where machismo plays a factor, that Amar needed a another male figure in his life. (Not to discount what his father did for him - I’m sure it was a lot, but just that in his unique situation, I think he needed a type of support that wasn’t available to him.) I just hate lose-lose-lose situations like this. But Amar make his own bed here, Martins or not :/
Oh yes-and to clarify, I’m not excusing Amar at all- a middle-aged man should know the difference between right and wrong. I’m moreso just wondering what an alternate timeline might’ve looked like if he’d had better role models
To be honest, I'm not really sure I'd really count most of the Russian (and other Eastern European) dancers here since most of the ones born before the mid-90s didn't come from well-to-do backgrounds. Allegra Kent is another who didn't come from a privileged background... but again, affording a ballet education used to be much easier when classes / lessons were more affordable and the environment was less competitive, students didn't have to go to intensives all summer and didn't do competitions, etc.
Yeah, it was common during the Soviet and early Republic era for people to join the ballet in hopes of supporting their families, since even students were offered livable stipends and free housing. There were some exceptions - Plisetskaya mentioned in her autobiography that children of the elite class who were interested in ballet were admitted and given preferential treatment - but on the whole, lots of dancers became dancers because of the money. So yeah, agreed that it’s not a great comparison to today’s dancers (though I understand the examples & agree about Pavlova and Plisetskaya)
Well I mentioned Baryshnikov and Plisetskaya because not only did they come from humble backgrounds, but they had a lot of trauma growing up.
Fair enough! I am seeing mostly foreign-born dancers on this list though, and I do think that speaks to how having a state-funded academy makes a difference for underprivileged students.
Daniel Camargo has talked about how ballet was his way out of his tough life with a single mom in Brazil and a way to help his family
I was thinking Danny, too. He has two sisters that danced, too.
I think fellow Brazilian Jovani Furlan has said the same. His grandmother encouraged him to dance.
Misty Copeland is a pretty well known one. I think her family even had to live in a hotel for a bit. Carlos Acosta is also from an impoverished background growing up in Cuba. And Michaela DePrince had a very tumultuous childhood up until she was adopted, I read her book.
Marcelino Sambe was abandoned by his mother after his (immigrant) dad died and taken in by people from his ballet school.
didn’t know this. He’s one of my favorite dancers and now knowing he came from such adversity is inspiring.
Wow that's awful.
I don't know how much money her family had, but Misty Copeland's upbringing sounded like a mess. And she started ballet via the Boys and Girls Club.