"Other little brown girls can look at me and know that they can do ballet too." For this ballerina, receiving pointe shoes matching her skin tone was more than a leap in the right direction...
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00:00Guys, guess what, guess what?
00:03I finally got brown pointe shoes.
00:06I can't tell you how excited I am.
00:09They look stunning.
00:12I mean, look at this, look at this.
00:14It's like my skin tone.
00:15It's brown.
00:16It's like my skin tone.
00:17It's brown.
00:18It's like my skin tone.
00:18It's brown.
00:19It's brown.
00:26I think the shoes really meant a lot to me
00:28because originally I had to pancake my shoes,
00:32meaning use like foundation and sponge
00:35to just make it my skin tone.
00:36And that took a lot of time and effort and like money as well.
00:40So I think it's just,
00:42it was insane how much I needed that.
00:46And I didn't realize that until like,
00:48I got brown pointe shoes that were my skin tone.
00:58It seems like it'd be a small thing,
01:10but it really means a lot because the ballet world
01:13in general is very slow and like accepting of POC
01:17and like brown skin dancers.
01:19And so that's why I think representation
01:20is super duper important.
01:22Because when I was growing up,
01:23I didn't have a lot of people to look up to
01:25that were like my skin tone.
01:27So I hope to be that for other people
01:29and like other little brown girls
01:30that they can look up to me and like,
01:32you know, they can know that they can do ballet too.
01:47The ballet world is like slowly,
01:48but surely like becoming more accepting
01:50of like more diverse skin tones and people.
01:54And I think that's super duper important.
01:56And I definitely think the Black Lives Matter movement
01:58played a huge factor in that
02:00because people started to realize like,
02:01you know, we need more representation in our media.
02:04And I think for example, with Suffolk,
02:08they heard our plea for more diversity in their products
02:13and they started making brown pointe shoes
02:16and like, that's how it happened.
02:18I think it's super great.
02:27I really struggled with, you know,
02:29accepting that I am brown and I'm different
02:33and I don't look like your typical ballerina.
02:36So I think just own all of your differences
02:39because they make you unique
02:40and you can use that for your benefit.
02:42And yeah, just like own what you have.
02:45I feel like I can escape like all the hardships
02:48and like sometimes the harsh reality
02:50that comes with just life in general.
02:52And I think it's just like, it's an incredible feeling
02:56and I live for that moment every single time I dance.