00:00And you both represent the African-American community. Do you, as the president of the
00:09United States, as a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theater, do you ever think that,
00:15how does race come to play? Do you think that people still treat you differently because of
00:19race, because you're African-American in your fields? You know, my experience has been that
00:27a lot of what I've, what I've experienced has not always been to my face or it's been very subtle,
00:36but it's in a way that I know what's going on and I feel it deep inside of me and I, and I,
00:43being the only African-American in almost every environment in terms of classical ballet,
00:48it weighs on you and it wears on you after, you know, after a while. And I feel like a lot of it as
00:58well is what I'm kind of putting on myself. And this, just trying to not get too caught up and too
01:10wrapped up and too weighed down with being black and trying to just be the best person and the best
01:17dancer that I can be and work and work harder than, um, even if I see the person next to me that,
01:23you know, things may be a little bit easier for them. I'm going to try and push myself even harder
01:27than them. But I think that being African-American has definitely been a huge obstacle for me, but
01:32it's, um, also allowed me to, um, have this fire inside of me that I don't know I would have or have
01:40had if I weren't in this field. The, uh, well part of, uh, classical ballet, uh, that makes it challenging
01:52is, is that there's a very set way of doing things and sort of this canon that people want in just a
01:59certain way or they want it to look a certain way. And the, uh, so do you find now that, uh, you're in a
02:05position where you can start pushing the barriers a little bit and boundaries in terms of what people
02:11expect, um, now that you've established that, all right, I can do this, so let me also do that, or,
02:17I, you know, I can, uh, master that style. And so now can we introduce something a little bit
02:25different? How much of that takes place? Absolutely. I mean, I think that, um, having a
02:30platform and having a voice to be seen, um, by people beyond the classical ballet world has really
02:36been, um, my power. I feel, uh, it's, it's allowed me to say, it's okay to have a healthy athletic body.
02:46We are fully capable of doing everything that the person who doesn't have an extremely athletic body
02:52that is more, you know, thin, um, we're fully capable of doing exactly the same thing. And I think
02:58that being in this position and, um, showing that I can execute and do all of these things, that it's,
03:04it's possible to have any skin complexion, to have, uh, a healthy body image for the ballerina body.
03:12Um, I think it's given me more of a voice and it's, I think, forcing a lot of these top tiered companies
03:19to address the lack of diversity and diversifying the body, the bodies that we're seeing in classical
03:26ballet. It's really forcing that conversation to be had because I have to say as an outsider,
03:31I don't know if you feel the same way when I hear that, like your body type is considered
03:37sort of, uh, more athletic or large, you're tiny. For those of you who are watching, you may not be
03:46able to see. I mean, you're petite, you know, so the notion that somehow that was even a question
03:53is, is pretty interesting. Yeah. I mean, I think, I think it's how, I think it's a lot of the, the
03:59language and how we use it. And I think for a lot of people of color, um, that seems to be, uh, an easy
04:09way or a way out by just by saying you don't fit in. It may be the, your skin color. Um, it may be the
04:16texture of your hair, it, whatever it is. We want a certain look. Yeah. And I think that's an easy way
04:22of addressing that. Interesting. As a father of two daughters, do you see that at all? Do you see
04:28that pressure in your own life? Yeah. Well, I mean, some of this is just, uh, gender issues generally. I
04:34mean, when you, when you're a dad of two daughters, you notice more what, when I was a kid, I didn't
04:41realize as much, or maybe it was even a part of, which is, uh, the enormous pressure that young women
04:46are, uh, placed under in terms of looking a certain way and being cute in a certain way. And are you,
04:53uh, you know, wearing the right clothes and, you know, is your hair done the right way? And, uh,
04:59you know, and that pressure I think is historically always been harder on African American women than
05:08just about any other women. But it's, uh, part and parcel of a broader way in which we socialize and,
05:14uh, you know, press women to, to constantly doubt themselves or define themselves in terms of a
05:24certain appearance. Um, and so Michelle and I are always guarding against that. Um, and,
05:32you know, the fact that they've got a tall, gorgeous mom, uh, who has some curves and that her father,
05:41their father appreciates, uh, I think is helpful. Um, I do think the culture is changing for the younger
05:48generation a little bit more. You know, you see Beyonce or you see, uh, you know, some of these
05:54pop stars and, uh, what both white, Latino, black children are seeing as representative of beauty,
06:05uh, is much broader than it was when I was a kid. Uh, you know, uh, you just didn't see that much
06:12representation. Um, and that's, that's healthy and that's encouraging. Um, but it's still a challenge.
06:19I mean, Malie will talk about, you know, black girls hair and, and, and, you know, we'll have
06:26much opinions of that. She's pretty opinionated about the fact that it costs a lot, it takes a long
06:32time, that sometimes, uh, you know, girls can be just as tough on each other about how they're supposed
06:40to look. Uh, and, and so it's, uh, as a parent, that's a constant learning process that you're
06:47trying to, uh, trying to pull them forward. And, and that's why somebody like, uh, a Misty ends up
06:53being so important. A lot of it is the power of that image, even if they're not dancers, even if they're not
07:02uh, interested in, uh, pursuing a career in entertainment or the arts. Um, for them to know
07:13that that's valued ends up making a big difference.
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