what's your damage, Heather?

therenboy:

tiaraloveskandlupita:

irelandsowl:

glitterandmetal-yt-da:

youngblackandvegan:

kawaiiflowerchild:

Michaela DePrince 

 THIS IS SO FUCKING IMPORTANT!

black ballerina excellence

So gorgeous and elegant

Why is this important? i see a girl doing ballet, stop outlining difference, its important we just admire the skills, and afore mentioned ellegance

First of all shut the fuck up and have several seats 

and heres why in Michaela’s own words what she had to go through beig BLACK and still goes through

When she was around 8 and rehearsing for The Nutcracker, just a few days before the performance she was told, “I’m sorry, you can’t do it. America’s not ready for a black girl ballerina.”

For Michaela, “to say this to an 8-year-old is just devastating. It was terrible.”

When she was 9, a teacher told her mother: “I don’t like to put money into black dancers because they grow up and end up having big boobs and big hips.”

The dancer looked down at her petite figure and protested, “I don’t have boobs. I don’t get it.”

Instead of getting her down, “It makes me more determined,” she said. “Because I’ve been through so much, I know now that I can make it and I can help other kids who have been in really bad situations realize that they can make it too.”

This is why it is important, for little Black girls to see a black ballerina made it despite being discriminated against because of her skin color!!! 

Not to mention ballet is one of the most racists activity. I was in a dance company for 10 years, and every year more and more black girls left because, according to the teachers, “they aren’t passionate about it”. 

It took me five more years (I was 12 when my first friend “quit) to understand what teachers were telling black girls. “You’ll get too big” “you can’t dance properly with big hips”. Need I mention, at the time I was 16 and most of us were fully grown? 

Not to mention, our ballet teacher supported these black girls getting eating disorders and constantly shared “tips” with them on how to stay thin. Like the “white girls”.

Even more bullshit; professional ballet teachers tend to just be awful and pick on anyone who is even a “bit” different. If your hair is too short, you get picked on. If your boobs fucking grew, you get picked on. They can be both physically and mentally abusive, I have seen it first hand.

BUT if you’re black, you get picked on THEN you get kicked the fuck out.

Not so surprisingly, I fucking quit 

Professional Ballet is for white, thin, young women. That is why this story is fucking important.