'Black Ballerina' Documentary in Progress

The nonprofit indie Shirley Road Productions and producer-director Frances McElroy are filming a feature-length documentary, Black Ballerina, that seeks to examine the subjects of exclusion, equal opportunity, and change in the world of ballet and classical dance as experienced by three different generations of African-American women who pursued careers as ballerinas — Joan Myers Brown, Delores Browne (see this interview and profile), and Raven Wilkinson — and as related to the dance pursuits of three young black women in 2014. Joan Brown founded Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO). Delores Browne was a principal with New York Negro Ballet and Wilkinson performed with Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.

Supporting the project are the National Endowment for the Arts, PA Partners in the Arts, and Capezio Foundation. Additional financing is being sought to complete filming and post-production work. (Information is available at the film link above.)

Of interest: Brenda Dixon Gottschild's Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina: A Biohistory of American Performance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). Also see First African American Ballerinas.