Black Swans

This ground-breaking book about the obstacles faced by many black dancers over the last century, seeks to encourage today’s young dancers to follow their dreams.  The work focusses on six black dancers who have made their mark in the world of ballet and modern dance: Essie Marie Dorsey, Arthur Mitchell, Christian Holder, Dwight Rhoden, Misty Copeland and Michaela DePrince.

Each biography follows the dancer’s route to a dream career and the reader is left with the message that if you are determined and do what you love then you will succeed! Whilst each dancer has a different story they are united in the racism that they encountered and how they eventually overcame this. A few of these figures opened their own dance schools whilst others took leading roles in established ballet companies across the world.

The author, Laurel van der Linde writes from experience, and explains in the Author’s Note that ‘The desire to dance is born in you’. She encourages readers who have a passion for dancing to follow their instincts. A list of other well-known Black Swans is at the end of the book and Laurel acknowledges the talents and determination of these dancers.

This attractive volume is well laid out and I liked the way in which the biographies were quite detailed and gave a full history of the dancer. A Contents list would have been useful to guide the reader through the book, but this is a small criticism.

I am sure this book will encourage many young black students to choose dancing as their passion and to appreciate those who went before them. Hopefully they will not encounter the obstacles of these amazing Black Swans.