I found a moment of relief as an artist in the 2nd iteration of Dani Tirrell’s “Black Bois”. We sold out The Moore Theatre on Valentine’s Day 2020; One Night Only. In a cast of only black people, I could just represent myself. It was truly a legendary community celebration. Even in this moment of happiness, I was still very physically and emotionally burnt out. I performed in the Seattle International Dance Festival Mini-Fest with Khambatta Dance Company, and the next performance on my calendar with The Tint Festival, which I had choreographed for.
Read MoreAshton Edwards, originally from Flint, Michigan, has studied dance since the age of four years old at the Flint School of Performing Arts. Ashton has attended summer ballet intensives on full scholarships at The Joffrey Academy of Dance in Chicago, Houston Ballet School, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. In 2018, Ashton represented Flint in the NAACP’s National Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) competition in San Antonio, Texas, against over 250 students of all high school grades all over the country. In the Performing Arts, Ballet dance category, Ashton came in 3rd place, winning a bronze medal. Ashton is currently a Professional Division student at Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Read More“Human expression on the most natural level is non-binary,” said Ashton Edwards, former Dancewear Center (DWC) Ambassador, in an interview for the DWC Blog. Ashton is a dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet, and an exquisite one. I’ve been following them on Instagram since they partnered with the DWC ambassador program in 2020. They inspire me and give me hope because when I was growing up, queer dancers were invisible.
Read MoreDWC Ambassador Robbi Moore has always loved the dance community. Their extensive resume of works spans traveling all around the world with various companies and sharing stories to people in any way they can. We got the chance to speak with one of our DWC Ambassadors about what dance means to them and what inspired them to become an Ambassador! Read on to learn more about Robbi’s dancing journey and what they are looking forward to most about becoming an Ambassador!
Read MoreOne of the most common misconceptions about anxiety is that all people experience it in the same way. For those who do not have an anxiety disorder or do not believe anxiety disorders are legitimate health concerns, the assumption reigns that anxiety is a temporary and fixable cluster of symptoms brought on by isolated circumstances.
Read MoreI arrived in Seattle, WA on September 2, 2016. I was supposed to get here on the 1st, but that is a story for another day. There were a lot of firsts that year. It was my first, and so far only, major full time dance company. My first time ever being on the West Coast at all. My first time living in a state where access to immediate family was physically inaccessible without a plane ticket. I was truly on my own.
Read MoreWhat do you think of when you heard the word “feminism”? Perhaps you envision women protesting in the streets and outside government buildings. Maybe you picture historic milestones, like women…
Read MoreIt’s safe to say that most of us didn’t anticipate the first half of 2020 to go the way it has. Our lives have changed drastically in the past few months, some more than others. Not only has the COVID-19 pandemic modified nearly all aspects of our daily routines, but a national movement supporting black lives and opposing police brutality has ignited. The heartbreaking murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis has stirred global attention towards police brutality and racial inequity in America. There have been protests in solidarity with George Floyd in all 50 states and at least 40 additional countries on nearly every continent. Anger towards this grueling act of police brutality has transformed into a larger revolution against systemic racism that’s gone on for too long in the United States.
Read MoreIt wasn’t until age 10 that Jamia Ramsey learned that tights are supposed to match the skin tone of the dancer that wears them. After auditioning, Jamia had earned a scholarship to dance at the Dance Theatre of Harlem in New York City. “It was there that I first learned that flesh-toned tights were supposed to match your skin tone,” she shares. Jamia learned about the process of dying tights and using makeup to “pancake” ballet and pointe shoes. Previously, she had only danced in pink and tan-colored tights, which are readily available at any dancewear retailer but don’t match her skin tone. “It was all about uniformity,” Jamia explains. It’s safe to say that this experience planted the seed for Jamia to create her visionary dancewear company Blendz Apparel: a brand that offers high-quality, flesh-toned dance apparel that all dancers can wear.
Read MoreFor the longest time at the beginning of my dance career, I didn’t see many dancers that looked like me. I did ballet, jazz, tap, and modern growing up in my little Kent, Washington studio--and I thought this was normal. My dance classes didn’t look any different from my school classes, I was one of the only people of color in my classes there too. For years and years I went without knowing anything about the success of dancers like me in the dance industry and simply thought they didn’t exist.
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