Making ballet a stage for all

Mamela Nyamza has been called a movement maverick and is one of South Africa’s most celebrated dancers. She speaks to Tina Daheley about how she uses dance to tackle the continuing inequality and social division in the Rainbow Nation.

French Algerian ballerina Chloe Lopes Gomes made history by becoming the first black female dancer at the Staatsballet Berlin ballet company. In 2020 she spoke out about the racism she experienced, after she says, being told to ‘white up’ and ‘blend in’. Chloe speaks to Anna Bailey about the challenges of making the ballet world more inclusive.

When the celebrated Chilean dancer César Morales was a young child, a school excursion changed his life. César was taken to see the ballet Giselle at the Municipal Theatre of Santiago in Chile and he immediately fell in love with the art form. He speaks to us about defying the expectations of his traditional Chilean family by taking up ballet not football.

(Photo: Chloe Lopes Gomes. Credit: Dean Barucija)