HERstory: ballerina janet collins

meet janet collins, the first black woman to perform at the metropolitan opera [ "the met" ] in new york.  janet collins was born on march 7, 1917 in new orleans.  she auditioned for ballet russe de monte carlo -- a very prestigious dance company in her time-- at age 15.  she was talented enough to be apart of the company, but the company wanted ms. collins to
paint herself white in order to perform with the other dancers.  so she gracefully kept it movin-- and she moved right on up.

in her day, she was told that there was no place for black ballet dancers.  not only did janet collins take her place, but she stamped it.  she became the very first black prima ballerina to perform at the met in 1951.  through her gift for dance and perseverance, ms. collins broke the color barriers at the met.

ms. collins passed away on may 28, 2003, but her cousin, carmen de lavallade, set up a fellowship in ms. collins' name.  the fellowship allows college students to be paid for working at the New York Dance Festival (fellowships are a-ma-zing like the grants that we talked about before).  i strongly encourage any of you who are interested in any sort of dance -- jazz, hip-hop, ballet, etc.-- to apply for this fellowship so you can follow in janet collins' slippers :)

[ brenda michelle . extra : click here to watch carmen de lavallade talk about how ms. collins inspired her to become a dancer ]