I've highlighted this photo mainly because Ronn Guidi is front & center, going over notes from our performance of Scheherazade. I think it's a funny photo, because it looks as though no one was paying attention. Perhaps he was talking to someone in the orchestra pit. I was cast as an Odalisque and I remember how much I loved dancing this role.
I fell in love with ballet at ten, first watching my best friend then dancing at Ingaborg Heuser’s studio in El Paso. But no one looked like me—pink tights, pink shoes, it was awkward. At 16, I met Arthur Mitchell and earned a scholarship to Dance Theatre of Harlem. In NYC, someone asked why my tights were pink if I was brown, so the next day, I dyed everything. That moment changed everything. I went from pink to brown, and I never looked back. It was a wonderful revelation.
I began teaching with Kids Excel in El Paso, where I discovered my passion for working with students with special needs. I earned a master’s in special education, led free after-school dance programs, and taught at the El Paso Center for the Deaf, incorporating sign language into my classes. Later, in New Mexico, I continued with Kids Excel, inspired by mentor Gemtria St. Clair, teaching children of all abilities to dance.
Chronic pain and multiple surgeries had me down for a while, but art pulled me back into motion. While healing, I began painting and decorating pointe shoes from be, bringing beauty into difficult moments.
When you put your heart into what you love, it becomes a gift to others. Every plié, every port de bras, is part of fine-tuning that offering. I’m a woman of faith, and I believe God chose me for this gift—with brown skin, small feet, and all my obstacles. I overcame them, pushed through boundaries, and danced. It was amazing. And for however long I could, I shared that gift with so many.
Former professional ballet dancer trained with Ballet El Paso, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Houston Ballet, Oakland Ballet, and Cleveland Ballet, my work now lives beyond the stage. Through visual art and Black Ballerinas: A Legacy in Motion, I preserve the stories, presence, and legacy of Black ballerinas, transforming from my lived experience into lasting cultural memory.
My life has been shaped by ballet, through its discipline, its demands, and its quiet beauty. As a former professional dancer, I experienced both the rigor and the absence: the spaces where our stories were not fully told. My work now lives at the intersection of art and archive, where I plan to preserve, honor, and reframe the legacy of Black ballerinas through visual storytelling and historical documentation.