Adesola Akinleye, PhD, is a choreographer artist-scholar. Trained at Ballet Rambert, her career began at Dance Theatre of Harlem, later working with UK Companies such as Carol Straker Dance Company and Green Candle. She is a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University Research Fellow with Theatrum Mundi, visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins, and Research Affiliate and visiting artist at MIT. Akinleye is co-artistic director of DancingStrong Movement Lab. She creates works from live performance (often site-specific involving a cross-section of the community) to films, & text. Her work is characterized by an interest in voicing peoples lived-experiences through moving portraiture. She teaches ballet, contemporary dance and other practical dance classes as well as dance education, theory and history. She has won awards internationally for her choreography, as well as published in the areas of dance and cultural studies.

'(Re:) Claiming Ballet is a comprehensive guide to the extensive influence of the marginalized on ballet. For readers who interact with other performing arts sectors, such as music or theater, it would be beneficial to carefully consider the similarities between how issues of class, gender, and race permeate both the ballet world and other facets of the performing arts. (RE:) Claiming Ballet successfully demonstrates the strides ballet has made in becoming more inclusive and less restrictive. It is imperative for humans – particularly those in positions of power – to examine themselves and consider what positive changes can be made; in turn, the practices of today will inform and influence the generations to come.'

• Introduction: Regarding claiming ballet / reclaiming ballet Part One – Histories Chapter 1: Ballet, from property to Art – Adesola AkinleyeChapter 2: Should there be a Female ballet canon? Seven Radical Acts of Inclusion - Julia Gleich and Molly FaulknerChapter 3: Arabesque en Noir: The Persistent Presence of Black Dancers in the American Ballet World - Joselli Audain Deans Chapter 4: Portrayals of Black people from the African Diaspora in western narrative ballets – Sandie BournePart Two – Knowledges  Chapter 5: The traces of my ballet body - Mary Savva  Chapter 6: Ballet Beyond Boundaries – Personal History. Brenda Dixson Gottschild  Chapter 7:“Auftanzen statt Aufgeben” and The Anti Fascist Ballet School -Elizabeth Ward  Chapter 8: Dancing Across Historically Racist Borders – Kehinde Ishangi Part Three – Resiliences  Chapter 9: Dance Theatre of Harlem’s radicalization of ballet in 1970s & 1980s – Theresa Ruth Howard  Chapter 10: Personal testimony as social resilience - Theara J. Ward Chapter 11: “Can you feel it?”: Pioneering Pedagogies that Challenge Ballet’s Authoritarian Traditions - Jessica Zeller Chapter 12: The Ever After of Ballet – Selby Wynn Schwartz Chapter 13: Ballethnic Dance Company Builds Community: Urban Nutcracker leads the way – Nena GilreathPart four – Consciousnesses Chapter 14: The Counterpoint Project – When Life Doesn’t Imitate Art -  Endalyn TaylorChapter 15: Ballet’s Binary Genders in a Rainbow-Spectrum World:A call for progressive pedagogies - Melonie B. Murray  Chapter 16: Dancing through Black British ballet: Conversations with dancers - Adesola Akinleye and Tia-Monique Uzor Chapter 17: Ballet Aesthetics of Trauma, Development, and Functionality – Luc Vanier & Elizabeth Johnson About the contributors Index

Adesola Akinleye, PhD, is a choreographer artist-scholar. Trained at Ballet Rambert, her career began at Dance Theatre of Harlem, later working with UK Companies such as Carol Straker Dance Company and Green Candle. She is a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University Research Fellow with Theatrum Mundi, visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins, and Research Affiliate and visiting artist at MIT. Akinleye is co-artistic director of DancingStrong Movement Lab. She creates works from live performance (often site-specific involving a cross-section of the community) to films, & text. Her work is characterized by an interest in voicing peoples lived-experiences through moving portraiture. She teaches ballet, contemporary dance and other practical dance classes as well as dance education, theory and history. She has won awards internationally for her choreography, as well as published in the areas of dance and cultural studies.

'(Re:) Claiming Ballet is a comprehensive guide to the extensive influence of the marginalized on ballet. For readers who interact with other performing arts sectors, such as music or theater, it would be beneficial to carefully consider the similarities between how issues of class, gender, and race permeate both the ballet world and other facets of the performing arts. (RE:) Claiming Ballet successfully demonstrates the strides ballet has made in becoming more inclusive and less restrictive. It is imperative for humans – particularly those in positions of power – to examine themselves and consider what positive changes can be made; in turn, the practices of today will inform and influence the generations to come.'

• Introduction: Regarding claiming ballet / reclaiming ballet Part One – Histories Chapter 1: Ballet, from property to Art – Adesola AkinleyeChapter 2: Should there be a Female ballet canon? Seven Radical Acts of Inclusion - Julia Gleich and Molly FaulknerChapter 3: Arabesque en Noir: The Persistent Presence of Black Dancers in the American Ballet World - Joselli Audain Deans Chapter 4: Portrayals of Black people from the African Diaspora in western narrative ballets – Sandie BournePart Two – Knowledges  Chapter 5: The traces of my ballet body - Mary Savva  Chapter 6: Ballet Beyond Boundaries – Personal History. Brenda Dixson Gottschild  Chapter 7:“Auftanzen statt Aufgeben” and The Anti Fascist Ballet School -Elizabeth Ward  Chapter 8: Dancing Across Historically Racist Borders – Kehinde Ishangi Part Three – Resiliences  Chapter 9: Dance Theatre of Harlem’s radicalization of ballet in 1970s & 1980s – Theresa Ruth Howard  Chapter 10: Personal testimony as social resilience - Theara J. Ward Chapter 11: “Can you feel it?”: Pioneering Pedagogies that Challenge Ballet’s Authoritarian Traditions - Jessica Zeller Chapter 12: The Ever After of Ballet – Selby Wynn Schwartz Chapter 13: Ballethnic Dance Company Builds Community: Urban Nutcracker leads the way – Nena GilreathPart four – Consciousnesses Chapter 14: The Counterpoint Project – When Life Doesn’t Imitate Art -  Endalyn TaylorChapter 15: Ballet’s Binary Genders in a Rainbow-Spectrum World:A call for progressive pedagogies - Melonie B. Murray  Chapter 16: Dancing through Black British ballet: Conversations with dancers - Adesola Akinleye and Tia-Monique Uzor Chapter 17: Ballet Aesthetics of Trauma, Development, and Functionality – Luc Vanier & Elizabeth Johnson About the contributors Index

Adesola Akinleye, PhD, is a choreographer artist-scholar. Trained at Ballet Rambert, her career began at Dance Theatre of Harlem, later working with UK Companies such as Carol Straker Dance Company and Green Candle. She is a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University Research Fellow with Theatrum Mundi, visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins, and Research Affiliate and visiting artist at MIT. Akinleye is co-artistic director of DancingStrong Movement Lab. She creates works from live performance (often site-specific involving a cross-section of the community) to films, & text. Her work is characterized by an interest in voicing peoples lived-experiences through moving portraiture. She teaches ballet, contemporary dance and other practical dance classes as well as dance education, theory and history. She has won awards internationally for her choreography, as well as published in the areas of dance and cultural studies.

'(Re:) Claiming Ballet is a comprehensive guide to the extensive influence of the marginalized on ballet. For readers who interact with other performing arts sectors, such as music or theater, it would be beneficial to carefully consider the similarities between how issues of class, gender, and race permeate both the ballet world and other facets of the performing arts. (RE:) Claiming Ballet successfully demonstrates the strides ballet has made in becoming more inclusive and less restrictive. It is imperative for humans – particularly those in positions of power – to examine themselves and consider what positive changes can be made; in turn, the practices of today will inform and influence the generations to come.'

• Introduction: Regarding claiming ballet / reclaiming ballet Part One – Histories Chapter 1: Ballet, from property to Art – Adesola AkinleyeChapter 2: Should there be a Female ballet canon? Seven Radical Acts of Inclusion - Julia Gleich and Molly FaulknerChapter 3: Arabesque en Noir: The Persistent Presence of Black Dancers in the American Ballet World - Joselli Audain Deans Chapter 4: Portrayals of Black people from the African Diaspora in western narrative ballets – Sandie BournePart Two – Knowledges  Chapter 5: The traces of my ballet body - Mary Savva  Chapter 6: Ballet Beyond Boundaries – Personal History. Brenda Dixson Gottschild  Chapter 7:“Auftanzen statt Aufgeben” and The Anti Fascist Ballet School -Elizabeth Ward  Chapter 8: Dancing Across Historically Racist Borders – Kehinde Ishangi Part Three – Resiliences  Chapter 9: Dance Theatre of Harlem’s radicalization of ballet in 1970s & 1980s – Theresa Ruth Howard  Chapter 10: Personal testimony as social resilience - Theara J. Ward Chapter 11: “Can you feel it?”: Pioneering Pedagogies that Challenge Ballet’s Authoritarian Traditions - Jessica Zeller Chapter 12: The Ever After of Ballet – Selby Wynn Schwartz Chapter 13: Ballethnic Dance Company Builds Community: Urban Nutcracker leads the way – Nena GilreathPart four – Consciousnesses Chapter 14: The Counterpoint Project – When Life Doesn’t Imitate Art -  Endalyn TaylorChapter 15: Ballet’s Binary Genders in a Rainbow-Spectrum World:A call for progressive pedagogies - Melonie B. Murray  Chapter 16: Dancing through Black British ballet: Conversations with dancers - Adesola Akinleye and Tia-Monique Uzor Chapter 17: Ballet Aesthetics of Trauma, Development, and Functionality – Luc Vanier & Elizabeth Johnson About the contributors Index