(light music) - I am the first Black artistic director of a historically and predominantly white ballet company in the United States.

(light music) What sets Pittsburgh Ballet Theater apart from other ballet companies is I think our commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and access.

(light music) But I think we get to continue to be clear that I was chosen for this position because I'm good, not because people think that I am my identities perhaps.

(light music) - I've been with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater since 2015 and I have had the pleasure of working with three artistic directors, Terrence Orr, Susan Jaffe, and now Adam McKinney.

Adam McKinney has such a unique perspective and a vastly different background from Susan and Terry that will be quite an asset to Pittsburgh Ballet Theater going into the future.

- I think from an artistic perspective, I'm noticing that when we treat people well, that when we raise the bar high, pun intended, that people and the artists surpass that bar.

One more time.

- Being a ballet dancer takes so much energy and so much of your life is centered around the work.

We have such a short span of time that we get to do this.

We're athletes and our bodies only stay healthy for so long.

- He lets us develop mentally some days if our bodies need a little rest day.

He's very understanding of that, which I appreciate.

It's taking care of our bodies.

It's elongating our careers.

- Collaboration between dancers and the artistic director, that's like a kind of unique and it's very nice to have.

In the rehearsal with us he's like, "What do you want, what do you need?"

All this supportiveness.

- That's a principle dancer pirouette.

It means for me, having a vision for the organization, but also inviting others to be in on envisioning what they want the organization to be like.

That means looking deeply inside and identifying who we are and looking back at what we've done and looking now at who we are and who we want to be seven generations ahead into the future.

And for me, that means ensuring that every single person in Pittsburgh knows that they belong at PBT.

(light music) I think it's also about creating a culture of care and thoughtfulness inside of ballet that is possible, and particularly possible here in Pittsburgh that understands the importance of art and culture in society.

- The presence that he brought to PBT, he's been very intentional, calm.

- He has just such a kind soul.

You can tell when he walks into the room.

- Lift your your focus.

- So light and welcoming.

- Spirit, spirit, spirit.

- I think other aspects that make him a great artistic director are just his positivity and his encouragement.

- I am one of three boys and my father was a football player, almost went pro, and he ensured that all of us were athletes and so I played soccer.

I was a swimmer and I was also a musician and a singer, and I was in musicals as a high schooler, and the choreographer from those shows suggested that I take a ballet class.

And I kind of, as most teenagers do, it just kind of was flippant in my reaction.

But after my first ballet class at Milwaukee Ballet School, I found that ballet for me was the perfect amalgamation of aesthetics and athletics.

That is form and function.

(light music) I began to do more research into dance as a healing catalyst.

It's looked like working with people who survived the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

It's looked like people who are second and third generation Holocaust survivors.

It's looked like going back to "The Door of No Return" in Ouidah, Benin, West Africa.

That is the location from which enslaved Africans were sent and the last place, the last door through which they moved into what's known as the Matha, that is the transatlantic slave trade, and using dance as an opportunity to return to trauma and to replace old memories with new ones.

Then returned to the United States and was taking class at the Ailey building.

One of the dancers said, "Judith Jameson is interested "in having you come take class.

", and I did, and dance there for two years where I ended my professional career.

During that time, started an organization with my husband Daniel called DNA Works, which is an arts and service organization committed to healing through the arts and dialogue.

I still perform through DNA Works, both solo work and ensemble work.

And having that personal practice informs the ways in which I direct.

Have you identified how many you're gonna do at the end?

It means new stories and placing new stories on stage.

It means ensuring that everyone knows that they belong in ballet and that has everything to do with representation and leadership.

(light music) How ballet can bring us together as a community.

Under my leadership, we will create more opportunities to be in public schools, to be at senior centers, to be in hospitals as a way to demystify and build community and to ensure that people have access to this beautiful life changing force that is ballet.

What of ballet do we keep and what of ballet do we let go?

Ballet is a cultural dance form.

Historically, ballet was for upper class European people and was a form developed for upper class European royalty.

And now we have an opportunity to ensure that ballet, and what we put on stage and how we do it is representative of who we are as a society.

Ballet too needs to shift.

- Sometimes with classical ballet, because it's so structured and there's such a formula for how to do it technically, it can sometimes be a little bit stale, but I feel that Adam is inviting us to sort of bring ourselves into the process and bring a little bit more of almost like our contemporary side within the classical vernacular so that there's movement and there's storytelling on top of this beautiful and precise technique.

(light music) - Hey, Wilmerding.

(audience applauding) Happy you're here.

It's the first of three performances that we are doing in the open air.

- More things like this will be really great for the community and I think people will love it and we'll be able to reach people that don't necessarily get to come in and see us at the (indistinct).

(upbeat music) (audience applauding) - Our individuality is showing a lot more on stage now.

Even the tattoos that I have, they don't make us always cover them up now.

It's the choreographer's choice.

We're not these perfect little cake toppers that go on stage and you can't touch them or talk to them.

- You don't get to hear our voices, but there are a lot of incredible humans in this space and it would be great for more of the community to come in and get to know us.

(light music) - What I am most excited about is serving the needs of people here and building capacities for understanding what ballet can do and the power of ballet.

(upbeat music) The tears are welling in my eyes and in my body about the possibilities here.

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