WASHINGTON — As Black History Month continues, we’re taking a look into one of the most historic dance companies in D.C.
While the Jones-Haywood Dance School has broken barriers in the world of ballet for the last 80 years, we explored the strides they’re making for girls and boys and the complex business of ballet. Ballet is an art form, an expression of passion, and determination personified.
“I came to Jones-Haywood at 11-years-old. So, that was 1951,” Sandra Fortune-Green said.
Her point shoes have taken her around the world, to Russia and Bulgaria. She was a professor of dance for 15-years at Howard University and is the Artistic Director of the Legacy of the Jones-Haywood School. It’s her mission to ensure Black children who believe they have the "attitude" are not deterred.
“I was not intimidated by the fact that I was studying a European art form, because that was how Miss Haywood and Miss Jones approached what they were doing,” Fortune-Green added.
The school opened in 1941, a time when the nation was segregated. Since then, hundreds of Black men and women have gone on to "classically walk" across stages around the country, like Brandye Lee.
“I went to the Ailey School, on a fellowship. And once that fall rolled around, I got into elite two, I was invited into that company went on to the Lion King National Gazelle tour for several years,” Lee said.
Lee later joined a dance company until 2019 and also serving as a teacher throughout the years. Lee and Fortune-Green have both made professional careers through ballet. The discipline behind learning not only the choreography but the inner works of the business successfully, they both attribute to the support of their families. A message Fortune-Greene hopes resonate with parents of this generation.
“If the children have the parental support, and the children are extremely interested in dancing, whether it's on the stage, or an aspect of the career-- if they have the support of their parents, it will work,” Fortune-Green said.
This Black History Month, Fortune-Green and Lee hope stereotypes won’t stop anyone from pursuing their passions. If it so happens to be ballet, you have a home at Jones-Haywood Dance School.
“I like to introduce them to alternative careers in dance so that the thinking is not only on the stage, it's behind the stage, it's a dance archivist a dance psychologist, a speech pathologist that has an interest in dance physical therapy, there are opportunities for them to do that as well,” Fortune-Green said.