Shannon Harkins, The Face Of African American Ballet Dancers' Struggle

The Face Of African American Ballet Dancers' Struggle
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 19: Shannon Harkins, a 13-year-old ballerina from Silver Spring, MD will dance in this year's production of the Nutcracker. She's practicing at the Washington Ballet studio in NW Washington. (Photo by Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 19: Shannon Harkins, a 13-year-old ballerina from Silver Spring, MD will dance in this year's production of the Nutcracker. She's practicing at the Washington Ballet studio in NW Washington. (Photo by Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Washington Ballet rehearsal studio is warm and humid from bodies in motion. Overhead lights reflect the sheen on the young dancers’ foreheads, and for the fourth time, Shannon Harkins and her fellow “Nutcracker” castmates have to start their routine again.

“Can you soft! Soft!” demands teacher Vladimir Djouloukhadze, demonstrating to the group the artistic, “flowy” hands the Chinese scene calls for — a nearly imperceptible difference from what the dancers had been doing. He runs over to Harkins. “Always keep this vertical,” he barks, straightening the umbrella she carries while she dances on point.

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