{"id":2481,"date":"2017-12-26T20:24:58","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T20:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=2481"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:28","slug":"samrawit-saleem-is-black-girl-magic-as-clara-in-pnbs-nutcracker-naturalhair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2017\/12\/26\/samrawit-saleem-is-black-girl-magic-as-clara-in-pnbs-nutcracker-naturalhair\/","title":{"rendered":"Samrawit Saleem is Black Girl Magic as Clara in PNB’s Nutcracker #naturalhair"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Samrawit<\/p>\n

Samrawit Saleem<\/span> Angela Sterling.<\/span><\/div>\n

Hosted by:https:\/\/www.thestranger.com<\/a>
\nSLOG
\nBy by Sherrell Dorsey<\/a><\/p>\n

Samrawit Saleem is refreshingly sharp and decisive to be just shy of 12 years old. She\u2019s tall for her age, slender but strong, and typically styles her hair in braids, away from her face, which wears a bright smile as she glides across the stage as the first Black lead in the Pacific Northwest Ballet<\/a>\u2019s production of George Balanchine\u2019s The Nutcracker<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Her journey to the lead role of one of Seattle\u2019s most well-attended holiday shows was not by happenstance. Four years ago, she was one of about 100 students inducted each year into the PNB family by way of the DanceChance<\/a> program; a recruitment initiative that was launched in 1994 to give Seattle\u2019s inner-city students an opportunity to train in classical ballet. Out of the nearly 1,300 third grade students that audition across 20 or more Seattle public schools each fall, roughly 80 are selected to move on to a free eight-week introductory ballet session at PNB.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

For those that remain, PNB provides a full two-year scholarship for classes, apparel, shoes, tickets to performances, and transportation between school and PNB. (The program is sponsored by several private and corporate grants to the tune of over $125,000 each year.)<\/p>\n

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\u201cI picked [Saleem] because in last year\u2019s performance she was one of the Polichinelle. There\u2019s something very eye-catching about her; something natural and fresh,\u201d said PNB artistic director Peter Boal, who has been with the company for nearly 13 years. \u201cThe way she looked at an audience didn\u2019t feel affected or studied or like acting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boal said he has chosen the Balanchine version of The Nutcracker<\/em> performance for the rewarding choreography it provides dancers and the engaging production experience it provides the audience. With lots of steps, counts, and high-quality delivery that doesn\u2019t come natural for kids, Boal encourages the challenge in his young dancers and has faith Saleem will captivate the audience.<\/p>\n

PNB has been supporting programming like DanceChance through funding from The National Endowment for the Arts, which has given PNB close to $1 million over the course of 20 years serving, what Boal says, is about 20,000 students annually, with in-school instruction, free performances and other engaging activities.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Saleem is nothing short of a culmination of PNB\u2019s work toward a more inclusive ballet community.<\/p>\n

Her schedule these days includes intensive after-school rehearsals and performances three to four days each week. She reaches home well into the evening, just in time for dinner with her family and to complete homework\u2014not to mention a bit of computer coding she\u2019s been learning through the years. Saturdays include a full day of practice and matinee and evening performances.<\/p>\n

In a call with Saleem, the precocious tween speaks with an air of accomplishment even after an afternoon of rehearsals and long evening of homework ahead of her. She says that the schedule is demanding, [but] it \u201cpushes her to manage her time and meet her school deadlines\u201d while also making sure her choreography is pristine to \u201cmake Clara come alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

When asked about how her role has differed from dancing in the main cast years prior, she mentions having to communicate feelings and expressions openly to her audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of acting that goes into it. Clara is a very joyful person, so when I\u2019m dancing I have to make sure the audience can tell what I\u2019m doing to help [them] understand [the story] better,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about your presentation and how you decide to do the movements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the five students who have been cast as Clara in the last four years of the show, two were white, one was Asian, and one was of Japanese and Spanish descent. Saleem, who will perform in 20 of the 30 shows this season, is of African American and Ethiopian heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, I was nervous going into all of the choreography I have to remember. My musicality is good, my timing is good. I\u2019m a little nervous, but I know I’ll do fine because that is what rehearsal is for,\u201d said Saleem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could chip away at the naturalness that [she] has but I don\u2019t want to diminish the impact that she\u2019s born with,\u201d said Boal. \u201cShe will hold the attention of an audience successfully. They\u2019re going to want to see this whole story through her eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samrawit Saleem Angela Sterling. Hosted by:https:\/\/www.thestranger.com SLOG By by Sherrell Dorsey Samrawit Saleem is refreshingly sharp and decisive to be just shy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-zine","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1513385484-nutcracker2017_0346.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2481"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2484,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2481\/revisions\/2484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}