{"id":2985,"date":"2019-02-21T20:07:37","date_gmt":"2019-02-21T20:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=2985"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:28","slug":"nashville-ballets-new-full-length-shows-what-inclusion-in-ballet-could-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2019\/02\/21\/nashville-ballets-new-full-length-shows-what-inclusion-in-ballet-could-look-like\/","title":{"rendered":"Nashville Ballet’s New Full-Length Shows What Inclusion in Ballet Could Look Like"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nashville Ballet’s New Full-Length Shows What Inclusion in Ballet Could Look Like<\/h1>\n
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Source: Nashville ballet Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Theresa Ruth Howard<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Lately, there has been much ado about diversity, equity and inclusion in ballet. While it’s clear what increased diversity would look like (having more dancers, teachers, choreographers and administrators of color working in the field), equity and inclusion are a bit more nebulous. Yet Nashville Ballet’s new ballet Lucy Negro Redux<\/em><\/a> might give us a glimpse of what inclusion could look like.<\/p>\n

Choreographed by artistic director Paul Vasterling, the ballet derives its provocative title from poet Caroline Randell William’s book, which explores the woman behind Shakespeare’s “Dark Lady” sonnets. Through her research, Williams came to discover that Lucy Negro was in fact an Elizabethan era black brothel owner who enchanted the Bard.<\/p>\n

Told through poetry, prose and cultural criticism, Williams’ book explores themes of equality and beauty, imagining the love affair between Lucy and “Mr. Whiteness Him Bad Bard Self,” aka William Shakespeare.<\/p>\n

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