{"id":506894,"date":"2026-01-10T20:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T20:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506894\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T20:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T20:09:13","slug":"meet-india-bradley-new-york-city-ballets-first-black-female-soloist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506894\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet India Bradley, New York City Ballet\u2019s first Black female soloist"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

By Zita Allen<\/p>\n

The buzz preceding India Bradley\u2019s October promotion to New York City Ballet (NYCB) soloist, making her the first Black ballerina to assume that position in the company\u2019s 76-year-history, has morphed into a proliferation of congratulations to the captivating young dancer, highlighting the significance of the event.<\/p>\n

\"\"India Bradley in \u201cGeorge Balanchine\u2019s The Nutcracker,\u201d choreography by The George Balanchine Trust, New York City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, Dec. 7, 2024. Credit: Photo courtesy of Erin Baiano<\/p>\n

Bradley\u2019s long-limbed elegance, sparkling vitality and charming charisma have long made her someone to watch. In 2023, it added something special to her debut as Dewdrop in \u201cGeorge Balanchine\u2019s The Nutcracker.\u201d Since the legendary Tanaquil LeClercq premiered that role in 1954, it has been considered one of the delights of NYCB\u2019s seasonal favorite production. Dewdrop leads the Waltz of the Flowers section of the ballet, with choreography full of \u201cshort bursts of ravishing, effervescent dancing, with turns and jumps that appear and disappear as quickly as dew falling on a petal.\u201d The buzz around Bradley\u2019s performance quickly turned into thunderous applause and has now resulted in the historic promotion.<\/p>\n

Dance Magazine and the New York Times announced Bradley\u2019s promotion, along with five other NYCB soloists \u2014 Victor Abreu, Dominika Afanasenkov, Naomi Corti, Mary Thomas MacKinnon and Andres Zuniga. Black Enterprise proudly declared that she was \u201cmaking history in the dance world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"India Bradley in \u201cGeorge Balanchine\u2019s The Nutcracker,\u201d New York City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, Nov. 25, 2023. Credit: Photo courtesy of Erin Baiano<\/p>\n

After all, it was a world that had long resisted the inclusion of the Black dancer. Even as American ballet began to welcome Black male dancers, like Arthur Mitchell, Keith Lee, Desmond Richardson, Albert Evans and Taylor Stanley, companies continued to resist embracing Black and Brown ballerinas.<\/p>\n

Just a few days after her promotion was announced, thousands of Instagram (IG) followers congratulated Bradley while also wishing her a happy 27th birthday. The online IG list was an impressive one that included NYCB\u2019s associate artistic director Wendy Whelan, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) artistic director Alicia Graf Mack, and former AAADT dancers Hope Boykin and Sarita Allen, Dance Theater of Harlem (DTH) ballerina Alexandra Hutchinson, School of American Ballet\u2019s Aesha Ash, and American Ballet Theatre\u2019s (ABT\u2019s) Misty Copeland and Calvin Royal III.<\/p>\n

Many of Bradley\u2019s well-wishers, both online and in person, also acknowledged her predecessors \u2014 the countless Black ballerinas whose talent, perseverance and guardian angels helped them pave the way for future generations even as they fought to realize their own dreams. That list includes, but is by no means limited to, Janet Collins (Metropolitan Opera Ballet); Raven Wilkinson (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo); Carmen de Lavallade, Cleo Quitman, Judith Jamison, and Glory Van Scott (ABT\u2019s production of Agnes de Mille\u2019s Four Mary\u2019s); Houston Ballet\u2019s Lauren Anderson; Capitol Ballet\u2019s Sandra Fortune-Green; New York Negro Ballet\u2019s Delores Browne; ABT\u2019s Misty Copeland; and, of course, DTH\u2019s Virginia Johnson, Lydia Abarca, and the roster of the Black ballerinas with the company Arthur Mitchell founded with Karel Shook that Robert Garland now leads. Of course, the list wouldn\u2019t be complete without NYCB predecessors Debra Austin, Bradley mentor and former NYCB ballerina, and DTH principal and teacher, Boston Ballet\u2019s Andrea Long-Naidu.<\/p>\n

Asked how she got the news, Bradley said that the day before the promotion, she received an email scheduling a meeting with NYCB artistic director John Stafford, Wendy Whelan and choreographer Justin Peck. \u201cMy anxiety went through the roof \u2026 in the world of ballet, it could be anything.\u201d It turned out to be good news: \u201cIt was just a beautiful, calm, fun, very exciting day. And, as it turned out, I had made plans to hang out that night with friends I first met at DTH 14 years ago and when I told them, \u2018Oh, by the way, I just got promoted,\u2019 we were screaming. It was a crazy, full-circle moment of not seeing each other since the years at DTH when Arthur Mitchell was alive and we just so happened to make plans for that day. It was very, very special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"India Bradley after a stage rehearsal of \u201cDewdrop\u201d from \u201cGeorge Balanchine\u2019s The Nutcracker,\u201d New York City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater Lincoln Center.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Erin Baiano<\/p>\n

Asked about the impact of becoming NYCB\u2019s first Black principal dancer on her life, Bradley said, \u201cThese past couple of months, Mr. Mitchell\u2019s been on my mind a lot. I was talking to my mom a couple of days ago and she reminded me of conversations with him when I was very young and him telling me, \u2018You\u2019re not going to understand what I\u2019m talking about right now, but one day, you\u2019re going to do what you were put on this Earth to do in ballet.\u2019 I think he was telling me your entire life, you should be in it, be present and grateful, but understand your significance. I think his point was to say you don\u2019t need to dissect what\u2019s going on to understand fully what it means. That really resonated with me. I\u2019m trained to do my best, to just do what I think is good and to dance well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Detroit native said dance is in her DNA: \u201cMy mom was in Alvin Ailey back in the day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bradley\u2019s dance training started at the age of 4 at the Link School of the Arts in Troy, Mich. When she was 11 years old, she began studying at the Academy of Russian Classical Ballet, before winning a full scholarship to the DTH summer program in 2012. Entering DTH\u2019s Professional Training Program, under the direction of Long-Naidu, changed her life when she was taken to see the NYCB. \u201cIt was like freedom in ballet form,\u201d Bradley said.<\/p>\n

\"\"India Bradley in her stage rehearsal of \u201cDewdrop\u201d from \u201cGeorge Balanchine\u2019s The Nutcracker,\u201d New York CIty Ballet, David H. Koch Theater Lincoln Center.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Erin Baiano<\/p>\n

Soon afterward, an audition for NYCB\u2019s School of American Ballet led to a full scholarship to the summer course that, in turn, resulted in an invitation to stay on as an apprentice with the company in 2017. One thing led to another and in August 2018, Bradley became a member of NYCB\u2019s Corps de Ballet, performing featured roles in Balanchine\u2019s masterpieces, including \u201cAgon,\u201d \u201cLa Valse,\u201d \u201cEmeralds\u201d in \u201cJewels,\u201d and more, as well as in ballets by Ulysses Dove, Alexei Ratmansky, Pam Tanowitz and Peck. She also originated featured roles in ballets by choreographers Kyle Abraham, Silas Farley, Andrea Miller, Justin Peck, Tiller Peck and Gianna Reisen.<\/p>\n

This past holiday season, folks attending New York City Ballet\u2019s performances of its box office hit, \u201cGeorge Balanchine\u2019s The Nutcracker,\u201d from Nov. 28, 2025\u2013Jan. 3, 2026, would have been lucky enough to see the ravishingly effervescent performance of NYCB\u2019s first Black female soloist, India Bradley, making history and dancing her heart out.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published by Amsterdam News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Zita Allen The buzz preceding India Bradley\u2019s October promotion to New York City Ballet (NYCB) soloist, making…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":506895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[226955,5229,226956,226957,226958,226959,226960,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,226961,226962,226963],"class_list":{"0":"post-506894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-arthur-mitchell","11":"tag-india-bradley","12":"tag-john-stafford","13":"tag-justin-peck","14":"tag-misty-copeland","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-newyork","18":"tag-newyorkcity","19":"tag-ny","20":"tag-nyc","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-victor-abreu","28":"tag-victoria-page","29":"tag-wendy-whelan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115872620469144310","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}