"Nutcracker": New York City Ballet engages first black "Marie" dancer

The New York Times writes of a "milestone": For the first time since 1954 - when the New York City Ballet premiered "George Balanchine's The Nutcracker '" - the ballet company's directors took on the role of the young heroine Marie black dancer engaged, Charlotte Nebres.

Her mother is from Trinidad, her paternal family from the Philippines. And Nebres is not the only actress in the "Nutcracker" performance, whose family is partly from abroad. The role of Marie's prince takes over, according to "NYT" the 13-year-old half-Chinese Tanner Quirk; the second Marie actress, twelve-year-old Sophia Thomopoulos, has Korean and Greek ancestors; and the young dancer who personifies her prince is eleven years old, named Kai Misra-Stone, and has a family in South Asia.

"It's great to represent all our cultures," Charlotte Nebres told the newspaper. "Maybe a little boy or a little girl sees this in the audience and thinks 'Hey, I can do that too'." For her personally it was important to be the first black Marie.

"There might be a little boy or girl in the audience seeing that and saying, hey, I can do that, too." This year, New York City Ballet's "Nutcracker" has a black Marie, the young heroine of her life is charged with magic. https://t.co/si21IHIoAS

Nebres is a student at the School of American Ballet. Whenever she is dancing, she feels free, the newspaper quotes from the conversation with the eleven-year-old. "It makes me happy and I will do what makes me happy."

The ballet company New York City Ballet was founded in 1948 by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein, she is one of the country's leading. "The Nutcracker" is a ballet by the Russian composer Tchaikovsky, there are several choreographies - including those by Balanchine (more background on the history of the "nutcracker" you can read here).

This year's "Nutcracker" performance at the New York City Ballet lasts until the 5th of January. "For 65 years, the New York City Ballet has brought this timeless story to life," it says on the company's website.