11-year-old Charlotte Nebres is making history after being cast as Marie in New York City Ballet’s holiday production of “The Nutcracker”. She is officially the first black lead in the history of the dance company’s production, which dates back to 1954.
Nebres, a student at the School of American Ballet, can recall the inspiration she felt when Misty Copeland became the first female African American principal at American Ballet Theater.
In an interview with the New York Times, she said, “I saw her perform and she was just so inspiring and so beautiful. When I saw someone who looked like me on stage, I thought, ‘That’s amazing.’ She was representing me and all the people like me.”
In addition to the production’s first black leading role, the New York City Ballet put together a pretty diverse cast for “The Nutcracker”. Marie’s Prince in the ballet will be played by Tanner Quirk who is half-Chinese; the ballet’s second casting of Marie will be played by Sophia Thomopoulos who is half-Korean and half-Greek; and Kai Misra-Stone, who is Sophia’s Prince, is half-South Asian.
“It’s pretty amazing to be not only representing S.A.B., but also representing all of our cultures,” said Nebres. “There might be a little boy or girl in the audience seeing that and saying, ‘Hey, I can do that too.'”
