Richmond Magazine: Ballet for Everybody

By Kristen Green

15 December 2019

“The Nutcracker” is a beloved tradition in our family, in part because the multiracial and multiethnic families in the Richmond Ballet production’s opening party scene look like ours.

I first noticed this diversity three years ago, when my oldest daughter played a mouse. I thought it must have been a fluke. But since then, the cast has become even more diverse, while professional dancers have come and gone. Stoner Winslett, the ballet’s longtime artistic director, says she made the decision to have multiracial families in the party scene when she directed her first “Nutcracker” production in 1980.

“Ballet is an incredibly beautiful thing,” she says, “and I think it should be for everybody.”

Read the full article in Richmond Magazine.