As I was sitting with Dora next to a freeway after watching her teach a class on a very hot afternoon, she told me about her life and her upbringing living in Brazil and being a dancer. She talked about how hard it was to go to a dance school in which there were little to none black people there. She said although there wasn’t anyone who looked like her she was determined to dance. She had worked so hard on her technique and mentally that almost nothing could stop her from reaching her goals. She fought so much to dance and she wasn’t going to let the lack of diversity give up on her dreams. In the end she was the first black person ever to graduate from her ballet school in 1991. Thankfully now when you look at the diversity of the school she graduated from today it’s much more diverse. She also explained to me that they incorporate more folk dances as well. Before when she attended she mentioned that it was very western and how much she stuck out because she loved to dance crazy and move her hips. Now you see the same dances being incorporated that used to be frowned upon. Dora has grown so much since then with dance really shaping her character and her values and her morals today. A quote I want to share is one she told me and I believe it sums up everything I’ve learned about her:
“Do it, and do it big.”
