London’s Pointe Black ballet school aims to break racial barriers

It was a pointed comment about her Afro-braided hair that spurred Ruth Essel to carve out what she calls a safe space for Black dancers. The founder of Pointe Black Ballet School in London said when she was a child, teachers and assistants all but punished her for not fitting the traditional ballerina mould, as if she was using her race as some kind of rebellion. "I'll never forget my first time about to dance on a West End stage," said Essel, describing when, aged 10, she started a final rehearsal at a theatre proudly wearing the braided bun her single mother had spent her last 100 pounds on.