Professor Syreeta Hector's 'Black Ballerina' ends powerful six-year run » School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
Skip to main content Skip to local navigation
Syreeta dancing on stage dark background with lights.

Professor Syreeta Hector's 'Black Ballerina' ends powerful six-year run



AMPD Professor Syreeta Hector recently concluded the final performance of her solo work, Black Ballerina at Native Earth Performing Arts’ Aki Studio in Toronto.

The piece, which has toured nationally for six years, explores the intersections of race, identity and classical ballet through Hector’s personal lens as a mixed-race artist and educator.

“This was the last performance run of Black Ballerina,” says Hector. “It has been a wild and unique experience to do this work over six years. It is extremely rare for a dance work to have a touring life, and it is extremely rare for a dancer to keep working on a project for so many years. I also started this work before I became a mother of a toddler. It’s been beyond wonderful to share this work with my daughter, and with Canada.”

Syreeta on stage, kneeling in a dance position with ballet slippers on both hands.
A close up of her feet, one wearing sneakers and the other wearing ballet flats.

Featured in The Globe and Mail, NOW Toronto, and other major outlets, the work has been recognized not only for its choreographic power but also for the way it challenges longstanding norms in the dance world.

Rooted in Hector’s lived experience as a mixed-race woman of Black, French Acadian, and Mi’kmaq heritage, Black Ballerina uses movement to interrogate and celebrate the interplay of culture, history and artistry. The piece draws upon multiple dance forms, from classical ballet to street and Indigenous styles, highlighting the narratives that have too often been excluded from mainstream stages.

Syreeta dancing on stage in a tutu.

AMPD’s vibrant creative environment has also played a pivotal role in Hector’s ongoing process. “As a full-time faculty member, I have access to amazing dance studios so am here practicing and rehearsing almost every day.”

Now, Hector is developing a new work titled Not Another Naked White Person, which will serve as the second chapter in the Black Ballerina series.

"This work will be a theatre dance piece that will act as the second chapter to Black Ballerina,” says Hector. “I am working on this piece this summer in our studios and am already so excited for it to premiere next year!”

Syreeta Hector’s Black Ballerina has brought vital questions to the forefront of dance and performance education, encouraging audiences across Canada to reflect on the importance of making space for diverse stories, both in the studio and on stage.

To learn more about Syreeta Hector and her work, visit SyreetaHector.com.

Photo credit: Kate Dalton (@katedaltn)