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July 2020

Like many others, I was shocked and outraged by the killing in Minneapolis on May 25 of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, by a white police officer who knelt on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. It rightly sparked protests and demonstrations around the world, and highlighted once more the ugly truth about racial discrimination against black and non-white people.

Everybody needs to work harder to achieve equality for all, and this is something that is also true of the dance community – especially classical ballet – which has simply not done enough to diversify the profession and its audiences. In this month’s issue, we publish a personal response to the situation from Ballet Black’s Cira Robinson.

I sincerely hope, over the years, Dancing Times has celebrated and given due recognition to non-white dance professionals, but I’m also conscious the magazine must do more in future, and so we would like to hear from you, our readers, of ways in which we can achieve this – you can contact us by emailing editorial@dancing-times.co.uk.

JONATHAN GRAY

Inside this issue

Cira Robinson gives a personal response to Black Lives Matter

Matthew Paluch talks to former Royal Ballet principal Deborah Bull, now Baroness Bull of the House of Lords

Nicola Rayner hears from choreographer Drew McOnie

Graham Spicer meets legendary Italian ballerina Carla Fracci

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