Meet Brown Ballerinas for Change | Community Dancer of the year | 2020
Meet Brown Ballerinas for Change
Community Dancer of the year
Dancers of RVA
Sophia Chambliss: Dance is not something I was born with. My mom was a young college student without any money, so we were obviously focused on our basic needs and not dance. I remember spending hours in my room watching YouTube tutorials and dancing around in my room. I would stand in front of a mirror and play Beyoncé on repeat every day. When I was 8 or 9 I took jazz classes, because it was my favorite style and my mom made me chose one. Compared to other dancers who start ballet at two or three, I began my ballet journey at 12 with CVDA, which was a major setback. Due to this, I had to work very hard so that I could reach the level of everyone around me. This setback has allowed me to have numerous accomplishments. I have also been a part of another dance group called Richmond Urban Dance, where I performed street style dance and served the Richmond Community. I currently work as an assistant for dance classes at my studio when I’m not dancing. Dance is my passion and my drive. It gives me something to look forward to every day.
I am excited to be nominated for not only this category but for the RVA Dance Awards in total. We are a new organization and not only that, but we are a non-profit organization. With that being said, we have had to work very hard to get to the place that we are today. I am excited that people are seeing our hard work and passion and I hope to only grow from here.
A fun fact about me is that I have to keep myself very busy or I will play on my phone all day. Since I am an IB student, my school workload is very intense. Besides, my dance classes are almost every day and last for multiple hours. By stressing myself out, I get more work done.... which sounds weird. I found that in quarantine when school was very slim and dance was not as intense, I found myself just wanting to sit around all day and be lazy. I love how busy my life is because it makes me appreciate the little things more.
Ava Holloway: I became involved in dance at Central Virginia Dance Academy when I was three years old. I take every genre of dance from ballet to hip hop and as I became older, I began to volunteer with Miracles in Motion and at Central Virginia Dance Academy working with children who had cognitive and physical challenges. I loved working as a teaching assistant for these classes and began to realize how powerful dance could be. I am also a member of Joni, the dance team at St. Catherine’s School and love competing with both dance companies. Over the summer, Kennedy and I connected with Brown Girls Do Ballet, a national organization based in Dallas, Texas, and provided two scholarships this year to ballerinas who could not afford dance without assistance. This scholarship is open to any BIPOC dancer in the United States. I recognized that being a dancer wasn't just confined to the studio and that I could use my gifts and interests to move others to action.
I am honored to be nominated for Community Dancer of the Year because we’ve come so far together. We launched our organization in the middle of a pandemic and it's taken a lot of creativity and effort and time to accomplish our goal of diversifying dance and being advocates for social change.
A fun fact about me is that I speak Chinese and I want to be a doctor.
Shania Gordon: I have been dancing since I was 8 years old. The first type of dance that I started was hip-hop. Then I moved to Richmond and started dancing at Central Virginia Dance Academy. I started to do ballet and jazz my first year and I loved it so much that I told my mom I wanted to take more. For the past 6 years I’ve taken ballet, jazz, pointe, modern, contemporary, and hip-hop. Between that time, I have taken a master class with Phil Wright, I received a scholarship from DMI to attend their National convention. Also, in that time I was accepted into the Center of the Arts for high school. Summer of 2020 I attended the Richmond Ballet Summer Intensive, took a master class with Maggi Smalls and now I’m in Brown Ballerinas for change.
I’m honored that we were nominated for community dancer because there are a lot of community groups in Richmond and we were chosen to be one of the nominees. You could have picked anyone, but you picked us and I’m very grateful to be nominated for this amazing category, and I want to show people of color that we can achieve our goals and dreams.
A fun fact about me is that I love to bake and cook. It makes me happy when I cook for my mom and for myself because food makes me happy when I cook it and eat it.
Kennedy George: I’m 14 years old and I’ve been training and performing at Central Virginia Dance Academy (CVDA) since I was 4 years old. I spend a majority of my days at the studio, either taking classes or rehearsing for one of our company’s productions or competition pieces. I have a passion for dance and spend my summers attending summer intensives around the country to include Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, Commercial Dance Intensive, and Richmond Ballet. I have volunteered as a dance assistant with Miracle in Motions, a nonprofit organization that provides dance instruction for people with special needs for the past three years and am now an instructor for intermediate ballet. I also teach ballet for Yoga Joy’s virtual Ballet Yoga sessions. I have participated in the PTA’s Reflections program since 2015 and placed third for dance choreography at the National level this past year. I currently attend Center for the Arts specialty center at Henrico High School for dance and get to spend the first class of the day dancing. With the outpour of support, Ava and I were able to create a nationwide scholarship that is offered through Brown Girls Do Ballet and have already been able to provide moneys/opportunities for 2 dancers of color.
I am just excited and honored to be recognized amongst so many amazing dancers as a community dancer. I believe in the power of community and service and contributing to change. I’ve dedicated a lot of my time to volunteerism but this year I was really able to use my voice, or rather dance to advocate for social justice and I am proud of how we as BBFC have been able to encourage, impact, and inspire others to do the same.
Fun fact: I was an extra in the movie Den of Thieves where I played one of 50 Cent and Sonya Balmores’s daughters.
Collectively, the dancers of Brown Ballerinas for Change, whether their dance journey began at the age of three or eight, have found a passion for dance and have become change makers and influencers around the world. They became the face and voice of youth activist involved in the Black Lives Matter movement. In the midst of a pandemic they were able to form and incorporate Brown Ballerinas for Change as a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization and use their gift of ballet/dance to promote activism, social justice, and to increase diversity in dance. They’ve found a peaceful way to get involved using dance as an act of protest and to show other young people that they too could get involved in the fight for justice. Since our founding, we have been able to provide several scholarship opportunities for BIPOC dancers who would not otherwise be able to afford dance classes. We felt that representation and accessibility were very important as well. Not only have we performed around RVA in support of the BLM movement, but we’ve also worked with several artists to offer original prints and artwork to raise money as well. We are members of the Henrico chapter NAACP Youth Council and performed for numerous local organizations such as Art of Me, Justice and Reformation for Marcus-David Peters, and participated in countless rallies and marches. We also were selected to be featured in the international Girl Rising Storytelling contest where we were honored as finalists. We were one of the only finalists from the United States to receive the honor alongside other young people who have inspired change around the world. The BBFC presented at the VPOST virtual conference on how to promote youth activism in after school/out of school programs, and have been invited to speak at others in 2021. We have impacted millions of people around the world using our gifts to promote change. We have been able to show the power of peaceful protests by combining pointe and advocacy. We believe in equality, diversity, and inclusion for all and empowering girls to be change makers.
We are so excited to introduce our featured dancers for the upcoming 2nd annual RVA Dance Awards. The 2020 RVA Dance Awards is a live show that celebrates creativity, leadership and innovation by recognizing excellence within our Central Virginia dance community. This event will be held December 2nd virtually.