# @bostonballet on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/C3ybWrlPvqq
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/21493820-bostonballet-instagram
- **Posted:** 2024-02-25T22:56:59.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Boston Ballet (@bostonballet) — https://gondola.cc/bostonballet

## Caption

AMPLIFYING VOICES || Featuring Principal Dancer Chyrstyn Fentroy

In honor of Black History Month, we are amplifying the voices of Black dancers and artists in our community. 

“One of my favorite ballets I’ve ever performed is George Balanchine’s Chaconne. I’ve had the pleasure of having this ballet come around twice in my career here at Boston Ballet. As a corps de ballet member I performed in the opening scene where the women are meant to be in their most beautiful natural state possible, but I had only seen images of women with flowing hair that fell down by their shoulders and my natural hair is a short afro. I still hadn’t really found comfort in articulating that my hair didn’t exactly fall the same way that everyone else’s did, so instead, I searched for other options like wearing a wig so I could blend in better. I remember feeling so uncomfortable and out of place because while everyone else was portraying their beautiful selves, I felt like I was playing a character. Because of this, I didn’t feel like I fit the description of beautiful. One day, I finally got the courage to have the conversation about my natural hair and eventually I went on stage this way, and that performance felt amazing because I felt that my natural me was also beautiful. So when the ballet came back a few years later, and I had the opportunity to dance it again, this time as a Principal, it meant the world to me. I remember my eyes welling up as I prepared to walk slowly onto the stage to lead this ballet in a state that just a few years prior I felt I had to hide. I also remember thinking to myself that I might be that person that somebody else might need to see in order to feel confident to be themselves. I just wanted to share this moment with them and make them feel beautiful too.” -Principal Dancer Chyrstyn Fentroy 

Stay tuned as we continue to share more stories within our Boston Ballet community. 

📷 chyrstynmariah by durrett_imagery 
🎥 chyrstynmariah paulcraig2003 

#BostonBallet #BlackHistoryMonth #AmplifyingVoices #Chaconne

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## Tags

chaconne, bostonballet, blackhistorymonth, amplifyingvoices

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