Amanda Morgan

Amanda Morgan is in the corps of the prestigious Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) based in Seattle. PNB is one of the largest and best-regarded companies in the United States with a deep commitment to racial diversity. Although people of color comprise 26 percent of its dancers, Morgan is its only black female ballet dancer—add to that her height of five foot ten inches, and you have someone who stands out rather than fits in.  But Morgan decided long ago that “if you don’t see what you want to see around you, create it." And so she has. Finding herself not picked by choreographers, she began to create dances herself; she co-founded a mentorship program between company dancers and students at Pacific Northwest Ballet School; she began the Seattle Project, an interdisciplinary artist collective that presents performing arts to the community; and she spoke at protests in Seattle about pervasive racism—calling out the ballet community at large for its lack of racial equity. Morgan is talented, determined, and outspoken. In this podcast we talk about her love of ballet—both as a dancer and a choreographer, her appreciation for being part of the PNB family, her belief that ballet has to change and embrace real inclusion from the studio to the boardroom in order to thrive, and the work she’s done to help bring that change about.