Amanda Morgan: First Black Woman soloist at Pacific Northwest Ballet
Amanda Morgan dances in 2021’s edition of the Nutcracker. You can catch her again this year, this time in her new role as soloist. (Photo by Lindsay Thomas).
Amanda Morgan has been breaking barriers and proving doubters wrong all her life. Growing up in Tacoma, she was exposed to a heavy dose of arts. Her parents took her to the theater, and she began to sing, dance and act from an early age. Despite her early experience and obvious talent, she still faced numerous obstacles.
“There were moments where I thought I would maybe just leave PNB because I definitely dealt with some moments where I wouldn't be casted just because of like the way I look or being too tall and I just questioned why I was in this profession,” Morgan said. “It’s so Eurocentric, and was constantly making me feel like I wasn’t enough. It wasn’t good for my mental health but I think I just had to block that out at times.”
Despite the doubters, Morgan knew what she wanted to do and made it her goal to prove them wrong. She worked tirelessly, arriving to high school at 5:30 am so she could finish classes in time to take the bus to Pacific Northwest Ballet for her afternoon dance programs. She would study on the bus, sacrificing her free time in pursuit of this mission.
“It was definitely a trying time,” Morgan said. “Because of it though, I have a very strong backbone, and I'm very adaptable. And I am where I am because of where I'm from and how I grew up. I wouldn't change that for anything.”
Those roots run strong in Morgan’s life. She worked with PNB to start a mentorship program, where dancers visit schools and engage the youth. Morgan, who relied heavily on scholarships to pursue her passions, says she hopes to be able to give back and provide a role model to other girls and boys like her.
“I always knew I had to like be on my A game because like, I didn't get a scholarship that would make it like very, very hard to be able to, like take classes,” Morgan said. “You're never too young to ignite change, especially when you have a group of people around you.”
That incredible motivation and perseverance paid off for Morgan, when she was named a soloist after just five years with the company this fall. She said the news came as a bit of a shock.
At the time I was complaining about specific people that were casting a ballet. They were giving me a very hard time, and not really giving me an answer as to why they're giving me a hard time. It felt a little racially motivated so I was talking to my boss about that. And then he couldn't contain that information and he told me I was gonna be a soloist and I was like, Oh my gosh, well, I don't even care about these silly people,” Morgan said. “It became their issue then because I'm gonna be a soloist and they're gonna have to deal with it anyway.”
Morgan now gets to be the role model she always hoped to have in her life, paving the way for many more little Black girls to follow in her footsteps. She knows, though, that the work doesn’t stop and she’s excited for this next chapter as she expands both her ballet career and community work.
“I think just bridging the gap between art and the community and letting people be exposed more to the arts and realizing that it really is for everyone is important,” Morgan said. “Letting people see stories and narratives that reflect different types of people around them, I think is really important.”
You can buy tickets to see Morgan in PNB’s The Nutcracker here: https://order.pnb.org/events?k=nutcracker
Follow along with Morgan’s journey on her instagram @baila_rina
Photos courtesy of Pacific Northwest Ballet (taken by Angela Sterling)
