The Misty Effect: Erica Lall, Corps de Ballet, American Ballet Theatre

February 8, 2018

As a student at Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy, American Ballet Theatre corps member Erica Lall saw iconic former Houston Ballet principal Lauren Anderson on a regular basis. “I think I assumed her position as an African-American principal dancer was a one-time thing,” Lall says. “Lauren became a principal in 1990. Why aren’t there dozens of brown swan queens now?” In 2013, when Lall came to NYC for the ABT summer intensive, she registered for two weeks at Dance Theatre of Harlem. “I wanted to experience ballet in an environment where I could feel comfortable and proud of my brown skin,” she says. “But I didn’t have to wait, because I found acceptance at ABT right away.”

Lall, who counts her colleague Copeland as a role model, is proud to be the first recipient of the Josephine Premice Fales/ABT Project Plié award, which allowed her to pursue training at ABT. “The award is one of my greatest inspirations to work relentlessly,” she says. But, she adds, “the last thing I want to hear is that my talent was secondary to the need to add color.” Those who’ve seen her ebullient, expressive dancing onstage with the company know she needn’t worry.