Stephanie Kurlow is an Australian dancer and ballet student often credited as being the world's first Hijabi Ballerina.
Kurlow was born to an Australian father of Belarusian descent and a Tatar mother. [1] She grew up in the suburbs of Sydney and began dancing at the age of two. Stephanie stopped dancing at the age of nine in 2010 as there were no dance studios that catered to her beliefs. [2] [3] Inspired by Stephanie's dream, her mother, Alsu Kurlow, opened a performing arts academy in 2012 that offers ballet, martial arts, and aboriginal art classes for girls. She began wearing the hijab full-time when she was ten years old. Kurlow launched an online campaign to raise money for full-time classical ballet training, raising over $7000. [4] Kurlow lists African-American ballet dancer Misty Copeland, Chinese-Australian ballet dancer Li Cunxin, and Emirati figure skater Zahra Lari as her inspirations. [5] She planned to open her own dance school in the future geared towards diverse youths of various backgrounds. [5] Kurlow is an ambassador for Remove Hate From The Debate, a campaign that assists youth in identifying online hate speech and tackling it. [6] She is a recipient of the Aim for the Stars scholarship and the Game Changer Scholarship by Björn Borg. [7] [8] [9] Kurlow was invited as a guest speaker to Indonesia for the Resonation Women's Empowerment Conference in 2017. [6] [10] She also received a scholarship to The Royal Danish Ballet summer school in 2018. [6] [10] Kurlow was featured in a Lenovo campaign with designer Tarese Klemens for International Women's Day in 2018. [11] She was also featured in a global campaign with Converse named Love The Progress in 2019, which invited women to redefine what "girl" means. [12] [13]
In March of 2022, Kurlow announced on her Instagram account that she had made the decision to stop wearing the hijab. She shared the struggles of being the only one in her dance community to wear a hijab, and further stated: “at this point in my life it isn’t such a strong part of my visible identity.” [14]
A ballerina skirt, also referred to as a Juliet skirt or a romance skirt, is a full skirt that is worn by ballet dancers and is composed of multiple layers of fabric. Ballet dancers wear the longer version of the skirt, while for fashion purposes the skirt is worn shorter, like a mini skirt for better dancing, the cocktail version. The standard ballerina attire is composed of fabric with a wire, in order for tulle to be visualized as stiff when it is around their waists. The Juliet styled skirt is free-flowing and covers the majority of their legs to place a high emphasis on the performer's legs.
Misty Danielle Copeland is an American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African American woman to be promoted to a principal dancer in ABT's 75-year history.
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Merritt Moore is an American ballerina and quantum physicist. She studied at both the University of Oxford and Harvard University. Moore works to combine her interests in physics and ballet through her research and dedication in both the arts and sciences. She is completing her residency at Harvard University's ArtLab where her work combines science and dance through the use of robots. Moore has a Bachelor's Degree in Physics from Harvard University and a PhD in Atomic and Laser Physics from the University of Oxford. Merritt Moore has danced professionally for many ballet companies across the world including English National Ballet and Norwegian National Ballet. She has performed in Swan Lake and The Nutcracker among other ballets.
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