The Extreme Staycation

Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown I have taken ballet classes since I was about 3 years old.  In that time I have had many pairs of ballet shoes.  I'm remember the excitement of graduating from elastics to ribbons and then getting my first pair of pointe shoes - these are seminal moments for a dancer. I recently came across this item on the BBC news from 2018:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-46025716 I found it quite astounding that black dancers have had to cover their ballet shoes in foundation to get them to resemble their skin tone until very recently.  It took until 2018 for Freed's, one of the best known dance shops in the world, to produce a pointe shoe not in satin pink. Whilst it's great that they are doing it, why on earth has it taken this long?  I'm honestly gobsmacked and saddened for the many dancers who possibly felt that ballet was not a world for them, because literally, the shoe didn't fit. Im...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown #blacklivesmatter Over the weekend there have been protests across the country for #blacklivesmatter Predictably and depressingly there has been backlash across social media from people I can only describe as ignorant. I think that the issue is, as ever, education. Why aren't we taught about the British Empire and Colonialism at school?  Britain has a phenomenally chequered past which we seem to have conveniently forgotten about in recent times. It's only though education that we can begin to understand the established system of oppression and then change it for the better. This is a petition you can sign if you agree: https://www.change.org/p/gavin-williamson-mp-teach-british-children-about-the-realities-of-british-imperialism-and-colonialism

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown #blacklivesmatter Today was a powerful day on social media.  My Instagram scrolling was black square after black square #blackouttuesday I am listening, my ears and my heart are open, I want to do what I can and I am trying to understand something that I never fully will, because I am white. Here are some links which I have found very effecting and I'm going to continue reading  "Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race"  by Reni Eddo-Lodge and  "White Fragility"  by Robin DiAngelo. Guardian Long Read by Reni Eddo-Lodge https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/30/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race Being Black by Jane Elliott https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yrg7vV4a5o Clara Amfo, BBC Radio 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yrg7vV4a5o Reggie Yates on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CA5bnWhDr-f/ Two books ...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown #blacklivesmatter