- [Aesha] When I do my work, I want it
to have this real visceral reaction
whether it's bringing them to tears,
whether it's inspiring them.
I want to show the world that beauty and grace
are not defined by status or race.
My name is Aesha Ash, and through
the use of ballet, I expose my community
to more positive images of women of color.
- [Yvonne] That's crazy.
- [Aesha] That's where it all began.
- [Yvonne] Wow, so this is it.
Aesha grew up in the inner city
of Rochester, New York, where crime,
gun violence and poverty were amongst
the biggest threats to the community.
- [Aesha] For us, that's normal.
That's just life in the hood,
but what I remember the most is the dance studio.
I started dancing all together at the age of five.
A teacher mentioned to my mother
that I had some promise in ballet,
and that it would be difficult for me,
as a woman of color, to enter the ballet world.
- [Yvonne] But the adversity she faced
was the very thing that pushed her
to pursue a career in ballet.
She went on to become one of the few
women of color to ever grace the stages
of New York City Ballet School of American Ballet.
- [Aesha] I felt like my entire career was catching up,
and then, being a black woman in the ballet world,
I felt like I had to work twice as hard
because of that as well; and there's so much
negative stereotyping and misrepresentations
of who we are perpetuated in the media.
So, I began the Swan Dreams Project in 2011.
Through the use of imagery and my career
as a ballet dancer, I challenge stereotypes
that exist for women of color,
particularly those from inner-city communities.
I didn't see anyone that had left
the inner city of Rochester, New York,
and come back here, and sort of
expose all of use to look what you can become,
look what I went off to do.
- [Yvonne] Aesha put on her tutu,
grabbed a photographer, and started making
her way through the very streets where she grew up.
- [Aesha] And it was very profound
the impact that I got back, especially from
the people on the street.
Thank you, thank you for that.
There was the one image that went viral
of me with the little girls,
and I just pulled them to the side,
just started doing some ballet class.
And that's when I realized I had something.
This has to be bigger than this.
And it began morphing and changing,
and then people began asking for appearances.
Good job!
Who's next?
Let me see you.
It's important that our girls see that side
of themselves because for many kids
it's hard to be what you can't see.
I didn't see a black ballerina before
I decided that's what I wanted to be.
It was really important for me
to be in my environment displaying that
because this is where I'm from.
It was always beyond ballet.