Ballet Dancer Ingrid Silva Is Breaking Old Ballet Barriers

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Welcome to En Pointe, a quarterly series that offers a deep dive into the intersection of beauty and dance through the eyes of up-and-coming, multidisciplinary dance talent. Expect an intimate look into the daily lives, dreams, and dance-bag beauty essentials of the industry’s best young performers.

Ingrid Silva, still clad in her dance rehearsal gear as she stepped out of a New York dance studio, slipped away to a quiet hallway to take my video call. The first few minutes of our chat were dedicated to making introductions as she unraveled her updo with one hand and balanced the phone with another, unleashing a waterfall of braids over her shoulders. Her hair looked like mine: a neat protective style that was easy to manage, ideal for activity, and miles away from the distinctive ballet buns and French twists of my youth. It was the first time I had the opportunity to acknowledge a dancer with hair like mine face to face, and I replayed the interaction for days afterwards.

For the next hour, I asked Silva everything I wanted to know about her journey from Rio de Janeiro to New York City, activism in the ballet world, and her relationship with her beauty and body as she continues to perform. Keep reading for a closer look at the career of one of the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s most recognizable faces and most talented dancers to date. This one is for all the dancers and beauty enthusiasts who know a thing or two about loving themselves through thick and thin.

Meet Ingrid Silva: Contemporary Ballet Dancer and Activist

Silva, who hails from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has established herself within the dance world as a powerhouse performer and activist for diversity and inclusion. Her impressive career with the Dance Theatre of Harlem may be where most of her followers first met her, but Silva’s career started long before she stepped foot in the bustling streets of New York City. In fact, it began just minutes from her home at Dançando Para Não Dançar, a social project in the Mangueira slum, at eight years old with her brother. “I didn’t start dancing to make it into a career, I just liked to move. At Dançando Para Não Dançar, I was taught by and danced with people from my community,” she says. A few years later, Silva was encouraged by a teacher to fuel her natural talents and sharpen her technique with ballet training.

This came as news to Silva, as until then, she hadn’t considered a ballet career to be a feasible goal. With little to no exposure to dancers that resembled her, a teenage Silva began dancing at the esteemed Escola de Dança Maria Olenewa and Centro de Movimento Debora Colker on a full scholarship. While she was in the company of her brother and a few other Afro Brazilian ballet trainees, Silva couldn’t ignore the school’s disheartening lack of diversity. “It’s where I became a ballet dancer and learned more about what I could do, but there was no one that looked like me or I could see myself in,” explains Silva. “There’s a common misconception [in the U.S.] that Brazil is diverse everywhere, which isn’t true … especially not for ballet companies.”

A collage of Ingrid Silva dancing in a photo shoot, rehearsing with the Dance Theatre of Harlem, and teaching young Brazilian dancers in a recent dance workshop

When people would ask me when I was little if I wanted to be a ballerina, I was like, ‘I don’t think so. I watch it, but don’t see anyone on stage that looks like me. I see a ballerina, but she’s not me.’

At 18 years old, she auditioned for the Dance Theater of Harlem’s summer intensive, and, once accepted, boarded her first flight to New York City. Silva was drawn to the dance company because it celebrated dancers of Black descent in a way she had never had the opportunity to experience in Brazil. “There weren’t many opportunities for Black dancers in Brazil, and I wanted to be somewhere that would let me grow,” she says. Silva embarked on her professional career with the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 2013 under the tutelage of ballet dancer, choreographer, and founder Arthur Mitchell, as well as Virginia Johnson. Silva is currently in her seventh year with the company and has enjoyed learning to grow as both a dancer and an activist for inclusion in the ballet world, as disparities in the dance industry continue to pose challenges.

The Balancing Act

When Silva became a professional dancer with the DTH, she also discovered another side of herself, one that loved to share bits and pieces of her life online. Since Silva made her first post on Instagram after landing in New York City, she has earned a cumulative following of nearly 678,000 followers across social media platforms and become the subject of several dance documentaries. While she uses her platform to frequently share lighthearted moments in the studio and on stage, Silva is no stranger to challenging the Eurocentric perceptions of the ballet world. “I grew up without people who looked like me on stage, but I’m lucky to have had people to support me as I worked towards this career. The idea that ballet is only for one type of person is limiting,” she says.