It’s very personal, what I’m going to say. The dance is in you. If you’re a dancer. So if you have doubts you need to work on. You need to practice and practice and practice until you don’t doubt your own self. You need to be, to have the love and passion about yourself, about the movements, and is one of the most hard professions in the world. Because it looks beautiful, but it’s not easy. My name is Isabella Coracy I’m from Brazil, I’m a professional ballet dancer and I’m dancing with Ballet Black Company. My earliest memory of ballet or dance, I would say, is coming from the beginning of my childhood in Brazil, when, you know, weekends I have, like, barbecue in my family at home or when I was introduced to capoeira, from my dad, my mentor, I should say that he was my first teacher.

My training journey was something special, I think, because you start to introduce yourself to all these hours of training and then you’re like, okay, I’m going to leave doing this but you keep training, you keep doing classes every day, single day, all those pliés and even if I’m tired or not, I think that’s when I want to do more. I want to practice more. I think Ballet Black is a very part of the evolution of dance. We are all from different countries. We have the main language that is English, a language that I was not speaking when I moved here. And people from everywhere and everyone is welcome. That’s what is dance. You know that that connection with all the dancers from everywhere in the world. I believe all the dancers. Ballet Black are role models for anyone not only black females in the industry, but also having that space.
One highlight of my career is, of course, recently I won the Olivier Awards. I think the nomination was something very surprised for me. I was very surprised with receiving the news.

“Oh this is happening! So happy to be here tonight.”

So I think receiving the news was something that I didn’t expect at all. And then winning it was the best I could achieve now so far in my career. What I miss from my country, from Rio de Janeiro, definitely the beach, the seaside, the sand, the smell of the seaside… of course I miss my family and friends, and I just like to be there, it definitely feels like home.
Happy place is knowing that family is healthy. And also happy place for me is knowing that I’m doing my job so well, or I want to try to be a better self but knowing like I can make mistakes. So we need to accept we’re humans. So I’m human after all.

To my young Isabella, my little Bella. I believe she’s also in this happy place where I could talk to her. Like, see, you didn’t give up. You didn’t. You didn’t listen to those words saying like, you’re never going to be a classical dancer or you’re not going to make it, or you are out of shape. You, you know, all those negative thoughts that people had about, you are a ballerina of color or something like that? And little Bella never listens to that and she’ll just want to dance. So I believe if she could see me now and she’s seeing it, she’s very proud and happy. What dance means to me. Is my life. It’s my real life.