
[ad_1]
In celebration of Black Historical past Month, Dance Spirit is saluting younger Black artists who don’t simply signify a shiny future for the dance trade—they’re already making historical past of their very own. Second in our sequence: Morgan Bullock. Remember to examine dancespirit.com all through February to fulfill extra dancers who embody Black excellence in dance and in life. #BlackDanceHistoryIsHappeningNow
Subsequent month, the Irish dance/music/tradition extravaganza Riverdance kicks off its North American tour in Salt Lake Metropolis, UT. The present, carried out for worldwide audiences since 1994, has seen many gifted Irish step dancers cycle via the forged. However till just lately, none of them had been Black girls.

That’s all altering due to 22-year-old Morgan Bullock. Bullock, from Midlothian, VA, simply accomplished a triumphant 27-city tour of the UK as Riverdance’s first Black feminine dancer. Even within the huge forged, Bullock is a transparent standout.
The Guardian reported final October that Bullock dances on the entrance of a number of ensemble numbers, the place “Her beaming smile can’t be missed—amongst a forged that has waited 19 months to renew a milestone tour, Bullock performs like somebody who has waited their complete life.”

In some methods, she has. Bullock first fell in love with Irish dance at age 10. She quickly started dance coaching, first on the Baffa Academy of Irish Dance and later at Virginia Commonwealth College. However the artform’s lack of variety was discouraging. “I watched [Riverdance] so many occasions as a younger dancer and I by no means noticed someone who regarded like me,” Bullock advised The Guardian. “I sort of simply needed to think about myself up on the stage.”
So it’s greater than becoming that sheer creativeness introduced Bullock to prominence on TikTok. Bullock arguably began a pattern that has since exploded on the platform: pairing conventional Irish-dance steps with modern music.
Bullock’s extremely expert and inventive TikToks had been pretty much as good an audition as Riverdance might have requested for. (Bullock had already caught the group’s eye as a teen, at a Riverdance summer season intensive.) One fateful telephone name later, Bullock was dwelling her very personal Irish-dance Cinderella story.

Wherever dance takes her subsequent, Bullock is certain to shine as her fullest and most genuine self. As she advised the Related Press, “I believe what’s so particular about Irish dancing is that it does transcend cultural borders, and it’s one thing that may be loved by actually anybody, regardless of the place you come from, it doesn’t matter what you appear like, regardless of in case you even have an Irish connection. It’s an attractive cultural artwork kind. I believe as a result of it has Irish within the identify, folks assume you must be Irish, however that couldn’t be farther from the reality.”
[ad_2]