Ruth Essel, 30, founder of Pointe Black Ballet School, and Kioni, 10, rehearse during class whilst an onlooker watches through the window in London, Britain, August 4, 2023. It was a pointed comment about her Afro-braided hair that spurred Essel to carve out what she calls a safe space for Black dancers. The founder of Pointe Black Ballet School in London said when she was a child, teachers and assistants all but punished her for not fitting the traditional ballerina mould, as if she was using her race as some kind of rebellion. Those challenges inspired Essel, a deputy programme manager at a unit of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, to establish Pointe Black in 2020 at the age of 26. "I wanted there to be a Black environment. I wanted there to be people who looked like me. I wanted there to be a teacher that looked like me," she said.  REUTERS/Alishia Abodunde
