Brown girls do.

Brown Girls Do Ballet® is a division of Brown Girls Do.® , Inc, a registered 501(c)3. Our purpose is to promote diversity in the arts by providing annual scholarships, a mentor network, and community programs to empower young girls. Our mission is supported by merchandise sales and fundraisers.

Mission Statement

The mission of Brown Girls Do Ballet® is to help increase participation of underrepresented populations in ballet programs through organizing and arranging ballet performances, photo exhibitions, and providing resources and scholarships to assist young girls in their ballet development and training.

Our Story

Brown Girls Do Ballet®, a philanthropic organization often featured for its noteworthy Instagram movement, began in 2013 as a personal photography project by TaKiyah Wallace in an effort to highlight girls of African, Asian, East Indian, Hispanic, and Native American ancestry in Ballet programs. Wallace was taken by surprise upon discovering the lack of cultural diversity in local ballet schools while searching for a program for her then 3-year-old. Like any mom, she grew concerned about how her daughter would feel in a class where no one resembled her.

Through her engagement with dancers, their families, and the ballet community, TaKiyah developed a passion for re-defining a classically Euro-centric art form to reflect what America is today: beautifully diverse. Striving to touch the lives of little ballerinas, she set out to simply provide a media outlet highlighting the diversity. Little did she know, a movement would be born, and this photo project would become so much more.