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June 14, 2025 11 mins

At just 13 years old, Bellen Woodard is leading a powerful movement—one crayon and ballet slipper at a time. In this heartfelt conversation on The Color Between the Lines, Bellen opens up about the moment she was told brown tights weren’t part of the ballet uniform—and how that led to her new book, Ballet Brown.

Host Esther Dillard dives into Bellen’s journey from starting the More Than Peach project to challenging outdated norms in dance, publishing, and education. Together, they explore what it means to create inclusive spaces where every child sees themselves reflected—in art, on stage, and in life.

🎧 Subscribe to the podcast to hear more conversations that celebrate powerful voices, bold storytelling, and Black and Brown excellence.

#BellenWoodard #BalletBrown #MoreThanPeach #RepresentationMatters #BlackGirlsDanceToo #TheColorBetweenTheLines #EstherDillard #PodcastForChange #InclusiveEducation #BuzzsproutPodcast


🎙 About Esther Dillard:
Esther Dillard is an award-winning journalist and host of The Color Between the Lines, a platform that spotlights untold stories, powerful voices, and issues impacting underrepresented communities. She has a passion for truth and advocacy and brings depth, empathy, and fearless storytelling to every conversation.

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LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esther-dillard-28a13b35/

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
In this edition of the Colorbetween the lines,
I'm speaking with returnauthor Bellen Woodard.
The first time I spoke withher, she was nine years old

(00:23):
and she had launched a bookcalled More Than Peach.
It was about gettingcrayons that were more than
peach to representdifferent skin tones.
When you're trying to drawon a piece of paper or color
in a coloring book, well, thatidea turned into a line
of crayons and a big business.
Now she's 11 and she's putout a new book called

(00:44):
Ballet Brown and she's talkingto me about that.
Let's listen in.
Well, your book, BalletBrown, is really based on
your own experience as ayoung dancer searching for
ballet and a costume foryour ballet, based on your
skin tone.
Can, you share with mewhat was that moment like when

(01:06):
you realizedthat you couldn't find one?
And what inspired you, Iguess, to write about it
in a story like this?
So what inspired meto write Ballet Brown
as a story is that.
Well, I started balletwhen I was 2 years old, and,
at first, there weren'tany dress code.
There wasn't a dresscode, really, because

(01:26):
we are so tiny.
But then eventually, as youget a little bit older,
eventually you have to be putinto pink tights and pink
shoes and pink everything.
And I kind of.
I started thinking to myself,well, it doesn't look
like my legs belong to me.
Like, My legs are Pink.
But the rest of me, the restof me isn't pink.
And this doesn't match.
And so I was like, okay, sofirst of all, why, why pink?

(01:50):
Why do we wear pink?
And so I started researchingwhy ballet pink.
And that is the termthat's used with the,
pink tights, pink shoes.
The color is ballet pink.
So I started researchingwhy, and I found out that
when ballet originated inEurope, the pink was used
to elongate the Europeandancers lines and make them

(02:12):
look elegant and beautifulon stage.
And it did do exactly that.
But since then, since manybeautiful colors have been
added into the world ofballet, the pink doesn't
give the same effect forevery single skin tone
like it does for the lightskin tones.
And so I feel like weneed to evolve with.

(02:32):
We're evolving, and sothe traditions need
to evolve with us.
And so that's why I decidedto not only name my new
book Ballet Brown, butBallet Brown isn't just my
book, but it's also a newterm that I have coined and
a new mindset that I wantto promote.
Saying that, trying tonormalize equivalent options

(02:52):
for everybody and so thatour spaces can be whole
and somewhere where we cangrow and thrive.
I like your book because Igot a chance to read it
all the way through, and Isaw that when you started
to talk about this withsome of your instructors,
some people were not asreceptive.
What was that like?

(03:13):
So that's.
So it was a real experience.
And, as I was saying, like,with the traditions, a lot
of the responses are alwaysjust, it was a tradition.
But we've grown somuch since then.
And, traditions shouldn't.
Traditions are.
There's always roomto grow in traditions.
And so we shouldn't just settleon something just because.

(03:33):
And so when that one studiotold me, well, it's a
tradition, we can't changeup the tradition, I was
like, well, okay, then I'mgoing to find a studio who
recognizes that we need to grow.
And so I.
And that's exactly what I did.
I walked away and I found astudio that appreciated,
that was willing to grow andappreciate it and was
already growing and that waswilling to be able to

(03:55):
incorporate the brown andthe other colors, I mean,
just not even just brown,just other colors into, this
world of dance and ballet.
I know that more than peach,that was your first, book
and project, and it'schanged a lot of kids minds
and adults minds on how tolook at just colors and
skin tones.

(04:15):
And how has Ballet Brown Iguess continued that mission
of this, this, thiswhole More Than Peach project.
So when I first started,after I wrote the book More
Than Peach, after I wrotethe book More Than Peach,
after I started my businessand after I made the
crayons, because thecrayons came first.
But after I saw what bigof an impact More Than Peach

(04:38):
made and how many peopleactually listened,
I was like, well, since I havethis voice and people are.
And people are listeningand want to listen,
then I want to do the samewith Ballet Brown.
Because I feel likethis is also needed.
And it's not even alljust about brown shoes
and brown tights.
This is just about, creatingequivalent options for
everything and for everyoneand not even just in ballet

(05:00):
or dance, just forthings across the board.
And so, so yeah, creatingBallet Brown was just, I.
I knew that I wanted tomake this change again
and since I had already madethis change once, I wanted
to make a new change.
What kind of responses haveyou gotten from other kids

(05:21):
and other parents who havepaid picked up this book and
know about your, Yourmission, especially with
Ballet Brown?
I've been promotingthe idea though for
months and all of that.
But, I've gotten responsessaying like, when I first
started my child out inballet, I didn't know the pink
actually had a history.
I thought.
And that's.
That's a common misconception.

(05:43):
Misconception that the pinkis just a cute little color
for the kids to wear.
But it's really interestingto see how to see the
response to saying, oh,well, I actually learned
something new and I'm soexcited to start my little
girl out in the.
In the brown orskin color tights.
Because now I doknow the history.
And that's.

(06:03):
That's definitely.
That was my.
That's definitelysomething that's.
Let's.
That shows what changes isalready making without
the book even being out.
Because when I start, likepeople my age when they
start, they didn't knowabout it and they didn't know
about this history.
And so now going into the newgenerations and hopefully they
start out with this knowledge.

(06:25):
I'm wondering whenyou went back.
I'm just going backin the story.
And how when you were giventhe option by, someone you
picked up the tights thatwere a different color and
you had to change them, youhad to actually color them.
How did that all go?

(06:46):
Come about?
How did.
What did you learn about thatprocess and was that
difficult and, and just kindof bring me through that whole
process of doing that.
So that process iscalled pancaking.
You actually do it to yourshoes because the brown
tights, I mean a lot ofthey're available for other
dance styles too as well,but the ballet shoes are
specific for ballet.
So a lot of the time andprofessional ballerinas do

(07:08):
this a lot, but they dosomething called pancaking,
which is where you take amakeup, or make a sponge,
whatever you need, and youput foundation on it, your
foundation color, and youdab it on the shoes.
You basically paint the shoesand yourself.
And and when I first didthat, I did that to my
first pair of pointe shoesbecause they didn't
have the brown available.
So I had to kind of makemy own pointe shoes.

(07:30):
I just got a pink pairand painted over it.
But, I ended up actuallyruining my shoes because I
didn't know how to do it.
And point shoes are notsomething you play about.
And by the time I ordereda new pair they were too small
because they came so late.
And it's just so it's,it's still kind of amazing
to see how it's stillnot that accessible even

(07:52):
as we've grown so much.
And like you can walk ineasily and buy a pair of
pink shoes, but the, thebrown shoes are kind of
like a needle and haystacksometimes and kind of like
a hit or miss.
You never know if, when you gointo get fitting, if
you're actually going to findyour pair or actually going
to leave for the pair.
So do you think thatmanufacturers should go in on

(08:13):
doing a deal with Bellenand do a ballet brown line?
I think that, I thinkthat's perfect.
I mean I've seen there's,there are like,
brands that do have likeseparate lines of the
ballet shoes.
But I feel, but not everybrand has, has the color,

(08:33):
the different coloredballet shoes
And that's something we need.
You know, I'm thinking about it.
You know, I'm kind of likealways try to think outside
the box and you know like,you know how some people
pick the, the, the, thecolor and they pick a
chiclet of the color ononline and you can pick
exactly what you want.
That was an availabilityfor someone.

(08:53):
Then they could pick the exacttone and then order it and
then get whatever tone thatthey want and it like makeup,
you know, you could pick upyour own, your tights and
it's so hard because like,there's so.
There's so many differentfoots, like, you
get when you get pointshoes, you get fitted.
And my feet are very weird.
And so it's so hardto get my perfect fit.

(09:13):
But only.
But different brands havedifferent types of shoes,
if that makes sense.
So not every brandwill fit your foot.
And so it can be difficultwhen even the brand that
does fit your foot doesn'teven carry skin color,
different skin tones.
So, yeah, it's difficult.
What's your overall messagefor this book to other

(09:34):
readers and what do you wantthem to come away with?
So, I think it's reallyimportant that the parent
starts their kid outin ballet on the right foot
because it just creates.
No, there's no disconnectfrom the very beginning.
And when they go to theirfirst little ballet recital,
then they can already feel,have the same effect of the

(09:55):
elegated or elegantelongated lines and never
have to even question, whydo my legs not look like
they belong with me?
So, So, yeah, I think it'svery important to just make
sure they start out feeling,feeling, like, included.
Yeah, feeling includedand feeling like they look

(10:16):
good on stageYou don't have to stay.
Like, the most powerful thingyou can do is walk away.
And that's exactly what I did.
Because there.
There is somewhere waitingfor you that will welcome you
with open arms and somewherethat is willing to grow.
And that's exactly what Igot when I walked away.
Now I'm at a studioand I love my studio.
And, it's continuing to grow.
And, Yeah, and of course,no, nowhere is perfect,

(10:39):
but, you know, they're.
They realize thatand they're ready to.
They're ready.
So, yeah, so you don't haveto stay and don't have
to accept it just because.
And really challengeyour curiosity.
Because if I hadn'tstarted researching why we
wore the pink tights, maybeI was still being pink
tights to this day.
And so, yeah, challenge yourcuriosity and really challenge

(11:02):
that, pushing that status quo.
I want to say congratulationson your new book.
Thanks so much forjoining us on the Bin.
Thank you so much.
I was so.
This was suchan amazing experience.
If this conversation movedyou, I invite you to subscribe
to the Color betweenthe lines podcast on YouTube,
I Heart Radio or whereveryou get your podcasts.
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