joan myers brown has made it her life mission to pave the way for black dancers. >> when i started dancingl, there has always been a fight with of black dancers. >> i studied under her and in growing up by a understood that under the age that the word black theater ballerina over and talk -- oxymoron. >> one of the artistic directors had to end here to the ascetic of the european picture of ballet. that was not ballet to black america we were not to reverse or integrated or beautiful. >> did you ever see a performance like new york city ballet you will realize there is not a lot of diversity. she gets a lot of credit to mystique copeland the first period the ballerina but ballets still has a long way to go. >> it is still limited for a black girl if they do have the black person it is the male dancer so we hope we can open those doors because there is certainly one more than mystique in this world. >> if you go in their lives for a body type and though white -- and a weight there is a rigid formula. >> unfortunately growing up a one it to be in a company but the way my body formed was not