Charlotte Ballet artistic director enjoying the journey

CHARLOTTE BALLET

Ayisha McMillan Cravotta, who spent her final five years as a professional dancer with Charlotte Ballet, is the company's academy director.

Dancing with Charlotte Ballet started as a dream for Ayisha McMillan Cravotta.

In 2002, Cravotta auditioned for artistic director Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux for a role with the company, North Carolina’s oldest. In 2004, she made company history as the first Black Clara in “The Nutcracker.” Twenty-one years later, she’s the academy director.

Cravotta, who has been in leadership for over a decade, describes her career as a “thrilling and fulfilling journey.”

“I am the absolute most fortunate person ever to have made my living doing what I love,” she said via. “Charlotte Ballet has been an endless source of opportunities for me to grow professionally.”

Cravotta started her career at Momenta Dance Company in Oak Park, Illinois. After training at Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center and School of Chicago City Ballet, she studied at the Houston Ballet Academy on a scholarship.

Cravotta, who spent five seasons with Charlotte Ballet before retiring, was a member of the marketing team before Bonnefoux, who died in April, invited her to become principal of the academy.

Along with achievements like induction to the HistoryMakers national archive for her accomplishments in the arts, Cravotta said she draws a sense of purpose from “seeing students whom Charlotte Ballet has touched live full and realized lives.”

“Whether or not they become professional dancers, it is my hope that we have helped send them into the world as the most confident and gracious versions of themselves that they can be,” Cravotta said.

While she takes pride in seeing her students live up to their potential, the company’s faculty are glad young performers have Cravotta to look up to.

Kati Hanlon Mayo, associate director of the academy’s upper school, said Cravotta leads with “grace, energy and joy.” Mayo knew they would quickly become friends when they first met in the company’s dressing room in the early 2000s.

“She worked very hard and forged a beautiful career for herself in a time when it wasn’t as easy as it is at this time to be a dancer of color in the ballet world,” Mayo said. “She worked tirelessly and became an incredible dancer and then parlayed that into this amazing career as academy director.”

Although she’s made history throughout her career, Cravotta realizes her success wouldn’t be possible without the scholarships and art programs she could access. While the company provides resources to support future dancers, recent attacks on diversity initiatives have threatened scholarships and programs at nonprofits like Charlotte Ballet. Cravotta recognizes that this also threatens the avenues that she and others have forged for future generations.

“Black and brown dancers are still underrepresented in fields like ballet,” she said. “I’m here, but we cannot take our shared efforts to make access for granted.”

In conversations with colleagues, Cravotta said it remains clear the industry must “remain dedicated to this work.” She recalls having “beautiful and strong role models” when she was young and its was reinforced that a Black girl could grow up to be a ballerina. If she could say anything to young Ayisha, it would be “her love of dance was powerful.”

“I would tell her that I’m proud of her for taking her dreams seriously,” Cravotta said. “And to remember to enjoy her journey.”

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