When she was an 11-year-old performing as a local dancer filling in at a Mariinsky Ballet performance in LA, Dana Nichols didn’t know she would be asked to perform in blackface until just before the dress rehearsal. “All I could manage to say was, ‘Do I need this?’ I became that thing in the room that no one had ever had to confront. Our chaperones exchanged glances and finally responded with an uncomfortable ‘Yes.’ One woman laughed nervously as she indicated that I still had to wear the makeup because my brown skin was many shades lighter than the color of the bodysuit and the paint selected to cover our skin.” – Dance Magazine