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DESCRIPTION
The ballet: A demanding profession requiring talent and determination. But for Julie Felix, Britain's first black ballerina, it required more; it required the strength to climb above prejudice and win. In Brickbats and Tutus John Plimmer charts the progress of this shy girl from Ealing as she grows from a shy talent in 1960s cold Britain into a swan dancing in the 1984 Olympiad. If ever there was an example of overcoming adversity and yet retaining dignity then Julie Felix is it. In some ways she is lucky in that she has a gift and can shelter herself from the stark truth of a world where black kids can be gunned down in the streets. In other ways she carries the frustrations and scars of prejudice throughout her professional life. If you have a dream and yet you doubt, you can have no finer mentor for success than Julie Felix. Julie's career, or Jules' as she was more popularly known, was elevated from the backstreets of Ealing, London, to wining and dining with the President and First Lady at the White House. She received many tributes from other artists, including both Pavarotti and Michael Jackson.
