Busting moves and busting stereotypes, Chas Moore, renowned activist and leader of the Austin Justice Coalition, is stepping into some unexpected shoes—or rather, ballet slippers. Moore is preparing to make his dance debut with Ballet Afrique, Austin’s premier Black ballet company, as the Rat King in Duke Ellington's jazzy rendition of "The Nutcracker Suite," reported by CultureMap Austin.
Swapping protest chants for pirouettes, Moore, who's made his mark fiercely advocating for racial equity and criminal justice through a Black queer feminist lens, will don his villainous crown for the January 6 performance at The Paramount Theatre—this isn't just a leap, but a grand jeté out of his realm, but he's poised to land on both feet. In a turn that's a little on-the-nose, the activist known for fighting oppression will portray the story's arch oppressor, "Embracing the challenge of portraying the Rat King allows me to push boundaries and explore new dimensions of artistic expression," Moore said, as stated in CultureMap Austin.
Moore took to Instagram to share his thoughts: "Art, in all its forms, has the power to bridge gaps and communicate messages that words sometimes cannot," underlining the performance’s significance in painting a broader tableau of community diversity.
Ballet Afrique is also stepping up, ensuring that the diversity on stage resonates beyond just those in the velvet seats—with 100 tickets gifted to kids in foster care, forging a partnership with Carrying Hope to make it happen, they're committed to showing what dancers and dance can look like, building more inclusive cultural references for children without traditional family structures, Kristin Finan, executive director of Carrying Hope, expressed her gratitude: “Ballet Afrique is creating a once-in-a-lifetime experience for [foster youths], while making an important and lasting first impression of what dance, and dancers, should look like on a major stage,” as per CultureMap Austin.
