Brooklyn Mack

Mack was born in Elgin, Kershaw County, South Carolina, and is the youngest of four children.[2] When the nurse had to put a name on his birth certificate but his mother had not choose one, his sister told the nurse he is named Brooklyn Devon Mack, and the nurse left before his mother could react.[3]

At age 12, after seeing a performance of Columbia Classical Ballet, and found out that ballet could help football players, he and his mother agreed that he would start ballet, in exchange he would be able to go to a football tryout.[4][5] His mother took her to Pavlovich Dance School, and asked the school give him a scholarship. Though the school did not have scholarships, the school agreed to give one to Mack, but he had to take classes six times a week, which he accepted. Two years later, he enrolled at the Kirov Academy of Ballet on scholarship in Washington DC, where he was the only African American student, and trained there for three years.[2] He had also attended summer courses at the School of American Ballet in New York City.[1]

In 2004, Mack became an apprentice with Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, and joined the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company the following year. In 2006, he started dancing with the Orlando Ballet as a principal. In 2009, after Bruce Marks, the director of the company left, he accepted The Washington Ballet's then-artistic director Septime Webre's invitation to join the company.[2][6][7] He had also participated in the company's community outreach program.[8] He was named Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" 2012.[9] He had also competed in several international competition, and in 2012, he won the senior gold medal Varna International Ballet Competition, and was the first African American to do so.[5]

In 2015, when the Washington Ballet dance Swan Lake for the first time, he was chosen to dance the role of Prince Siegfried, with guest star Misty Copeland as Odette/Odile, the first time two African American dancers to dance the lead roles in Swan Lake.[10] Also in 2015, he danced with the English National Ballet as a guest artist, and toured with the company to Palais Garnier, Paris. He had also danced in galas alongside dancers from American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.[4]

In 2018, Mack left the Washington Ballet due to disagreement with the new management over his salary, workload and guesting opportunities.[8] Mack then made a guest appearance at the Hong Kong Ballet, where Webre went on to direct.[11] In June 2019, he appeared in American Ballet Theatre's Le Corsaire as Conrad and Ali, after artistic director Kevin McKenzie's assistant contacted him via Instagram, and performed his first show without a dress rehearsal as he filled in for an injured dancer.[1] In August that year, he returned to English National Ballet as a guest artist, and stayed until January 2020, during which he danced Le Corsaire, Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella and the company's 70th anniversary gala.[12][13]

Mack has a son.[1]

Mack's repertoire includes:[13]

• George Wilson in The Great Gatsby (originated)
• Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake
• Crassus in Spartacus
• Basilio and Espada in Don Quixote
• Conrad and Ali in Le Corsaire
• Albrecht in Giselle
• Romeo in Romeo and Juliet
• Benjamin in Cinderella

• 2006: USA International Ballet Competition - silver medal
• 2007: Princess Grace Award
• 2009: Helsinki International Ballet Competition - silver prize
• 2012: Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch"
• 2012: Istanbul Grand Prix - gold medal
• 2012: Varna International Ballet Competition - gold medal

Source:[6][9]