Progress at New York City Ballet

Today's crumb comes from an alert reader in Bloomington, Indiana, who noticed that, for the first time in 50 years, a black dancer will perform the role of Marie in the New York City Ballet Company's production of The Nutcracker. She is eleven-year-old Charlotte Nebres.

According to Charlotte, "It sunk in that, 'Well, if I'm going to be doing this role and I"m the first person, then I want to make it count." Her mother, Danielle, says she's learning about hope from her daughter. She explained, "It's sort of magical for me to see that sort of hopefulness and just realizing that there are no limits. So I'm sort of learning through her that maybe the way things were aren't what they are any longer."