Oshini Wanigasekera’s “Brown People Can’t Be Ballerinas” is set to challenge presumptions

Oshini Wanigasekera is poised to challenge conventions and shatter preconceived notions. This week at the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival, the Toronto-based actor, animator, dancer, illustrator, and filmmaker is premiering her groundbreaking show Brown People Can’t Be Ballerinas, co-performed with Lydia Cain. 

The play encapsulates Wanigasekera’s personal odyssey as a Brown artist striving to break free from societal constraints to embrace her true calling. Drawing directly from personal experiences, the coming-of-age narrative illuminates the challenges of entering the world of professional ballet as a Brown girl. In her performance, Wanigasekera examines the intersections of ethnicity, race and ballet while weaving a tale of resilience and determination alongside the complexities of belonging, self-discovery, and the pursuit of one’s dreams.

With a diverse background spanning dance, animation, acting, and filmmaking, Wanigasekera‘s journey began very much as a dancer. She honed her skills across Canada and the United States at prestigious institutions, such as The Ailey School and Dance Theatre of Harlem School. Her artistry resulted in the province of Alberta awarding her the esteemed Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award in the performing arts in 2011.

Embracing a deep-rooted passion for storytelling, Wanigasekera then transitioned into animation and acting. Her appearances on television series like The Handmaid’s Tale, Titans, Workin’ Moms, and Good Sam underscore her versatility and ability to breathe life into diverse characters. Her directorial debut What I Meant To Say garnered the Best Short award at the CineFAM Film Festival in 2021, solidifying her talent behind the camera. Wanigasekera then worked on animation projects for Disney and Netflix. All of her contributions – to series, video games, short films, and feature films – reflect her unwavering desire to push creative boundaries and shape narratives.

Speaking about her professional path, Wanigasekera describes how she has changed careers four times, ”and each time I had to look within to figure out what was right for me.” And she feels blessed because “not every artist has a family that wholeheartedly supports their choices. Sometimes those choices take you far away from the places where you feel safe.” Though she will never “candy coat the experience of ‘following your heart’,” she admits that leaving home at age nineteen allowed her to grow in ways that would never have been possible, had she stayed close to home. “A life in the arts is unpredictable,’ she smiles, “but finding a home within yourself is the greatest reward it will give you.”

As the curtain rises on Brown People Can’t Be Ballerinas at the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival, Wanigasekera is ready to present this soul-baring story of empowerment and resilience in the face of inequity. At the same time, her story seeks to challenge perceptions, spark conversations, and offer a view to a more inclusive and diverse artistic landscape. Ahead of the show’s opening, she spoke with SesayArts Magazine about the show’s genesis and developmental journey, and shared insights that emerging BIPOC artists will find inspiring and grounding.

SesayArts: Your solo show Brown People Can’t Be Ballerinas premieres this month at the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival. Tell us about the show. What’s it about, and what has its development been like?

OW: This coming of age story is based on my experience of training and working as a dancer in New York City for 10 years. The main character, Oshi, struggles to prove that Brown people can be ballerinas and unwittingly reveals the dark underbelly of the ballet world. Her bewildering encounters with racism and the expectations of her Brown body are as wild and unapologetic as New York City itself.

When I started compiling stories for the play, they were amusing anecdotes that gave me a window into the reasons ballet didn’t work out as a career. However, a deeper story started to reveal itself. Having retired 9 years ago, I had a broader perspective on the painful patterns of racism and generational trauma that these anecdotes contained. I ultimately wove a story about being Brown (South Asian) in ballet that is still universally relatable. 

SesayArts: What can audiences expect at your show, and how will diverse audiences relate to it?

OW: This genre-bending show is comedy, dance, drama and a little squirm-in-your-seat truth telling. It doesn’t shy away from the embarrassing, ugly and cruel side of ourselves. I wrote this show for a diverse, and specifically South Asian, audience. Oshi is confused with where she fits into the world as a brown-skinned, second generation Canadian. Her varied approaches to surviving an inherently racist society are experiences that some audience members will immediately relate to. 

SesayArts: The blurb for your show begins “What if you knew you couldn’t be something, but you tried anyway?”. This sounds like you knew that you were set up for failure but still had a desire to persist even knowing the odds were stacked against you. What impelled you to try to become a ballerina in a system that is created to include some and exclude others?

OW: Oh I absolutely LOVE that question! Yes, my mother once told me that as a child I had said that I couldn’t do ballet because Brown people can’t be ballerinas. The added scrutiny and whispering that a Brown dancer endures is certainly not for everyone. On the one hand, I tried going to med school, and later to animation school, but each time I found myself depressed and longing to perform again. There were certain dance teachers and directors who cheered me on and opened doors for me. For a moment, I felt on top of the world. However, the reason I stayed in ballet as long as I did, even when my body couldn’t take any more, is woven into the play. It comes down to the ideas of failure, proving your worth, and being too afraid to go home. A career that started with so much joy became tied to my value as a human being. I think anyone who is the only minority in a room can feel that intense pressure to succeed, even if they’re not aware of it.

SesayArts: You were trained at highly reputable institutions, including The Ailey School and Dance Theatre of Harlem School. You wouldn’t think that a diverse city like New York would be intolerant. If you feel comfortable sharing, what kind of racism did you face, and when did you realize that a professional ballet career might not be for you due to racism and inequity?

OW: Being at The Ailey School changed everything for me. I suddenly saw a manifestation of what was possible for a dancer that looked like me, and those dancers are beautiful. Unfortunately, living in a cosmopolitan, multicultural city doesn’t change racism. Finding a side job or housing made that painfully clear. Tolerance isn’t the same as anti-racism, and I will be the first to admit that I absolutely have a lot of unlearning to do. 

At some point, I not only became aware that getting hired wasn’t purely about talent, but also that I was buckling under the pressure. It felt like my dance technique and physical body started to deteriorate overnight after one particular incident. With the limited understanding of a young person, I told myself that I was simply not good enough. There were times that my only defence from ballet directors were the Black dancers around me whose presence meant that isolating and picking on me wouldn’t be as easy. I am immensely grateful to them for standing by me.

SesayArts: What advice would you care to share to aspiring BIPOC dancers?

OW: Remember that the world is big! You can spend your energy trying to win the favour of the people around you, or you can focus on getting as much as you can from an institution and move on to better things. Know the reason(s) you want to dance, and if there’s something there that isn’t based in self-love, get some help with releasing them so that your dancing is simply an expression of your truest self. Calling yourself a “dancer” is something you get to choose, and it’s not something you have to earn. Besides, at the end of the day, you are so much more than that label.

SesayArts: What question do you wish I had asked you that I didn’t? 

OW: What has been the most challenging part of developing this show? 

As we approach opening night, I can feel a fear building in me. I know this play explores some challenging topics and it will make some people uncomfortable. I’ve had to draw strength from friends who understand my experiences, and find the courage to tell a truth that I’ve kept hidden. If there is one Brown person in the audience who  feels seen through my writing and performance, that will make all of this fear worth it.

Brown People Can’t Be Ballerina runs for 4 performances August 22-27, 2023 at the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival. An original documentary short film about this show, created by Onamie Sukhai, will screen during the MMFF festival. Click here to reserve tickets online.

© Arpita Ghosal, Sesayarts Magazine, 2023