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Ashley Simpson

@ashullzz_

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twirling at @balletx 🩰
@gaynorminden Artist
@princessgraceus honoraria✨

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Some days you just have to laugh and try again 😂
From @keelanwhitmore class 💙 by @ashullzz_

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13 days ago

Capturing BalletX (@balletx ) dancers April Watson (@wca__ ) and Ashley Simpson (@ashullzz_ ) in front of A LEGACY OF DANCE EXCELLENCE @muralarts by visual and spoken word artist Bernard Collins, Jr. (@nardpics ).

A Legacy of Dance Excellence celebrates the long and historic legacy of Black dancers and educators who shaped and defined a new cultural identity in the genre, right here in Philadelphia—a hybrid of traditional African movement and classical European ballet techniques—and the powerful, expressive Black dance community that has blossomed and flourished over the last century.
Visual and spoken-word artist Bernard Collins, Jr. pays tribute to the trailblazers who overcame centuries of racial gatekeeping to teach European techniques to Black students, at a time when Black dancers were excluded from white ballet institutions. Pioneering dance instructor Essie Marie Dorsey (1893–1967), who passed as white in order to circumvent racial barriers to classical ballet training, taught Black students from her own home studio, beginning in 1926. These students—including Sydney King, Marion Cuyjet, and Philadanco founder Joan Myers Brown—became members of a powerhouse generation of transformative dance educators, cultivating a lineage of excellence that echoes throughout the dance world today. In addition to these luminaries, the mural also pays tribute to Judith Jamison, a student of Cuyjet’s who rose to prominence as director of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, and Michaela DePrince, a Sierra Leone–born prodigy who trained in Philadelphia and rose to international acclaim.

Collins, Jr.’s tribute to these icons lives in Grays Ferry, a neighborhood that mirrors the spirit of perseverance central to the still-unfolding story of Philadelphia Black dance heritage—a story of unbridled beauty, unflagging discipline, and the unbreakable rhythm of resilience in the face of systemic exclusion. by @ashullzz_

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18 days ago

Season 7 strong! 💪🏾So grateful for these beautiful words by Melissa Strong for Broad Street Review❤️ by @ashullzz_

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2 months ago

☀️🌊🌳❤️ by @ashullzz_

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2 months ago

What a wild ride it was to become the Snake in @balletx 's production of The Little Prince by @annabellelopezochoa !🐍 so grateful to everyone who came out to support ❤️❤️
📸: @scottseriophotos by @ashullzz_

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2 months ago

Too fly to give a bug by @ashullzz_

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4 months ago

Favorites folder 🇬🇹🩵 taken in Lake Atitlán by @ashullzz_

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5 months ago

🌎🌳earth day by @ashullzz_

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5 months ago

choka choka 🇧🇷
@anitta @shakira
#chokachoka #anitta #shakira

@ashullzz_ @itztheballerina @thejoaosilva
filmed by @e.e.kim @eileenekim by @ashullzz_

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6 months ago

Ance Recovery Sneakers🤝me by @ashullzz_

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7 months ago

☀️creative sesh with @hope_spears_photography by @ashullzz_

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7 months ago

Hoje você pode me esquecer. É CARNAVAL NO BRASIL! 🇧🇷
📷: @eileenekim by @ashullzz_

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8 months ago