Black History Month – An Interview With Keanah
Black History Month – A Dance History
October 1, 2021
New Factory Open Day!
October 6, 2021
Born & raised in Brixton, London, Keanah is one of Freed of London’s team members from the iconic flagship store in Covent Garden. From the age of four, Keanah began attending Saturday Associate classes in nearby Clapham, taking graded exams under the ISTD syllabus.
Keanah was recently featured in our official ‘Show Shoes’ campaign, which introduced our brand new product the “SHOWSTOPPER”, as well as the new range of product colours now available - including Brown & Bronze.
To commemorate Black History Month, we sat down with Keanah to ask her a few questions about her experiences growing up in the dance community, her thoughts on our new skin tone colours for our show shoes… and more!
What inspired you to begin dancing?
Keanah: Watching my siblings dance always made me want to follow in their footsteps. I could always tell how much they loved dancing just from watching them on stage.
Who were your role models growing up?
Keanah: My older brother and sister
Did you notice the lack of representation of black dancers from the very start or was this something you gradually began to notice?
Keanah: Since I had been exposed to dancers from all ethnicities from a young age, I never truly noticed the lack of representation of black dancers. However as I grew older this had become a lot more apparent to me.
When you first began dancing, how did you feel when you had to wear Pink tights/pink soft toe ballet shoes?
Keanah: Wearing pink ballet tights and pink ballet shoes had been the norm to me from the moment I had begun dancing. There hadn’t been an option to have dancewear in skin tone- I was never affected by wearing pink.
Did you find that there was much choice for shoes/tights that would match your skin tone?
Keanah: No
When did you first think to yourself "why is there not a shoe colour that matches my skin tone?"
Keanah: The more photos I saw from performances, specifically from ballet, I realized that I would’ve wished to have been given the option to wear tights closer to my own skin tone and noticed that this hadn’t been offered even when I was getting further into my training.
From our last interview we know you grew up in South London. This area, especially Brixton, is known for being really diverse and creative, with a wealth of culture and traditions – how did this inspire and influence you as a dancer? Did it impact your creativity growing up?
Keanah: Growing up in an area that has always been so diverse allowed me to respect and appreciate the uniqueness from all different cultures from a young age.
When you first joined Freed of London in 2019, our Skin Tone colours #balletbrown and #balletbronze had already launched. How did you feel when you first discovered that Freed of London has created these products?
Keanah: Whilst I was in my own dance training I hadn’t been exposed to the options of having many skin tone colours for my dance attire. Witnessing this from Freed felt like a “breath of fresh air”.
Do you find that you get many customers in the shop asking for products that match their skin tone?
Keanah: Yes. Having the options of different skin tones is highly favoured and desired by many customers, I have noticed this more specifically amongst those who are in full training or at professional level.
1How did you feel when you heard that Freed were developing new colours for the Show Shoe collection?
Keanah: Knowing that I am part of a company who are aware of how diverse the dance community is and continue prioritising dancers' comfortability throughout their dance career by creating products that are inclusive to all skin tones makes me proud.
Describe the feeling when you were asked to model the new style and colours for the official ‘Show Shoes’ campaign.
Keanah: I felt honoured and grateful to have been asked to be a part of this project. Being both a member of staff and a model allows customers to feel even more confident when receiving our advice regarding the most suitable style and fit for them.
What would you like to see from the industry moving forward?
Keanah: Ideally, I’d love for the option of having dancewear available in all skin tones to be a normality in all dance training schools regardless of whether it’s at a professional level or not.
