The evolution of a ballerina: From Dorchester to ‘Single Ladies’
This weekend will be a bittersweet homecoming for Ebony Williams. It’s the first time her dance company, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, has ever performed in Boston. But it will also be her last performance with the company, as she is leaving it after 10 years this summer.
“It’s amazing coming home, but it’s sad at the same time,’’ she said. “I’m excited to see friends and family, and they will get to watch me perform, but it’s my last time with Cedar Lake.’’
Boston laid the foundation for Williams’s dancing career before she left her home in Dorchester at age 23. She remembers playing in the sprinklers at Frog Pond in the summers with her mother, hanging out at Washington Park in her teenage years, and rehearsing for talent shows at the Boys & Girls Club of Boston on Talbot Avenue.
But today, at 32 years old, when Williams reflects on places and landmarks in the city that bring back memories, one of the most prominent landmarks in her childhood is Ashmont Station.
“I remember going to Ashmont station every day on my way to Boston Ballet and taking the train,’’ Williams said. “There was a time I feel like I went to three dance schools at the same time, and all I remember is my transit from A to B.’’
Williams started studying ballet at 8 years old with Boston Ballet and attended Roxbury Center for Performing Arts before taking some time off in high school. She resumed her work at the Boston Conservatory for college. But before all of that, her first love was hip-hop.
“Hip-hop is natural,’’ Williams said. “It’s something that you do as a cultural thing: You hang out with your friends, watch Michael Jackson music videos, and emulate everything he does and improvise.’’
It was during moments like those that family and friends first recognized that Williams should be dancing. But while she was trained in ballet, she calls hip-hop dance “instinct.’’
Flash forward to 2005. Williams had just graduated from the Boston Conservatory with her bachelor’s degree in fine arts when she moved to New York City to join Cedar Lake. Soon after getting settled in the city, Williams’s agent got her an audition for Rihanna where she landed a role dancing to “SOS’’ in the live performance at Radio City Music Hall on point ballet shoes.
“The transition between the two is not that easy, but because they are both so much a part of me, I know how to turn it on and turn it off when necessary,’’ she said. “The best is when I can actually blend the two.’’
Soon Williams found herself flooded with opportunities. After Cedar Lake rehearsal during the day, where she was the first African-American dancer to join the company, she turned to her evening rehearsals for Fergie, Jennifer Hudson, and finally—Beyoncé.
Remember this?
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Williams was one of two dancers in the award-winning “Single Ladies’’ music video. But not that award. Remember? Kanye West thought the video was so snubbed that he interrupted Taylor Swift to give Beyoncé and her ladies a shout-out.
Williams performed on stage that night, and she was backstage when West caused a scene: “Oh my gosh, what can you think in a moment like that? I thought it was a little much, but I was like, ‘Thank you?!’’’
It’s been an exciting ride since. And while this is the end of her chapter with Cedar Lake, Williams is keeping her eye on all the opportunity her future can bring: tours with musicians, Broadway, acting, even aerial work. But before all of that begins, check her out this weekend.
The Celebrity Series of Boston is featuring Cedar Lake at Citi Shubert Theatre from May 15 to 17.
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