American Ballet Theatre's Stella Abrera Is Just Getting Started

This July, I was introduced to a Filipina girl in a ballet class in Brooklyn. She asked me, excitedly, if I’d heard the news about Stella Abrera. She was young, maybe 12 years old, so I smiled, lied, and said no. I wanted to give her the pleasure of giving me the good news, from one young Pinoy dancer to another.

A few weeks earlier, Stella Abrera had become the first Filipina-American to reach the rank of principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. Her ascent was lauded by Asian-American and Filipino publications the world over, calling it “historic” and — considering almost two years of dealing with physical injuries — “nothing short of a miracle.” The 12-year-old girl I met was…