Houston Ballet's first African-American ballerina sees her dance company as diverse, not just black or white

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The upbeat jazz music stopped. The former ballerina took the floor demonstrating a jump and a twirl for her dancers. They responded by copying her movements, dancing to the rhythm of her snapping fingers. Five, six, seven, eight. "Back it up. Point those toes," said Sandra Organ Solis, 47, the Houston Ballet's first African-American ballerina and founder of the Sandra Organ Dance Company. The music came back on. And they continued dancing to Harry Connick Jr.'s The Big Parade, a component of Luck of the Draw, the 13th annual Black History Month dance performance put on by Solis' company, which opens Friday. Solis, born in Omaha, Neb., to two native Texans, attended the Houston Ballet Company's summer sessions in 1981 while visiting family here. The following year she landed a job with the ballet, making her its first African-American ballerina. She became a soloist at age 19.