Lauren Anderson

Lauren Anderson (born February 19, 1965) is an American ballet dancer and a former principal dancer with the Houston Ballet. In 1990, she was one of the first African-American ballerinas to become a principal for a major dance company, an important milestone in American ballet. She appeared in many ballets such as Don Quixote, Cleopatra, and The Nutcracker. She retired from the Houston Ballet in 2006 and retired from dance altogether in 2009. In 2016, Anderson had her pointe shoes from her final performance placed in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.