Released on November 11, 1991, Black or White by Michael Jackson serves as the debut single from his eighth studio album, Dangerous, under Epic Records. Co-created with Bill Bottrell, Jackson assumed the roles of writer, composer, and producer for the song. Epic Records labelled it as a rock ‘n’ roll dance song about racial harmony.
Yamuna Sangarasivam, a trained Odissi dancer, is the Indian woman featured in Michael Jackson’s Black or White music video. She was selected to perform alongside Michael Jackson on the LA expressway, with fast-moving cars in the background.
In 1991, while pursuing her Master’s degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, Yamuna Sangarasivam released a music video. Today, she is a successful Professor of Anthropology at Nazareth College in New York.
Currently, she holds key roles as the Director of the Women and Gender Studies Undergraduate Program in Sociology & Anthropology and the Women and Gender Studies Program in Women and Gender Studies.
Sangarasivam has made a significant impact in academia. She has come a long way ahead from her early creative pursuits to her current influential positions.
Yamuna Sangarasivam sharing her journey revealed auditioning among 3,000 others in response to Michael Jackson’s call for ethnic and modern dancers. Expressing sheer joy after receiving the call, she hung up and screamed with excitement.
The iconic music video, shot during a 14-hour session, led to the shutdown of a Los Angeles expressway for scenes with dancers and stunt drivers. Now a college professor, Sangarasivam analyses the video at conferences in musicology and performance studies.
In a recent interview, Yamuna spoke about her collaboration with Michael Jackson, praising his exceptional talent and highlighting his humble and kind nature. She revealed that Michael Jackson arranged for a Mercedes to pick her up and even brought a blanket for her mother, who was feeling cold on the set.
Originating from northern Sri Lanka, Yamuna Sangarasivam boasts a versatile skill set, with proficiency in Western classical piano, Tamil Carnatic voice, and Bharatanatyam. Her cultural heritage combines her father’s Singaporean roots and her mother’s Malaysian origins from Kuala Lumpur. Sangarasivam, proficient in three languages, spent her early years in Sri Lanka and North Borneo. At the age of 9, she and her family migrated to the United States.
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