Ballet is an art form founded on exclusivity, tracing its origins back to the Italian Renaissance, when it arose as a form of entertainment for the nobility. Though no longer exclusive to upper-crust aristocracy, ballet’s elite origins still seep into stages around the world. In an art where aesthetics are everything, stages are dominated by a uniform arrangement of lean-limbed, light-complexioned dancers. This homogeneity is evidenced in two of America’s most prestigious ballet companies- New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater. At New York City Ballet, only two out of 21 principal dancers (the highest rank) are dark-skinned. Likewise, at American Ballet Theater, only three out of 12 principal dancers are people of color, all of whom lie at the fairer end of the color spectrum, including Misty Copeland, the company’s first Black principal dancer, who made history for her pioneering promotion in 2015. These companies’ rosters bear stark contrast to the surrounding city of New York, where, according to the United States Census Bureau, only 42.7 percent, a minority, of residents are white. While both companies have made admirable strides towards diversity and inclusion, they nevertheless bear witness to the lily-white world of ballet.
Disproportionate economic barriers face dancers of colors seeking to break into the elite levels of ballet. Native Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics, face higher rates of poverty than Whites and Asians, meaning that the costly and time-consuming training and equipment required for a shot at balletic success are far less accessible for people of color. Ballet school tuition carries a price tag in the thousands, and pointe shoes are undeniably pricey at $80 and up a pair- and multiple pairs per week for the elite upper-level student. Add in summer intensives, tights, leotards, and additional training and competition fees, and over the course of 15 years of training (ballerinas start very young), parents splend a total of nearly $120,000– a conservative estimate. Schools and companies do offer scholarships and outreach programs for diverse dancers, but they don’t necessarily cover all of the extra costs associated with training, and disproportionate barriers to entry are still undeniable. Factors such as transportation to and from classes, or the cost of giving up an after-school job to support the family, remain in the way.
Dancers of color who are able to afford the high costs of tuition, or who obtain generous scholarships, still grapple with implicit bias as they rise up the ranks. The longstanding classic image of a ballerina is a willowy, white-skinned dancer in pale pink tights and pointe shoes, her hair fastened into a meticulous bun- not exactly a welcoming picture to aspiring ballerinas of color. The dancewear industry reflects this lily-white standard. Pointe shoes are typically pale pink to match dancers’ skin tones and extend their lines. In essence, pale pink is ballet’s nude standard- but not for dancers with darker skin tones who have to “pancake” their shoes to match their skin color. Pancaking is a time-consuming process whereby dancers paint their shoes with skin-colored foundation- an extra financial burden for dancers of color in an industry where they are already underrepresented and constantly facing barriers.
Recently, the racial justice uprising in the wake of George Floyd’s death carried into the ballet world with the resurrection of a two year-old petition demanding that Bloch, a prominent dancewear brand, offer pointe shoes in darker shades. Similar petitions followed, and, ultimately, several major dancewear brands, including Bloch, Capezio, and Russian Pointe, agreed to diversify their apparel. These changes reflect the importance of activism and allyship in bringing about a tangible impact, even in a Eurocentric art form with a long way to go in terms of diversity. While a glaring deficit of the ballet industry, implicit racial bias manifests itself in a host of everyday consumer products, including bandages and “skin-color” crayons, which are traditionally offered in paler shades. As the ballet world takes steps towards inclusivity, everyday shoppers also have the chance to demand inclusivity in consumer products. For instance, Band-Aid recently announced it would start offering bandages in a wider range of colors, and Crayola launched a “Colors of the World” crayon set for an inclusive art experience. As store shelves and websites evolve to more accurately reflect the diverse American population, so should the products in our homes.
Here are some inclusive products to shop:
- Tru-Colour Skin Tone Bandages
- Crayola Colors of the World Skin Tone Crayons
- Fenty Beauty
- Bunheads by Misty Copeland (children’s book)- MahoganyBooks (black-owned bookstore)
- Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland (memoir)- MahoganyBooks
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