In the world of ballet, movement has elegance. Telling stories to classical music, showing the audience the beauty of dance. The aim is nothing but perfection, hiding blistered feet and hurting muscles behind a smile. It’s a world of perfect poses, pirouettes, strong bodies, rose pointe shoes – and light skin? Dissolving from the noble milieu in Italy and France, later complemented by the Russian Imperial Ballet, this dance has a long history of elitism.

Inclusivity in ballet has many aspects. It is about the professional dancers, but also the directors, choreographers, staff members, and every little amateur ballet school. The professional dancers have maybe the most visibility and are therefore most important for representing ballet. But there was always a very clear image of classical ballet: rich and white.

Today, this image is still very present. Money is a great limitation in this field of profession. A year of full-time training at the Royal Ballet in London costs about 44.000 euros, a year at the Opéra de Paris costs around 4.500 euros. While French education is a lot less expensive, the competition for these limited training spots is extremely high. Also, these prizes don’t include all the further costs, for example, expensive clothing and pointe shoes. Another thing to consider is the pre-professional training, which is about 10.000 euros a year. So even if 90% of the trainees at Royal Ballet receive some sort of financial aid, it’s a long road to get there.

Not only money, but race can be a barrier in ballet. Among the “étoiles” in Paris (Engl. star, the highest-ranked dancers at the Opéra de Paris), there are currently only three out of 16 dancers who are people of colour, with only one of them being French and educated in France. There are a lot of stories of racism inside the ballet companies. They were long overseen, only in the last few years, have these incidents gained publicity. More and more dancers started to speak up about discrimination, such as Chloé Lopes Gomes in 2021, after having to wear white make-up on stage for the German Staatsballett (Engl. National Ballet), even though this practice was already forbidden at this time.

So, is it ever changing? Of course, there are inspiring stories of dancers who made it, despite having the traditional images and discrimination working against them. For example, Guillaume Diop, who was promoted “étoile” at the Parisian opera this year. He wrote history by being the first black dancer in this position. 

In an interview with “Le Monde”, he stated that he didn’t see himself as a dancer. Neither did his parents, as “a mixed-race boy had no place at the opera.” Today, he is also known for fighting against racism in the opera. With other black colleagues, he was responsible for a debate about diversity, as they wrote a manifest called “De la question raciale à l’Opéra” (Engl. on the racial question at the Opera). In the context of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, it criticised discrimination at the opera.

In fact, the opera took some action. They established a Diversity Advisory Committee, which is made up of experts on the topic, dancers such as Diop, and members of the general management, including director Alexander Neef. There was also an event for the teachers at the leading ballet schools in the country to discuss how recruiting could be improved. In addition, they offered discrimination awareness training courses for the employees.

Likewise important for representation is the publicity of non-white dancers. Dallas-based photographer TaKiyah Wallace took matters into her own hands after realising that there are barely any pictures of black girls on the websites of ballet schools in the area. To have a more diverse representation of dancers for little girls like her daughter, she took photos of black artists and published them on Facebook and Instagram under the profile name “Brown girls do ballet.” Followed by thousands, she inspires young people and redefines the image of ballet on social media.

Besides dancers themselves being excluded because of money or race, there is also outdated repertoire, such as “La Bayadère” (Engl. The Temple Dancer). Set in India, this ballet suffers from a Eurocentric viewpoint of Indian culture. Besides other parts, it shows in the portrayal of the fakirs (Indian holy men), who “move like servile monkeys”, according to Shobana Jeyasingh, a choreographer. Like other art forms, ballet must confront itself with its colonial heritage.

But again, there are people trying to create change. One of them is Phil Chan, a former dancer and co-author of “Final Bow for Yellowface”, a campaign against the outdated portrayal of Asian people on stage. He comprehends ballet as the performing art that it is – which changes over time. Both Jeyasingh and Chan staged a new version of the classic and modernised it. As dancers and ballet lovers themselves, they started reworking the ballets carefully while respecting the history attached to them. As Chan remarks, it is also necessary if we want to keep a place for ballet in our society: “If we don’t imagine ways to make these ballets bigger to respond to the world we live in today, they’re going to die.” It is important to confront the old ballets with our reality today and take appropriate measures, as it serves the ballet community as a whole.

Considering its history, ballet is inherently elitist. But as with any culture, it is also inherently changing. For the future, the challenge is to make ballet more accessible to a broader audience. Making ballet enjoyable for everyone is essential, followed by a diverse representation of dancers, choreographers, and managers. Ballet is a beautiful art form and a challenging sport that should be open to everyone who wants to participate in it.

Johanna Krautkrämer

Sources:

www.liberation.fr – L’Opera de Paris consacre Guillaume Diop danseur étoile

www.operadeparis.fr – La mission diversité de l’Opéra de Paris

www.royalballetschool.org.uk – Full-time Training Fees

www.danceparent101.com – How much does it cost to become a professional ballerina or dancer?

www.theguardian.com – ‘Dance is not a museum’: how ballet is reimagining problematic classics

www.nbcnews.com – Black dancer calls out racism in ‘elitist’ European balletworld

www.dancemagazine.com – How Brown Girls Do Ballet Has Inspired and Supported a Generation of Young Dancers