Racial Diversity at The Washington School of Ballet
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Anonymous
It is this exact kind of attitude why we’ll be leaving the school. You’ve literally named one Black principal dancer and you think that should be enough to appease us. And you don’t even think she’s qualified, which also tracks generally w/white sentiment toward Black or brown people who are perceived to have stolen something from them and been given something they don’t deserve. It’s disgusting. Truly. |
Anonymous
PP you replied to. Misty Copeland is exactly who I was referring to in my first post. She is the exception that proves the rule. The rule is still very, very much in effect, namely, that dancers of color, dancers with more muscular bodies, dancers who are short or tall, get passed over. It's like Obama as President. Yes, the highest office in the land was held for 8 years by a black man. But a disproportionate amount of black people are stopped by police for no good reason, more die at the hands of law enforcement than other races, and just a few days ago, we had a mass shooting by a white supremacist targeting black people. The rule is still very much in effect, in all strata of society, and ballet is just a slightly more sclerotic representation of society. We need to do better. |
Anonymous
At the end of the day, ballet needs to fill theater seats with a ticket buying public. They are going to put people up on stage that sell tickets. This means that people with disproportionate bodies are out - big heads, short legs, short stature...etc. People who aren't good dancers are out - this is an obvious disqualifier. There are a lot of people who believe Misty Copeland was promoted to principal because of her popularity with the audience. And it is true, she lacked the ability to do the 32 fouette turns that are a signature of Swan Lake. But she was selling tickets and ABT recognized that. It was kind of controversial though because she lacked a basic skill required of a principal role. |
Anonymous
Misty Copeland and Anna Pavlova, lousy dancers both of them. |
Anonymous
None of this is an excuse to hold back CHILDREN from dancing at ballet schools. We are not talking about professional dancing. We are not talking about professional ticket sales. Ballet schools sell tickets to parents and relatives, and they ALL want to see dancers in roles that are appropriate to their talent! No parent I know wants to keep the chubby kid in the back or the child of color in a minor role! Not in this area. And believe me, by the time a kid makes it all the way to the upper levels, their families have attended a ton of performances, volunteered tons of hours backstage, observed rehearsals, and know who is talented and who deserves which role. Currently there is a furor at MYB because the artistic director (who is leaving after a disastrous few years in the job) ignored certain talented students and gave roles to a favored few. This did not use to happen at MYB under the previous leadership. Schools' missions are to encourage every student who enrolls. At the upper levels, of course there will be painfully honest conversations about what aspiring ballerinas' chances are in the real world. Summer intensives will be discussed, audition and competition performances dissected. But that's for a small number of students. No child deserves to be shunted to the side because of what they look like. |
Anonymous
Shame on you. |
Anonymous
I'm a person of color. As an Arab and a Muslim I've been called a terrorist to my face. Honestly who gives a sh** about racial diversity in ballet school? I take my kids to ballet lessons in Arlington. Other than one Black girl, all the other kids are white. My kids don't care. We don't care. Its exhausting for every little thing to be analyzed with a racial lens. Can we all calm down a bit. People are more than their race and a lot of problems in the US can be resolved in a race neutral manner even though they disproportionately help people of color. This over emphasis on victimhood is exhausting. I am shia Muslim and grew up in the Arab world. Our places of worship are bombed. My husband is Palestinian and grew up under apartheid and occupation. Yet I don't go around telling my kids they are victims of discrimination every day. I teach them the facts. I teach them the history of racism, colonialism, sectarianism and then I move on. God living here is so exhausting. Its more exhausting than growing up in a place where your actual life is at risk and you can be jailed for simply who you are. I am seriously considering moving back if this over emphasis on race continues. |
Anonymous
Many of us come from war-torn regions, PP and have personally experienced racism. You clearly have younger children who have no professional ballet aspirations. You HAVE to understand that at the teen pre-professional level, getting passed over for the best roles because of considerations other than skill, means not progressing in those skills, missing out on auditions, and not being picked for the next step in your career. When your kids grow up and experience discrimination as an obstacle to education and professional advancement, you WILL care. You're just not in that space yet. You might be a social conservative who thinks this is all snowflake wokeness, and a lot of complaints on DCUM are in that category, but some of them are not. Learn to differentiate between the two, and also keep in mind that constant "minor" other-ing is a sign that more serious discrimination will be normalized. - Asian. |
Anonymous
No I’m not a social conservative. I tend to be on the left on most issues. Given the fact that I have experienced discrimination personally in the workplace as a female nonwhite attorney I am very familiar with the costs of racial discrimination. The problem I am having is with the constant insistence of analyzing everything through a racial lens and reducing complex human beings to their race. It’s exhausting and it’s not going to end well. |
Anonymous
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I'll bite.
Historically, in order to be technically excellent and considered "principal" material in ballet, you have to be born into a very specific body - not dissimilar to basketball, swimming, etc. The right proportion of leg to torso, the right kind of feet, hip rotation, muscle mass distribution, spinal flexibility, etc. Auditions for major companies may include someone measuring your neck, leg, arm, etc. like you were a horse. It's incredibly and unrelentingly specific There are truly exquisite dancers of every color who will simply never be considered "the best" because the bodies they were born into do t fit the mold. I'm white, but I would never be considered a good ballet dancer because I have very limited turnout in my right hip. Like I said. Specific. This could be said of ANY extremely competitive sport. Misty Copeland is good, but Judith jamieson was great for this reason. Of course there is a racist history in ballet, and also a sexist one. But there are also some amazing companies, teachers, schools who embrace a broader idea of what excellence in ballet looks like. If your daughter wants to dance, educate her fully on the history of ballet and all the other dance forms. Encourage her to learn from the best teachers and also to know that any art form is going to be subjective and to learn how to stand up for herself and be proud of her body, voice, and artistic perspective. |
Anonymous
I think you should teach your kid to see themselves in more than skin colour. I say this as a black woman who was often the "only" black student in my social Millue. I recognise I am fortunate in my experience as I never experienced any racism or felt discomfort, but I largely attribute that to my parents never teaching me that my success, dreams, wants and desires are limited by external factors. Yes, as an adult, I recognise It is more complex than that and not true in many cases, HOWEVER, as a child, it was fundamental to my development. As a young adult it led me to have mentors who were men and woman, as I was never put off by something as superficial as someone needs to "look like me". If you can't be what you can't see, then who is supposed to go first? |
Anonymous
| My info is dated, from the eighties and nineties. I am white. I had two African American friends who attended and switched eventually to other places. They felt it was not a healthy atmosphere for African Americans. Perhaps that rep still holds among black people who grew up here and are still raising their kids here. |
Anonymous
NP here. WASP, for the record. It’s interesting to me that you describe yourself as “nonwhite.” What is your race? Arab, Muslim, Palestinian….that sounds Caucasian to me, technically. You might be tan or brown, but I doubt you are black. And yes, black people are treated differently, racism wise. I don’t doubt you’ve experienced discrimination based on your background. But your kids are still in a different position than are the OP’s kids. Tan/brown with non-African hair is treated differently than Black even if you are notably middle eastern. |
Anonymous
And your qualifications for making this judgment are… |
Anonymous
You grew up in the Arab world. Exactly. You cannot relate to being Black in America, which is just not even remotely the same thing as what you’re describing in terms of your background. I understand you’ve face discrimination, but you, in fact, Caucasian. Black people in America are not. It is a luxury to come here as an immigrant and then tell Black people whose ancestors were forcibly brought to this land to move on because we talk about race too much. |