Pink tights, compliance, and tokenism: Ballerinas of color on dancing in a white-dominated world

Upper West Side NY

18 February, 2022

3:47 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY LAURA JIANG • FEBRUARY 18, 2022, 12:28 AM Mistakes—like missing a count or having the wrong arm out—are painfully visible in the "corps de ballet," the large body of ensemble dancers in a classical ballet piece that moves in unison. To maintain uniformity across an ensemble, dancers are cast based on physical similarity, often perpetuating the image of a ballerina as a white, lean, dancer in a tutu and slick bun. Ballerinas of color are particularly vulnerable to feeling excluded from classical ballet's rigid standards, from being assigned pink tights that do not match their skin tone to fearing advocating for themselves to teachers in class. For many ballerinas of color at Columbia, their success in ballet has hinged not only on their talent, discipline, and technique, but has also involved them struggling to fit the stereotypical mold of a ballerina. Aisha Adoni, BC '25, began dancing when she was three years old. Adoni has always been very conscious of what the physical ideal of a ballerina looked like—tall, skinny, white, blonde or brown hair—and knew she did not meet many aspects of this ideal as a South Asian woman. For other young dancers of color, role models of color on the professional stage provided motivation. Kate Shavelle, CC '24, who also started ballet training at three, recalls that she was only inspired to become a professional ballerina after seeing Misty Copeland, the first Black female principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, perform "Swan Lake" at a Bolshoi Ballet show when Shavelle was 10. As a biracial girl sharing the same hometown as Copeland, she imagined herself in Copeland's pointe shoes. Soon after watching Copeland, Shavelle remembers her mom reading her a detailed list of ideal ballerina attributes written by George Balanchine, who was considered the father of American Ballet, to see if she fit his mold. Attributes of the "Balanchine body" include thinness and certain proportions: short torso, long legs, and a small head. "Getting all of that is basically winning the genetic lottery. … It's crazy but it's a flooded market," Shavelle said. "There are so many girls, too many ballerinas, and so few spots. So there will always be enough people to fit that really specific genetic mold." Although role models like Copeland show that finding success as a dancer of color is possible, dancers on the journey toward the professional stage are frequently limited by ballet's physical standards. Naomi Namboodiripad, CC '24, a dancer trained in both classical ballet and Indian dance, noted how she is acutely aware of how her body does not fit the ideal for ballet. "In classical productions, … they do want everyone to look almost exactly the same. … When you're a little bit brown, short, and muscular, it doesn't work out. It doesn't look the same. It just throws everything off," Namboodiripad said. Idea Reid, BC '25, who grew up dancing ballet in Staten Island, said well-intentioned compliments from her teachers about her slim figure often indirectly add pressure to maintain it. Similarly, Shavelle remembers her first big audition, where she was picked as one of two girls out of 200 auditionees in a process so quick it felt like the choreographer was simply picking out certain body types. Being a ballerina of color can be an isolating experience, even for those who fit the strict physical guidelines. For one, the commonly required pink tights, which create an airbrushed look on white dancers, erase darker skin tones. Shavelle describes ballet's dress codes as "inherently discriminatory." Once, after Shavelle refused to wear pink tights at a dance competition, her coach chased her down to berate her decision. In addition, Shavelle once witnessed a Black classmate in braids being criticized for not following hairstyle expectations. Apart from dress codes, discrimination against dancers of color is often concealed by demonstrations of tokenism by ballet companies and schools, where conditional and sporadic inclusion of skinny, light-skinned ballet dancers of color is used to mask underrepresentation. Reid experienced tokenism during her summer intensive at the School of American Ballet. While Reid said she and other girls of color did not receive much attention from teachers in class, they nevertheless would be prominently featured on Instagram, Facebook, and myriad posters. In class, they were near-invisible, yet in public they became the face of the school, Reid said. Attention from ballet teachers is pivotal for a ballerina to be able to advance in technique. However, teachers can often react to physical appearance as well as technique. One of Namboodiripad's teachers scolded her for training in Indian dance and making her thighs more muscular-looking, upsetting and discouraging her. This set of physical expectations is coupled with an unspoken requirement to comply with the mental and behavioral standards of classical ballet. "You're taught to not talk back. You're taught to just nod. Teachers come up to you and touch your body, fix you—sometimes a little more aggressively than others—and you just sit there and take it," Reid said. "It's to the point where you're following rules, but you're not questioning why you're following them." All ballerinas learn to not talk back at the teacher, but Adoni notes that non-white dancers are more vulnerable to being silenced for not wanting to reinforce racial stereotypes. "There are definitely times when I regret not saying things," Adoni said. "It's also difficult because there's a stereotype of white women being really timid and sweet in the media, while there's always the black or brown character who's angsty and really loud." The need to be compliant causes ballerinas to lose both a sense of individuality and their voice outside of the ballet world. Growing up in a predominantly white community, Reid picked up habits outside of dance, such as straightening her hair, to conform with the aesthetics of popular white girls. These habits were reinforced when she attended ballet classes. Attending a more diverse performing arts high school marked a turning point for Reid. There, she felt more valued for what she had to say and express, rather than feeling that her value was attached to her physical appearance. At this high school, Reid developed a voice for social activism. In retrospect, she said, ballet's culture had suppressed her voice. Shavelle, Reid, and Namboodiripad all mentioned that there has been progress in recent years regarding the prevalence of voices of color in the ballet world. Reid and Shavelle attribute the change to social movements such as Black Lives Matter, which they say assisted in carving out a space for ballerinas of color to speak up with courage. Although reforming the whole industry's stance on inclusivity is hard, especially for such an expensive art, Shavelle sees opportunity for change at Columbia. She said a collaborative initiative between ballet student groups on campus which prioritize inclusivity and have helped dancers of color break into the ballet world could help spark this change. On a more systemic level, Adoni calls for the investigation of ballet at its core, which means asking questions like why the Corps de Ballet needs to look so uniform, and what it would mean for the ballet world to celebrate individuality. Namboodiripad shares the sentiment that ballet can no longer get away with incremental progress and that institutional change is necessary. "In general, if the ballet world wants to survive, it's in their best interest to embrace diversity and embrace multiple different types of people's bodies," Namboodiripad said. As the ballet world moves forward, Columbia's ballerinas of color will continue to wrestle with their own relationship with ballet. Despite shifting her focus to contemporary dance, Reid still returns to ballet for its rigid progression of movement that gives her a comforting sense of control. Shavelle and Namboodiripad, both active leadership members in CU Ballet Ensemble, appreciate the acting and storytelling aspect of ballet. Adoni, too, has appreciated dancing ballet with lower stakes at Columbia and seeing a greater diversity of bodies in the Barnard ballet classrooms. "I think [ballet] made me a better person in a lot of ways, and at the same time, it's caused a lot of issues that maybe will stick with me for a while. There's always a balance," Adoni said. Staff writer Laura Jiang can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.