Issues of Racial Discrimination in Ballet: Argumentative Essay

Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century. Noblemen and women were treated to lavish events, especially wedding celebrations, where dancing and music created an elaborate spectacle. Dancing masters taught the steps to the nobility, and the court participated in the performances. Terms like ballet and ball stem from the Italian word 'ballare,' which means 'to dance.' By 1661, a dance academy had opened in Paris, and in 1681 ballet moved from the courts to the stage. Early classical ballets such as Giselle and La Sylphide were created during the Romantic Movement in the first half of the 19th century. This movement influenced art, music, and ballet. It was concerned with the supernatural world of spirits and magic and often showed women as passive and fragile.

Ballet has always been a very controversial art and sport. A lot of people argue that it is not a sport, One side of the argument claimed that ballet was not a sport because it didn't contain a winner and a loser. It didn't depend on competitiveness and measurable achievements. The other side of the disagreement reasoned that ballet deserves the title of 'sport' because of its close to impossible physical expectations and the passion of dancers. I personally believe ballet is a sport. In my opinion, ballet is one of the hardest and most competitive sports to be a part of and train for. Ballet is so physically and mentally demanding it puts a lot of pressure on the athletes therefore a lot of people do not make it as professionals. Many factors can affect your training as a dancer, especially in ballet. Factors like injuries, your physique, your hair color, your skin color, and your height. This can be very challenging for many dancers as no matter what training or practice you've had when you take part in an audition or want to be a part of a company if you are too tall or too small for their height requirements you may simply not get the job or even be allowed to audition because you are not what they are looking for. This can be really tough because the height and size of your body can be extremely difficult to change.

The race has been a huge fight in ballet. Many professional dancers feel they have been victimized and discriminated against them in their training and working career due to the color of their skin. Ballerina Chloe Lopes Gomes accuses a ballet mistress at the Berlin State Ballet of racism. She sees herself as a victim of so-called white facing. Ms. Gomes only joined the company in 2018 as the first and only to date black member. This is astonishing to see now in 2020 that the majority or most of the cast and ensemble of dancers are mainly white dancers. Here is an extract from www.dw.com a news and media site that interview the dancer. During those two and a half years, I was under the supervision of a ballet mistress who said that ballet should not take me because I am Black and a woman of color in a 'corps de ballet' is something that is not aesthetic, not homogeneous,' Lopes Gomes told DW. 'She made racist jokes and comments.' The ballet mistress is said to have repeatedly racially discriminated against her, for instance, by demanding that Lopes Gomes apply white makeup for Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake. This is a very explosive topic since white facing or making people of color wear make-up to give them the impression that they look or are white violates the ballet house policy under former artistic director Johannes Ahman as other people of color also dance in the company. After Ahman left the Berlin State Ballet in December 2019, however, the ballet mistress reportedly demanded that Lopes Gomes do just that. Ms. Gomes said 'I felt very humiliated, but above all, I was very surprised that she felt no fear of being punished,'. This is appalling and makes ballet very controversial and unappealing. This is only one of the thousands of incidents that have happened to black dancers. Fortunately, ballet has been progressing and moving in the correct direction in all of these factors.

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In 2020 a variety of advertisements were produced and shown on British tv screens that revealed a new reflection of ballet. Amazon delivered an advert that described the show must go on. The advert was approximately 2 minutes long and was about a young female black ballet dancer aged 16-18. The advertisement consists of the young girl being chosen for the lead of her school production that later in the advert gets canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Throughout the advertisement, it reveals the girl at home and rehearsing for the show in her home. In the end, she does a performance outside, using some amazon products. This is a huge revaluation for the performing and ballet world because amazon is such a huge company with a very wide audience. That broadcasts on huge quantities of screens, targeting different groups of people and reflecting the diversity of the art well. A report and review by the sun newspaper illustrated the advert's content and headings. Simon Morris, vice president of global creative at Amazon, said: 'Our TV ad is inspired by, and pays tribute to, the unbeatable human spirit and the power of community that we have witnessed so often this year.' Whereas Ta's Vinolo added: 'When I was growing up in the French countryside, there were no young black girls studying ballet with hair like mine, or even on TV, meaning I had no one to identify myself with. 'Being on this shoot helped so much with this, enabling me to own who I really am, who I want to be, and what I represent. I am so proud to have been part of this project since the message of it means a lot to me and even more so in this very difficult time that the world is going through. These comments and quotes show a huge impact to a wide audience that the industry is changing and becoming better and rightfully so more diverse.

Despite there being a huge development in ballet as a race there are still many male and female dancers and artists that feel discriminated against in ballet's society. There is a video I discovered on YouTube named the uncomfortable truth of being a black ballerina published on the 13th of November 2020. The dancer named Marie-Astrid Mence has been a member of ballet black since 2014-a seminal dance company formed of black and Asian performers who astound audiences with displays of balletic beauty and power. In this documentary profile, Mence narrates the uncomfortable truth of her life as a ballerina and her struggles in the industry that fails to see past her skin color. She speaks about pointe shoes and how they are specifically designed to match your skin tone, to extend your leg line. She commented I find it funny and wonder why they never match mine. This comment itself is just astonishing. So many other products and everyday objects have been corrected for people with darker skin. For example foundation. Foundation was a huge topic that had a lot of controversies because almost every makeup brand only ever supplied a very short and limited amount of dark foundation; however, this has changed so why haven't pointe shoes?

As a performer myself and someone who has always admired ballet as an art form and a sport, these news articles and reviews are exceptionally challenging to read and hear. Ballet and dance as a whole should be inclusive and a movement that you are proud to be a part of, not something that has a nasty backside too. I am hopeful that this will improve relatively quickly additionally I believe with the upcoming black lives matter movement could help impact the ballet community. Race should have nothing to do with any sport. There have been several huge changes and occurrences that have impacted this but it is now moving in the correct direction.