Black Ballerinas

LET'S DISCUSS BLACK BALLERINAS SHALL WE?

The ballet world (and the dance world more broadly) has been very slow to accept black dancers. Dance companies were entirely segregated until the 50s, and further progress has been slow at best. Black ballet dancers have been asked to use "white-face" to lighten their skin and fit in with the rest of the cast, and tights/shoes/wigs are not made for people with darker skin. Pointe shoes particularly have traditionally only been made with pink satin, meaning that black dancers have to buy a tube of foundation and coat their shoes with it in order to get a color that matches their skin.

Bloch announced yesterday (!!!) that it would start manufacturing pointe shoes in darker colors, article about this here: https://footwearnews.com/…/bloch-pointe-shoes-darker-shade…/

Misty Copeland was made the first African American Female Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theater in 2015 (ONLY 5 YEARS AGO) and is still referred to as a "diversity hire" at times. Often, dance companies will hire black dancers but will not give them leading roles due to the image of a "light-skinned" ballerina being so persistent in people's minds. Dance companies like Alvin Ailey that feature black dancers and choreographers have done incredible things for the world of dance! But we need progress beyond this to fully integrate the dance world.

And of course this all intersects with class segregation in dance. Dance classes are expensive and need to be taken early and often in order to become a professional dancer. Shoes, outfits, and dancer equipment are all expensive as well. The time requirement to drive kids to dance classes and rehearsals can also be a huge burden on families. The result is that most (if not all) professional dancers come from upper class backgrounds.

I know I'm friends with people more involved in the ballet world than I am, so please add things if I left something out! And similarly if you know about about black dancers in other forms of dance. I don't know much beyond ballet, but tap was pioneered by black dancers and comes from a rich culture of black rhythms and music that musicians still pull from today. And then there's ballroom, modern, jazz, etc...

Further reading:

https://daily.jstor.org/the-history-of-african-american-ca…/
Good overview of the history of black ballerinas.

https://www.theguardian.com/…/2…/sep/04/black-ballet-dancers
Statistics on present day dance companies.

https://mistycopeland.com/
Misty Copeland's website.

https://www.alvinailey.org/
Alvin Ailey's website.

https://www.dancespirit.com/support-black-dance-community-2…
A more general article, but has a list of black dancers/companies to support towards the end.