The New Face of Ballet

‘Romeo and Juliet’ by the Royal Ballet late last year made production history by casting the company's principal dancer, Carlos Acosta, in the role of Romeo, a first for a black dancer. But black male ballet talents such as Acosta are rare to stumble across - and black ballerinas almost non-existent.

In today’s contemporary society fighting for racial equality, its peculiar as to why there is still a racial prejudice about black ballerinas being accepted into ballets performing arts. I believe that the employer discrimination is not activated by racist views, but a subconscious act of not casting ethnic minorities through other thought processes driven by cultural perceptions of the norm. Brodie Wentworth from Stage Coach School, New Milton believes that racial divides don’t seem to exist in contemporary dance as much as they do in ballet. She stresses that ethnic minorities need to be given a platform within ballet that welcomes and encourages them to participate as a non-white ballerina. ‘Although there are exceptions, the majority of ballerina’s are of white ethnicity. To be a ballerina with dark skin means you’re an exception to the norm. Of the cast you will be the one to stand out amongst the white girls, directors will see you as a distraction within the show.’

[Brodie Wentworth, Phone conversation, November 8^th, 8.00pm]

To heighten the problem, both The Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet are both greatly respected ballet companies within the industry, yet neither employs a single black ballerina. Surely this would diminish a black woman’s chances of becoming a professional ballerina? Smaller competing ballet companies will be influenced by the larger company’s practices, such as The Royal Ballet, and will follow in suit of the visual element of an all white cast. It baffles me that cultural extremists were debating cutting out nativity plays within schools in fear of offending school pupils of other cultures, yet everyone has failed to recognise that in professional ballet the dancers are an all white cast. Surely that’s not representing our multi cultural England today.

However, The Royal Opera House has finally recognised this problem and is attempting to address this issue through one of its educational outreach programmes, ‘Chance to Dance’. It sends ballet dancers into underprivileged schools within London boroughs to try and inspire an interest in ballet for all social classes. Part of the problem lies in the way ballet is perceived within the division of classes within society. The art form has evolved to be stereotypically enjoyed by the wealthy class societies from its first shows in the 1770’s to the royal family. Therefore is it perceived that it is only available to elitist groups with readily available funds to spend on leisure time, ticketing prices for ballet being priced up to £90 per seat. It psychologically caps lower classes into believing that they are not of privileged wealth to enjoy ballets performing arts.

‘Chance to Dance’ aims to create a stepping stone for equality within the performing arts; it needs to pave a way for the Arts Council England to reach its goal where by ‘Every child and young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts’ [Arts Council England, Mission, Vision and Goals], but how valid and accurate are these goals a society divided by the competition of wealth and social status.

Dahl’s theory of classical pluralism argues that, despite class divisions, society is a ‘level playing field’, where by everyone has the opportunity to succeed within their work goals if they combine their passion with hard work to achieve success. When applying this to ethnic minority ballerina’s, if more multi cultural women ballerinas fought the social prejudice of ballet being an all white cast, then more would be encouraged to do so in their wake, thus creating a future of mixed ethnicities within ballet culture. Mixed raced ballerinas must recognize that the reality of cast ethnicities is changing more slowly than attitudes, more confident performers must arise to begin the face of change.