Is ballet a sport for only the rich?

Can everyone share the stage?

Many classical ballet paintings depict "fancy white girls" at the bar adding to the diversity issue

For the rich and the white

The path towards becoming a professional ballerina isn’t easy, especially for students of color. Ballet, in many people’s minds, is a “white sport.” A ballet school in Seattle ran the numbers in their own organization and found that 84% of their company was white. Companies all around America reflect similar findings. While the emergence of Misty Copeland is helping combat some of the diversity issues, it is important to remember that Copeland is by no means the first colored ballet dancer. She is doing her part though, in making ballet more diverse. Copeland uses her position in the spotlight to speak out about the history of racism in ballet. She’s talked about being asked to lighten her skin tone with make-up and being forced to paint her pointe shoes to match her actual skin color. She also does her best to visit dance schools to show young students that being a black ballerina is possible if you’re willing to put in the work. There are also programs that have started to address ballet’s diversity issue. It is being recognized that many young students of color have to drop dance because of economic reasons. Because of this, many schools are trying to extend their scholarship programs to add scholarships specifically for people of color. As classic roles start allowing for colored students to fill them (e.g. Clara in The Nutcracker) hopes are rising for more diversity in the future (Macdonald).

Elitism

Many people view ballet as an activity for white girls who come from upper-class families. While this may be somewhat how ballet started, it isn’t how it should be now. A good example of this is Marcelino Sambé. Sambé came from a poor family and they lived in Portugal. After starting ballet as a child, he ended up being accepted into the Royal Ballet, and, after a few years, moved up to the school’s top rank: principal. Sambé overcame many challenges to get there; one of the hardest being stereotypes. Ballet has many stereotypes surrounding it, including the fact that you have to be rich and white if you wish to participate. Ballet is seen as something danced and viewed by elites. Therefore, elitism has been discouraging many dancers at a young age, which leads to part of the diversity problem we are now seeing. Another part of the problem is that while upper-class parents can afford to bring their children to see a ballet (or enjoy any form of the fine arts), lower-class parents may be struggling to put enough food on the table. This leads to more exposure in upper-class families and therefore more interest in participation. While there are more scholarships available today than there were a few years ago, the ballet industry has a long way to go before the stage has a true representation of our world's diversity (Martin).

Marcelino Sambé

Professional (or even preprofessional) dancers go through multiple pairs of pointe shoes in one week, which leads to many dead shoes by the end of a month. And even more by the end of your dance career

What's the pricetag?

Along with racism and body type, ballet is facing another form of discrimination: social class. Ballet is a very expensive sport. It's not as upfront as hockey or football in its costs, but the costs remain. One pair of pointe shoes costs $80 on average, and the price goes up as people get more advanced and their shoes need more specialization. After years spent en pointe, this can add up to $29,000. Most professional dancers start dancing at the age of 3 or 4, which means they need to pay for 15 years of classes to get to the pre-professional level. Those 15 years of classes cost on average $53,000. If you wish to go pro then the next level costs even more - $30,000 on average for less prestigious schools and $53,000 on top tier schools. The leotards and tights themselves can add up to $2,000 in the first 15 years. In order to stay in shape out of recital season, summer intensives are necessary, but summer intensives are $32,000 on average. Then in just recital seasons there can be $2,000 of entry fees, costumes, make-up, and other necessities that come with performing. If you assume that you aren’t going to a top-tier school, then the costs still add up to over $120,000 for about the first 15 years. If you are a part of a low-income family, who is struggling financially to even get food on the table, then you have to kiss dance dreams goodbye. While there are some organizations that are trying to help low-income families support a ballerina, there is still a long way to go (Abrams).

Ballet is for Everyone

For many girls - of all economic classes - ballet is a way to escape life. However, many who want to dance are discouraged due to economic hardships that lead their families to be unable to afford the dance classes. Because of this, the City of Angels Ballet (a large LA ballet studio) offers ballet classes - and all of their luxuries - to kids who couldn’t afford to dance otherwise. The studio puts these dancers into their production of “The Nutcracker” every Christmas, and in turn, uses their donations and some of their proceeds to reach out to even more people. The studio keeps growing its program in order to help people even farther out and of lower classes. In the end not only does the studio give young girls of lower classes a chance to escape, but it gives them a sense of dignity (Garrison).

Daniel Ulbricht is an excellent example of men dancing which is another element of diversity in dance

Page updated

Report abuse