Incarnat

I'm a few days late, but this is really cool to hear! Both are amazing - but Rachel Foster is one of my favorite dancers, especially on the west coast. I'm excited for both of them! <3

I definitely agree. I'm a multi-racial girl, and I guess in some ways I'm lucky that I look Latina. For me my weight will always be more of an issue than my skin. That's kind of unfair to some people because to an extent I have control over my weight. You can't really change your skin color. That being said, it's also true that dancers can't change their bone structure. We can't tell our torsos to lengthen, or our skeletons to lose density. I believe that the "aesthetic issue" arises when you get an aspiring professional dancer whose body has too many contradictions. Typically with white dancers, it would be unfair to ask a company to be lenient on them simply because their bone structure is the reason they are the way they are. How can one justly differentiate when an ethnic - especially one with strong African roots - dancer is auditioning for a job? That's one side of the story. The other side is that in a way, we're not going to see diversity until companies become more open minded about body structure. What bothers me is when people say things like it's understandable for [black families especially] to not push their children into ballet because pursuing a future in it seems futile. I believe that at the end of the day, dark skin will be an issue as long as we allow it to be one. This means from all sides. It's unfair to put pressure on ADs and companies alone to make a change. The result of that often leads to dancers being hired to fill a quota as opposed to their talent. The fact of the matter is that sometimes, even if it's unintentional, studios and parents negatively impact the mindset of younger dancers with darker skin. Honestly, I think it's all a bit ridiculous. I'm pretty tall, and I've known since I was 13 that there will be companies who won't even consider hiring me because of my height. But if a company were to blatantly address skin color on the same grounds as height, (i.e. "females: 5'3" to 5'7" would turn into "females: no darker than the suntan shade of Capezio tights) people would go absolutely insane. When really, I'd stand out just as much in say, ABT's corps as the tallest as I would with the Korea National Ballet Company or the Romanian National Opera Ballet for my super obviously different ethnicity. Ballet is so political. Especially in America.

(early confession: smileys make me happy) Hi BA! Basically I'm an 18 year old pre-professional dancer who just wants a chance to look at what I love from another perspective. After all, future ballerinas like to fangirl too. Jokes aside, I've known about BT4D for a while. I checked out BA for the first time tonight, and I decided to join. I think talking about ballet in general as opposed to my specific technical problems/grievances is probably the smarter thing to do on the internet anyway. At least in my case! Other than that, I can say that I'm an 18 year old girl. My name is my favorite flower in french, and I hope to learn something by being here. Thanks for taking the time to read this! Xoxo