In the 80's, North Carolina Dance Theater (under the direction of Sal Aiello) toured with a contemporary piece by Mauricio Wainrot that had the female lead topless for the last 1/4 to a 1/3 of the ballet. It did cause a bit of a problem when performed in Denton, Texas at Texas Women's University because NCDT had failed to inform it's sponsor that there was partial nudity in the piece and, of course, being Texas, there were many young ladies in their Sunday best whose parent's were, rightfully, scandalized. There was a meeting of the artistic staff of NCDT and the univerity the next day, but other than a reprimand and advice to notify future sponsors of the partial nudity it seemed to pass without an undue amount of furor. I doubt that it would pass so quietly in today's somewhat fervent atmosphere. The NCDT dancer at the time was Dana Caspersen who is currently with William Forsythe's company where she performs "Telos" (I probably got the name wrong) completely nude. And a stunningly beautiful body it is!!
NCDT also performed Elise Monte's "White Dragon" which consisted of five dancers - sometimes two women, sometimes not. NCDT never did it topless (all five dancers are costumed alike), but I'm sure Elise's company did it topless. They also had at least one other partially nude ballet.
At the time, it did not phase me one bit or even enter into my mind that it was something one shouldn't do. But I must admit that after having a child of my own, my viewpoint changed - I would want to, at least, be informed prior to the performance (to purchasing tickets) that partial or full nudity was to be involved so that I could decide if I wanted my child to attend.
I'm not really a fan of nudity in dancing or in film for that matter, because not matter what the context, I often find it gratuitous or senstionalist. I feel the artist could have made the same statement without the nudity. But that's just my opinion. I don't mind the nudity, I just don't always see a point for it.
Isn't there supposed to be a revival of Hair on Broadway or at the pPublic Theater this year. I missed the revival last summer at the Delacort.