Ballet has a lily-white reputation where they glorify white swans and white shades as well as pink tutus and pink shoes. This idea of ballet has been challenged by Precious Adams in many ways to help battle the discrimination in the ballet industry.
Who is Precious Adams?
Born in Michigan, Precious Adams had always loved to dance and at the age of 7, she started taking dance classes in jazz, tap and hip-hop. It was these teachers that motivated and inspired her to try ballet. From the moment she tried ballet, it changed her life. Adams trained across the world including both America and Canada’s National Ballet Schools and Russia’s renowned Bolshoi Ballet Academy, before eventually settling in the UK as part of the English National Ballet in 2014 (Mahanty, 2019).
In her 5 year professional career, Adams has wowed audiences and critics with brilliant and beguiling performances. She became a double prize winner in 2014’s Prix de Lausanne and in 2017, she was promoted to the revered position of First Artist. Then in 2018, Adams won the emerging Dancer Competition and in 2019 she was named as one of the 100 most inspiring and influential women from around the world. In 2020 she was promoted to junior soloist and participated in Misty Copelands fundraiser to help dancers’ companies that have struggled during COVID-19. (Donaldson, 2021)
Adams established herself in her career but still faced a lot of racism in the ballet industry being a black woman in a predominantly white sport. While training at the Bolshoi Academy in Moscow, Adams was deliberately left out of shows, prevented from taking place in auditions and told to try to “try and rub off the black” (Mahanty, 2019). Adams had experienced racism in many instances in her career and it made her more vocal about injustices and the lack of diversity. Adams started these discussions in hopes of changing the face of ballet.
“I’m a black dancer, which is an anomaly in and of itself, and especially was at that point… There are perhaps a few moments where it hits you in the face that you’re not like everyone else.”
Precious Adams
A Brief History of Ballet
The earliest ballet dances date back to the Italian Renaissance, where performances were choreographed routines performed by aristocrats in elaborate courtly dress. These dances were commonly performed at elite weddings (Muzdakis, 2021). From the 15th century, ballet was already introduced as a form of dance that could only be appreciated by the wealthy and the white (Dienes, 1995). By the 18th century, ballet had expanded from Italy and was found in many princely courts around Europe including in France, Russia, Portugal, Poland and Spain. Not only this, but ballet, being a previously male dominated art form, had begun letting women participate in performances as well (Haltom & Worthen, 2014). Professional Performers replaced aristocrats and they performed ballet mixed with opera in opera houses (Pettit, 2019). In these opera houses, women were seen as princesses, or damsels in distress, whereas men played the heroic princes, creating a very gender stereotyped performance (Aalten, 2004). Not only this, but Black people were seldom allowed to play a leading role in these opera houses and their names were often not included in brochures. Some of these dancers were even told to paint their faces white in order to fit in with the rest of the group (Ross, 2020).
“Sorry there is no such thing as equality in ballet: women dance on point, men lift and support women. women receive flowers, men escort women off stage. not the other way around (I know there are couple of exceptions). and I am very comfortable with that.”
Alexei Ratmansky
In the early 20th century, ballet was further popularized by a travelling company known as the Ballets Russes. This company performed dances all around the world and was most known for their debut of The Rite of Spring where a young woman danced to her death. Also during this time, the clothing of ballet had changed to what we know now, by including short skirts, soft dance slippers and dancing en pointe. These slippers and skirts were pink in order to produce a very clean look on white skin, as there were not many black dancers at this time (Isaacs-Falbel, 2021). At the time of the civil rights movement, It was believed that African American culture offered more attention and appreciation for black dancers and so instead of participating in ballet, it was assumed African American children may have preferred lessons in Afro-Caribbean modern dance (Brown, 2019).
Today, we have seen more black dancers emerge to try and break stereotypes and injustices in the industry. Arthur Mitchell, who was like a lighthouse to women of colour in ballet, was the first male Black principal dancer at the New York City Ballet wanted to create a home for Black dancers to achieve heights of excellence unencumbered by ignorance or tradition.
Misty Copeland, who was the first female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater, studied under Mitchell, and is now a public speaker and an influence for young black dancers everywhere (Carman, 2014). Although ballet has seen more diversity, it remains a white art form that faces many barriers and injustices.
“People still have not embraced the notion of diversity within this art form because it’s always been seen as an exclusive art form. It’s not only been exclusive of people of color—it’s been very class-oriented.”
Virginia Johnson
Black Dancers, White Ballet
Adams had experienced racism in her training all over the world and five years ago, Adams gave an interview to The Moscow Times in which she said that her dark skin had prevented her from getting parts, with one teacher even suggesting she experiment with skin whitening (Byrne, 2018). At the same time, Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre defended their use of blackface in La Bayadère.
“Some of the teachers know in the back of their minds that it is unfair, because they know that I can do what these other people are doing just as good if not better than them. Teachers have tried to vouch for me before, but if the almighty voice says it’s not right — it doesn’t look right — then whatever they say goes.”
Precious Adams
Despite these challenges, Adams persevered and decided she would change the way black ballet dancers were seen.
Brown is the New Pink
Pink tights were worn in ballet to match the skin tone of white European ballerinas. This has been a standard for ballet since the late 19th century. This acceptance of “pink” as the expected skin tone has contributed to the racism faced in ballet. These skin toned tights exclude dancers who have any other skin tone and makes them look “unnatural”.
“But pink tights, that’s what ballet is. They think me wearing brown tights in a tutu is somehow ‘incorrect’”
Precious Adams
In 2018, Precious Adams announced that she would no longer be wearing pink tights, but instead chocolate brown tights and shoes that match her skin tone. Its safe to say that the sole reason ballet tights and shoes are pink is because at the time when the tradition started, all of the dancers where white. However, today, racial uniformity in ballet has decreased and has given rise to the idea of brown tights (Williams, 2009).
After Adams announced that she would not be wearing pink tights anymore, it sparked a lot of conversations worldwide about the standard uniform for ballet dancers. A lot of people believed that wearing brown tights broke the uniformity however the question arose: how much difference is there between a brown arm and head and a brown leg in a line?
Adams spoke out about her choice, saying that she is not colour-blind and doesn’t want there to be a disconnect between the top half of her body and the bottom half. This stand for brown tights started the journey towards diversity by increasing the number of young, and passionate brown bodies on the stage.
Concluding Statement
Precious Adams Story shows how she faced barriers of race and class that have been deep rooted in ballet since the 15th century. Being a young, Black, female ballet dancer, she has overcome challenges that have come her way, whether it was blatant racism or controversy on the colour of her tights. By wearing brown tights, she is not only standing up for people of colour, but she is changing the face of ballet for those who will come after her and is paving the way for future ballerinas.
Adams is just one of the many people of colour who have changed the way that ballet is seen, and I hope to see more. There is still a barrier that exists in this art form, however, with growing influences like Adams, there could be a diverse future in ballet where people will not face injustices due to the colour of their skin.
References
Aalten, A. (2004). ‘The Moment When it All Comes Together’: Embodied Experiences in Ballet. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 11(3), 263–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506804044462
Brown, L. E. (2018). “As Long as They Have Talent”: Organizational Barriers to Black Ballet. Dance Chronicle, 41:3, 359-392, DOI: 10.1080/01472526.2018.1518076
Byrne, E. (2018, September 19). Precious Adams interview: ‘Ballet people have strong ideas about tradition, but it’s natural to question things’. Evening Standard. Retrieved on November 14, 2021 from: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/the1000/precious-adams-interview-ballet-people-have-strong-ideas-about-tradition-but-it-s-natural-to-question-things-a3939746.html
Carman, J. (2014, May 20). Behind Ballet’s Diveristy Problem. Pointe Magazine. Retrieved on November 14, 2021 from: https://pointemagazine.com/behind-ballets-diversity-problem/
Dienes, G. (1995). Ballet: European by Birth (The Conclusion of an Unpublished Essay). Dance Chronicle. 18 (2), Aspects of Dance: Essays in Honor of Selma Jeanne Cohen, 175- 177.
Donaldson, B. (2021, February 2). Ballerina Precious Adams graces the front cover of the new HELLO! Fashion. HELLO! Magazine. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from: https://ca.hellomagazine.com/fashion/ hfm/20210202105673/precious-adams-ballerina-cover-shoot/
Haltom, T.M., & Worthen, M.G.F. (2014). Male Ballet Dancers and Their Performances of Heteromasculinity. Journal of College Student Development 55(8), 757-778. doi:10.1353/csd.2014.0084.
Isaacs-Falbel, R. (2021). Who Takes Ballet and Why? A History of Ballet Class for the Casual Dancer. Dance Chronicle, 44:1, 85-90, DOI: 10.1080/01472526.2021.1875969
Mahanty, S. (2019, August 14). National Ballet Star Precious Adams. Retrieved on November 14, 2021, from: https://indie-mag.com/2019/08/precious-adams/
Muzdakis, M. (2021, January 29). A Brief History of Ballet From European Courts to Modern Dance. My Modern Met. Retrieved on November 14, 2021, from: https://mymodernmet.com/history-of-ballet/
Pettit, M. (2019, December 8). The Problem with Gender in Dance. Retrieved on November 14, 2021 from: https://medium.com/gbc-college-english-lemonade/the-problem-with-gender-in-dance-122d4d68fb75
Ross, A. (2020, September 21). Black Scholar Confront White Supremacy in Classical Music. The New Yorker. Retrieved on November 14, 2021, from: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/21/black-scholars-confront-white-supremacy-in-classical-music
Williams, L.S. (2009). Doing Culture with Girls Like Me: Why Trying on Gender and Intersectionality Matters. Sociology Compass, 3: 217-233. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00197.x
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