About Chloé Lopes Gomes
Chloé Lopes Gomes is a French, Black, Ballet Dancer. Lopes Gomes has been training in classical ballet from a young age at the Conservatoire de Nice. She has also trained with the Bolshoï Ballet Academy where she was the first Black student accepted. After her time studying there she went on to work for the Nice Opera House and then the Béjart Ballet Lausanne. While Lopes Gomes has danced for many prestigious companies she has really made her name known after being hired as the first Black female dancer at Berlin’s Staatsballett, one of the most prestigious ballet companies world wide. Interestingly enough, Lopes Gomes was not even aware she was the first Black dancer hired in the corps de ballet, it was not until she was reached out to for interviews and a journalist had pointed it out to her that she realized. By being the only Black dancer in the company, Lopes Gomes had experienced a form of environmental microaggression. An environmental microaggression is a racial microaggression with no individual culprit; it stems from the environment itself (Mills, 2020). With there being no other Black people within the company it fosters an unwelcoming environment to Black dancers, letting them know that they do not truly belong in those white dominated spaces. Lopes Gomes recalls feeling uneasy during these interviews as the main topic continued to point out that her race was still such a large challenge to overcome in the Ballet world. With the focal point of these interviews being around her race, Lopes Gomes was on the receiving end of microinsults. A microinsult is a racialized and demeaning comment made to a marginalized individual without an intent (Riel, 2021). These interviewers may not have meant to make comments that would be received as demeaning. Alternatively, they most likely made these comments as a means to celebrate her accomplishment as a dancer; however, by focusing on her making it into this company while being Black implies that she should not be in that space because she is Black and that Black people do not belong in the dance world. During her time at the Staatsballett company, Lopes Gomes had experienced repeated acts of racial abuse from her ballet mistress who made sure to point out that she was not really welcome there due to the colour of her skin. With a lot on the line, Lopes Gomes’ story is one of true perseverance and bravery.
History of Ballet Dance
Despite being so heavily influenced by Black culture, Ballet has been and continues to be a white dominated, exclusive and elitist space (Robinson, 2021). The stereotypical ballerina has always been deemed to be small, pure and elegant (Robinson, 2021). This came to be very exclusionary of Black bodies as they did not fit the ideals of the ballerina aesthetic (Robinson, 2021) These exclusionary practices came from the historical images people held of the Black woman (Robinson, 2021). Historical figures depicting a Black woman such as Saartjie Baartman contributed to the ongoing over-sexualisation of Black bodies that continued to keep Black dancers from the ballet world (Robinson, 2021). White supremacy has allowed the dance world to believe that the associations of muscularity and sexuality with the Black body leaves no room for Black dancers in the ballet world (Angyal, 2021).
There is a distinct difference in culture and environment between ballet and all the other different types of dance forms (Knight, 2013). There is a much more strict and proper culture, one that values control in the ballet world as opposed to the rest of the dance industry (Angyal, 2021). The ballet world does revolve around control and it is ruthless and cutthroat for any dancer; however, white dancers do not experience the same prejudice in that world as Black dancers do (Angyal, 2021). Janet Collins, born in 1917, is one of the most influential Black ballerinas we have to thank for the integration of Black dancers into the Ballet as she was the first Black prima ballerina in the Metropolitan Opera (Knight, 2013). Collins’ career was most certainly not without its challenges and prejudices (Knight, 2013). When she auditioned for the Ballet Russes they did not allow Black dancers at the time; however, Collins was an exceptional ballerina and despite the racial barriers placed at the time she was offered a job in the corps on the condition that she would paint her skin white. Collins declined the offer under these conditions (Knight, 2013). While Collins was able to dance in certain ballets and companies this was one of the examples of resistance that the Ballet world showed towards Black dancers.
While these ballet associated spaces may no longer be segregated there are added challenges that make the ballet world unwelcoming for Black dancers. One exclusionary act inflicted upon Black bodies in ballet is a lack of choice in tights, pointe shoes and leotards that match their skin tones (Robinson, 2021). A lack of options requires extra time and effort for Black dancers to dye their tights and shoes to match their skin tone (Robinson, 2021). Other ways in which the ballet world continues to be unwelcoming to Black dancers is in company provided hair and makeup (Robinson, 2022). It seems to be a common theme that dancers who are black receive very few company provided makeup products and hair assistance as the majority of their dancers are white, Black dancers are often expected to purchase their own skin makeup and do their own hair (Robinson, 2022). While this may seem small it is another way of telling Black dancers that they do not belong in this space and it causes much harm to the well being of these dancers.
I never set out to be an activist
Chloé Lopes Gomes
Staatsballett Berlin Discrimination Lawsuit
As previously mentioned, Lopes Gomes received acts of repeated racially motivated abuse from her ballet mistress during her time at Berlin’s Staatsballett. After Lopes Gomes’ first audition this head ballet mistress made it clear to one of Lopes Gomes’ fellow dancers that she did not believe she should be hired because of the colour of her skin and that it did not match the aesthetic. This was only the beginning of her torment during her years with the company. When Lopes Gomes was first officially hired this same ballet mistress would continue to excessively point mistakes she was making or if she was out of line even if they did not hold truth but she continued to say to Lopes Gomes that because she was Black her mistakes were more noticeable because she stuck out more. When performing Swan Lake Lopes Gomes was instructed by this mistress to whiten her face with makeup to better fit into this piece. Another incident that occurred was during the preparation for La Bayadére where the ballet mistress was handing out white veils to all the dancers except Lopes Gomes where she paused and laughed in her face telling her she can not have a white veil because she is Black. All of these incidents with Lopes Gomes’ ballet mistress are examples of microassaults. A microassault differs from a microinsult as it is an explicit racially motivated incident with the purpose of causing harm to the victim (Doharty, 2019). With all these continued acts of racism committed against her Lopes Gomes approached one of the company’s artistic directors to let him know of the situation. He said that behaviour is intolerable and she should not stand for it but also there was not much he could do because she was essentially in a lifetime contract with the company and nothing she said or done would be firing grounds. The artistic director at the time offered to speak with her but Lopes Gomes declined his offer for fear that would only make the situation and her treatment worse.
Lopes Gomes continued to endure this treatment for fear of losing her place in the company or worsening treatment. When the Covid pandemic had hit Lopes Gomes was told by the company that they would not be renewing her contract initially under the pretence of lessening their dancers due to the pandemic and then later it was restated she was not being rehired for artistic differences. After her contract was not renewed Lopes Gomes decided to go public with her story and file a lawsuit against Berlin’s Staatsballett for discrimination at the termination of her contract. There was a settlement reached that Lopes Gomes will renew her contract for another year and will be given compensation of 16,000 euros. While this may be deemed a win, there is still so much work to be done in the ballet world to combat this blatant racism and discrimination that still exists and is still accepted.
Lopes Gomes’ story is one that reminds those of us that do not feel the effects of racism in our day to day that these systemic issues are very real and prevalent for those affected. The ballet world in particular runs on a culture of control and fear. Even as a child in ballet class practice is very strict and no one dares to speak out of turn if it all. The culture is one that elicits fear in its participants and in turn no one stood up for Lopes Gomes. She was on her own as the only Black dancer in her company to fight these battles while these racist remarks were made in the blatant public eye of her fellow dancers. While everyone knew these issues were apparent no one spoke out for fear of essentially losing their spot in the company. Some dancers anonymously backed Lopes Gomes statements but no one came out publicly. This was a choice that white dancers got to make during this fight, Lopes Gomes did not choose to take on this battle. Lopes Gomes made it clear she wanted to be known for her work as a dancer and not as an activist, she actually stated that “[she] never set out to be an activist”. Her existence in the ballet space was an act of resistance and an act of activism that she did not want or ask for but had no choice but to participate in.
Works Cited
Angyal, C. (2021). Turning pointe: how a new generation of dancers is saving ballet from itself (First edition.). Bold Type Books.
Doharty, N. (2019). “I FELT DEAD”: applying a racial microaggressions framework to Black students’ experiences of Black History Month and Black History. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 22(1), 110–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2017.1417253
Knight, S. E. (2013). The ‘Non-Traditional Ballet Body’ in the Ballet (Order No. 1539528). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1412687432). https://proxy.queensu.ca/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/non-traditional-ballet-body/docview/1412687432/se-2
Mills, K. J. (2020). “It’s Systemic”: Environmental Racial Microaggressions Experienced by Black Undergraduates at a Predominantly White Institution. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 13(1), 44–55. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000121
Riel, V. (2021). “We”ve been thinking you were stupid all this time:’ racial microinsults and microinvalidations in a rural Southern high school. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 24(2), 262–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1579185
Robinson, S. (2021). Black Ballerinas: The Management of Emotional and Aesthetic Labor. Sociological Forum (Randolph, N.J.), 36(2), 491–508. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12689
Robinson, S. L. (2022). Dancing While Black: Managing Racial Fatigue in Ballet (Order No. 29253014). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2717143715). https://proxy.queensu.ca/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/dancing-while-black-managing-racial-fatigue/docview/2717143715/se-2
KNPE 397 