A dance performance is much more than just bodies in motion, with legs and arms that form what seems like impossibly straight lines as they express feeling and story.
Beyond the movement and choreography, there’s also the clothing.
For years, many dancers wore pink ballet tights and pink pointe shoes.
In November, Misty Copeland went viral with a TikTok video that showed her “pancaking” her pointe shoes. The dancer, who became the first African American female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre in 2015, demonstrated how some dancers have to paint their pointe shoes to match their skin tone. It’s usually done using foundation. In her video, she mentioned this has been an ongoing issue for many dancers of color who struggle to find the perfect shade for their shoes.
“2017 is when we learned the history of why the shoes are pink, you know to finish the ballet line, to extend from fingertip to foot. That’s when it was like, wait, why are we wearing pink?” said Regina Ferguson a graduate student at NYU. She is currently studying ballet pedagogy through the American Ballet Theatre. She has been teaching in many organizations in New York as well.
Traditionally dancers wore pink tights that matched their skin tone to create the illusion of bare legs. As ballet became more known worldwide, this became the standard uniform in many dance studios and companies.
Carissa Julien, a Black dancer at Temple University, used pink tights when she first started dancing ballet at the age of 14.
“At first I thought it was uniform, but then as I started taking ballet more I realized that I was wearing ‘skin color’ tights, they called them our undergarments, and that didn’t match my actual skin color,” Julien said. “Of course, it matches the skin color of most of the girls in the room, but it didn’t for me.”
For many dance studios, teachers have required dancers to only wear pink ballet tights regardless of their skin tone. Some argue against using “skin tone” tights, urging for the preservation of the classical aesthetic of uniformity. This has caused many ongoing issues for many dancers of color.
Janine Nicole Beckles is an associate artistic director of Philadanco as well as the principal dancer in the company for 14 seasons. When she started dancing at the age of 6, she was surrounded by Black and brown ballerinas who all wore tights that matched their skin tone.
When Beckles attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, she found a lack of diversity in the institution.
“They were actually shocked that I ended up placing in higher levels, which kind of pissed me off,” Beckles said. “Then, it was the thing ‘we don’t wear flesh tones here,’ and I’ve never experienced that because everywhere I went it was always inclusive and they have always said, ‘it’s your choice,’” Beckles said.
She said being forced to wear pink tights resulted in her not being cast in any pointe choreography.
“I remember getting into arguments with my ballet teachers, in particular, the dance chair at the time, he was the one that caused the most problems. The women in the ballet department weren’t enforcing flesh-toned tights. It was just mainly him,” Beckles said.
There are many schools and companies where diversity is a priority and students are able to be who they are.
That includes places like Philadanco, where dancers are provided with a wide variety of tights that specifically match their skin tone as well as shoes. Not only have they included everyone part of the dance community, but if the available shades aren’t enough, they will dye the garments to match the skin tone of the dancer.
“It’s sad to say that the dance world is not representative of what the world looks like, specifically in major ballet companies,” Beckles said. “It should be more people of color. I’m tired of seeing one or two and, it’s sad to say, it’s like tokenism. In a sense, it is because there are not enough principal dancers who are of other descent.”
While there are companies that make dance clothing in different shades, there’s room for growth, Beckles said.
“Dancers will continue to pancake their pointe shoes to find a shade that matches their color and hopefully it’s going to get better when there’s more options.”
