Dancing While Black
By ERINMA ONYEWUCHI ‘20
Disclaimer: I will be using modern dance and ballet interchangeably for the sake of this piece. I will also be speaking specifically about black women but not for black women.
In the past two years, companies like Flesh Tone and Nubian Skin have began releasing ballet slippers that include nude shades for dark skinned women. It struck me that dancewear for women of my complexion and darker was not an option until 2015, and that inclusion had been an afterthought for so many. The black woman is consistently counted out and forced to make due in spaces where she is considered a deviation from the historic mainstream. The worlds of ‘modern dance,’ ballet, and tap in particular exclude black women in all areas from the dancewear available to the “aesthetic” and “classical” training so many choreographers require. So many of these art forms—especially ballet—were established in the 15th and 16th centuries and were popular amongst those of royal status. Naturally, ballet and its adjacents were for the upper class, the elites of society. Therefore, modern dance culture as we know it is inherently additive to structures of racism and classism.
Subsequent to ballet’s elitist history, dance forms associated with lower class blackness—hip hop and ‘cultural’ dances (i.e. Caribbean and African)—are still looked down upon today and considered separate from “real dance.” As a result, black women are assigned to these forms and discouraged from venturing outside the worlds of these cultural dances. As modern dance has developed and diversified, so have its admirers, and thus ballet is one of the most popular dance forms today. The problem, however, is that leaders in ‘modern’ dance have made little to no effort to include black women—and non-skinny black women in particular—since its establishment amongst the elite white women of 15th century Europe. Due to the socioeconomic placement of the majority of black Americans, it is also far more difficult for black women, on average, to receive classical training in modern dance forms. Those who do receive this training, however, still do not have it easy. Black modern dancers face typecasting, more rejection than their white counterparts, and the burden of finding dancewear that compliments their skin and body types.
The inequality present in the world of dance is especially visible here at Milton Academy’s beloved winter dance concert. The dance concert is a show predominantly consisting of modern dance styles. Of those on stage, most dancers tend to follow one body type and maybe three skin tones—none of which are darker than Rihanna in the wintertime. One dancer, a black woman who prefers to remain anonymous, states that, “even though [she has] done 11 years of classical training, [she has] never been cast in a modern dance at Milton Academy.” She goes on to say: “I can’t sit here and tell you I’m the best modern dancer in the world, but I can say I’m qualified.” Another dancer in Milton’s concert tells me: “the coordinator—and I love her—is a modern dancer and she [naturally] makes room for as many moderns as she wants. This results in more space for modern dancers- who tend to be those same ten girls[Choreographers] want variety but I don’t see that [range] in the finished product; why are we limiting spaces for some dance forms over others?”
Regardless of the progressiveness and pure intentions of the show’s coordinators and choreographers, this ‘pure intention’ does not always carry over onto what the student body sees on stage. Like everyone else, I look forward to the winter dance concert every year, and I applaud all of its participants for putting on such amazing performances. I also hope to see more inclusion in the show this year. In big 2018, the option to exclude black women from your spaces is null and void. Yet, I see efforts of exclusion not only on a small scale here on campus, but also as a large issue that informs the career and creative paths of black women worldwide.
Winter Dance Concert 2018, Image Courtesy of Milton Academy