Multiculturalism In Ballet

Conclusion

This study about Multiculturalism in Classical Ballet Companies Nowadays has revealed that multiculturalism is a complicated term. If multiculturalism can be denoted as the coexistence of diverse groups that share different cultural and ideological backgrounds, classical ballet companies can be defined as multicultural. Historically, already in the middle of the nineteenth century, when Marius Petipa emigrated to Saint-Petersburg and introduced in his masterpieces such as Swan Lake, the vocabulary and the grace of the French ballet together with the technical virtuosity of the Italians and the character of the Russians, the first coexistence of ballet cultures took place. Later on, although during the Cold War ballet was used as

When it comes to coloured-skin dancers, multiculturalism remains a profoundly delicate subject. The facts and figures of the quantitative analysis have demonstrated that non-white (non-Asian) dancers are highly under-represented in the classical ballet world. Only 116 individuals out of the total population of 1540 ballet dancers from 23 classical ballet companies in Western Europe and North-America have a skin of colour. This means that only 7.5% of the total classified dancing population of this research is non-white (hypothesis 1). The percentage of the female coloured-skin dancers is even lower: only 6% (hypothesis

In the educational field more non-white ballet teachers are being educated to teach children of colour, so that they feel more comfortable in class and experience ballet as something that belongs to their culture as well. Financial support is offered for children of underprivileged families to avoid that they have to quit ballet for economic reasons. Courses for young arts administrators are set in place to diversify the ballet management. And last but not least black role models are being promoted to change the perception of a historically lily-white Caucasian ballet world. These ‘disrupters’ as called by Darren Walker, are generating a change in the notion of the ideal ballet body and the standard ballet attire. They attract a more diversified audience to the theatres and as a consequence also more and different sponsors to the companies. Although several companies maintain their traditional standards and prefer to maintain their elitist image, more and more artistic directors are convinced that in the future, ballet companies have to reflect on the stage the globalized multicultural society we are living