Articles from August 2019

The segment starts with a “GMA” clip from Spencer’s apology to Fairchild, Wall and Calmels. Arroyo jumps in, saying,

Can you believe this? This is what politicians do when they offend an ethnic group.

Arroyo and Ingraham both go on to say that they briefly took ballet; Ingraham says she took one class and got kicked out. Arroyo adds,

People harass you if you walk around in tights, they’re going to harass you. It’s not exactly, you know, an exemplar of a male…This ended, by the way, with 300 dancers, mostly boys, doing a class in Times Square.

Here, the show plays a clip from Alex Wong’s Instagram account of the class doing port de bras. Ingraham interjects, saying,

They look like tai chi people.

Arroyo replies,

I hope she offends a mechanic next, so the boys know how to change the oil in a car.

Ingraham says that they have to move on, spurring Arroyo to turn to her in a bow with his hands in a prayer position, saying “Apologies” (an exact imitation of Calmel’s movement from the initial clip). Ingraham, of course, laughs.

Spencer’s initial comments struck such a deep nerve in people because they boiled down to bullying. Ingraham and Arroyo’s response goes far beyond that.

First of all, Arroyo seems to condone harassment of male dancers. (Note his use of words; harass is far harsher than bully.) And while Spencer used innuendo to hint at the fact that ballet is not masculine, Arroyo says it straight out, that it’s not an “exemplar of a male.”

The commentators also detour into racism. In comparing Spencer’s apology to a politician apologizing to an ethnic group, Arroyo is saying that he finds that practice laughable as well. But the most blatant example is Ingraham’s comment that the ballet class looks like “tai chi people.” While a comparison between ballet port de bras and tai chi could be an interesting topic for another time, with her phrasing, Ingraham manages to belittle Chinese culture, the ancient movement form of tai chi, ballet and the celebrated male dancers leading the class, all in one fell swoop.

While it’s hard not to be wildly angry that this sort of hateful, ignorant rhetoric is appearing on national television, Fairchild’s Instagram caption from earlier today is a reminder that the attention this story is getting is ultimately a win for ballet. “We riled those folks up @foxnews pretty good,” he wrote. Fairchild later removed the post, writing in his Instagram story that it “felt gross and dirty after all the beauty and love from earlier this week” to repost the video clip. “Life’s too short to bother with people who think apologies, forgiveness, and ballet are stupid,” he writes, “Onward and upward.”

And it’s true; since last week, millions of people have taken to social media in response, and dozens of media outlets have provided coverage. (Even a Fox Business story says that despite the controversy, ballet has led to lucrative careers for several male dancers, going on to list Baryshnikov, Nureyev and Benjamin Millepied, a paltry attempt to delegitimize the issues at hand.) Dance Magazine‘s initial story on the controversy has quickly risen to our most read story of all time.

This issue is catapulting a conversation about ballet onto a national platform. We have faith that the dance world will continue to respond gracefully, and that this is only the start of much more discourse to come.

Where Is the Outrage About Other Issues in Our Field?

Ballet Hispánico artistic director Eduardo Vilaro and choreographer and teacher Michael Foley bring up questions about the source of our outrage on this topic, and why it hasn’t surfaced for other issues in the dance field.

Yes, it was a rare moment that dance was featured on a mainstream platform. But it also demonstrated how much collective power we have as dancers—and how we aren’t necessarily using that power to fight for equity in our field.

Both Foley and Dance Magazine editor at large Wendy Perron point out the gender dynamics at work. Considering how complicated gender is in the dance field (85 percent of boys who dance in the U.S. are bullied or harassed, for example, and yet men ride a glass escalator to positions of power) it’s worth taking note of.

Why Aren’t We Talking About the History of Ballet?

Former New York Times chief dance critic Alastair Macaulay makes a valid point: Lara Spencer wasn’t just making fun of any boy doing ballet. She was making fun of a Prince and future King. But most conversations around Spencer’s comments have ignored the fact that ballet originated in the French courts and was primarily danced by men.

We can debate how relevant this context is, especially in light of the fact that, as many have pointed out, boys who want to dance who have less privilege than Prince George are the real victims here. But the omission speaks to how ignorant many in our country are about ballet and its history.

Who Is Left Out of #boysdancetoo?

We know that Spencer’s comments—and how willing the other GMA hosts and audience members were to laugh at them—demonstrate a narrow, fragile view of masculinity.

But when we respond by arguing that ballet is actually macho, we don’t help much to push back against this mentality. In fact, sometimes when we try to make the case for ballet’s masculinity, we slip into trying to define who or what counts as manly (as evidenced by the popular t-shirts with slogans like “real men lift women”) which only does more harm. (Not to mention the sexism inherent in implying that it would be bad for a boy to like something feminine.)

Take the now-popular hashtag #boysdancetoo. As dancer and choreographer Ashley R.T. Yergens notes, it’s unclear if this rallying cry includes trans boys. (Since we’re talking about bullying, we should note that 83 percent of trans kids are bullied—and that’s before they even step into a dance studio.) Plus, young dancers outside the gender binary are being entirely left out of this conversation.

Have another take on Lara Spencer’s comments and the dance community’s response? Let us know by emailing lwingenroth@dancemedia.com.

New York City Ballet’s Sterling Hyltin got her happily ever after—and isn’t afraid to show it.

New York City Ballet principal Sterling Hyltin tied the knot with Ryan Bailes, a research analyst at an investment management firm, and looked about as happy as a bride can be.

Staatsballett Berlin’s Luciana Voltolini had a dreamy destination wedding.

Staatsballett Berlin soloist Luciana Voltolini (who used to dance with American Ballet Theatre and Boston Ballet) married German cinematographer, musician and designer John Tyler Vesneski in a seaside ceremony in Split, Croatia. The delicate details of her dress were almost as jaw-dropping as the Adriatic coastline that served as the backdrop to their vows.

Joffrey Ballet’s April Daly and Miguel Angel Blanco performed the most elegant first dance.

The wedding of Joffrey dancers April Daly and Miguel Angel Blanco came complete with a costume change for the bride—and plenty of dancers attending as guests and members of the wedding party.

Ballet Hispánico dancers Melissa Fernandez and Lyvan Verdecia had their romance immortalized in The New York Times.

Ballet Hispánico’s Melissa Fernandez and Lyvan Verdecia returned to where they met—Havana—for a ceremony on the beach at Club Havana. The New York Times‘ Vows column went all in on the epic story of their romance.

National Ballet of Canada’s Skylar Campbell and Jaclyn Oakley looked like they stepped out of a wedding fashion spread.

National Ballet of Canada principal Skylar Campbell and corps member Jaclyn Oakley said “I do” on June 30 in Campbell’s home state of California. The pair met in 2009 at Banff Summer Arts Festival, just prior to joining NBoC as apprentices.

American Ballet Theatre’s April Giangeruso went full glam as a bride.

Earlier this month, American Ballet Theatre corps member April Giangeruso married Blake Bhatia, founder of digital recruiting agency Synergy Interactive, in a ceremony in Maryland. The newlyweds are now partners in both life and business: They’re co-founders of the trendy leotard brand Chameleon Activewear.

Harper Watters

Houston Ballet soloist Harper Watters incorporated a jazzy flair to his response. We know Lizzo asked for ballet, but next time we’d like to see him in heels…

Erica Lall

American Ballet Theatre’s Erica Lall and James Whiteside took a break from rehearsal for this professionally filmed take. We love that Lall manages to flawlessly transition from a shoulder sit to twerking, all while lip synching.

Ballet Memphis

Ballet Memphis, we’re looking at you. Will your new Lizzo ballet be ready for your 2019–20 season?

Little Swans

We’re pretty sure that Lizzo asked for original choreography, but we’ll let this one slide since this user synched the song to this Swan Lake excerpt so perfectly.

Who’s next? Check out #LizzoBalletChallenge to find out!

The American Ballet Theatre principal performed the choreography (on pointe!) from the music video for his newest pop hit, WTF, which he released under the moniker, JbDubs in April. Whiteside was joined by four backup dancers: Matthew Poppe, Douane Gosa, Maxfield Haynes and Gianni Goffredo. Catch a clip of the performance below.

Madonna’s party took place in the midst of rehearsals for her upcoming Madame X tour. According to Vulture, Madonna was give the name Madame X by Graham herself, after showing up to class each day with a different identity. And of course, we love Madonna’s choice of JbDubs song. Of Whiteside’s musical oeuvre, WTF most explicitly targets a ballet audience, with lyrics referring to George Balanchine, the Rose Adagio, former New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay, Sergei Polunin and much more. Whether or not Madonna’s guests understood all of Whiteside’s references doesn’t seem to matter; we guess they were more than taken with the quintet’s precision, attitude and impressive pointe work.

This appearance leaves us wondering if Madonna will give Whiteside and Co. bigger platforms on which to perform. After all, Whiteside is already besties with actress Jennifer Garner, and he toured with pop star Rozzi earlier this year. In the meantime, we’re looking forward to seeing Whiteside back onstage at ABT this fall.

Happy Birthday, M!