five Articles to Read This Weekend
Adriana Pierce. Photograph: Alejandro Gonzalvez
The #QueertheBallet movement:
'it's more than a man lifting a woman in a tutu'
By Emily Dixon, The Guardian
Shortly after Adriana Pierce joined Miami City Ballet, someone watched her train and made an assessment: “Is Adriana a lesbian? Because she looks like one.” The comment propelled Pierce into exacting self-scrutiny: “I was like, does my dancing look gay? Do I look different? I am different – is that OK?”
Grooming and Sexual Abuse in Ballet: Why Dancers Are Especially Vulnerable
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By Kathleen McGuire, Pointe Magazine​
For the last several years, accusations of sexual abuse in ballet have seemed constant. While these revelations signal a willingness by dancers to speak out against abuse, they can also leave us wondering how anyone could have missed the signs. The troubling answer is that these abuses were not isolated; they occurred over time, and under the ballet institution’s watchful eye.
Getty Images
Casey Hall-Landers on disability, dance and the echoes of trauma
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By Allison Argueta Claros, Contributing Writer
“Dancing is when I feel most comfortable in my body, but it’s not dancing how they do it in class,” said Hall-Landers. “It’s the kind that feels good in my body that I make the rules for.” READ MORE
Casey Hall-Landers. Photo by Joshua Becker
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Behind the Curtain, NDEO Blog
By Michael Montoya
As we train dancers, how often do we stop to think about the gender and sexual identity roles we are promoting? Are we acknowledging the individual or are we reinforcing stereotypes? Are we creating a space of safety or one of exclusion?
Michael Montoya. Photo by Tomo Swan
Ballet at the Paris Opéra, by Edgar Degas (1877), via Wikimedia Commons
Why Ballet Hasn’t Yet Caught Up to the Body Positivity Movement
By Sarah Lynette, Medium
I would assess my own cultural awareness as disputably out of touch. I’m rarely up to date on the latest trends or threads of cultural discourse. Even major, newsworthy events can occasionally escape my notice if my ostrich-like disposition finds a particularly large hole in the sand where I can store my head. This ignorance is neither malicious nor intentional (or so I have convinced myself). Rather, it’s a subconscious self-preservation instinct bent on limiting my own worries to those immediately visible around me.