Last night I took a break from studying for finals to go see the Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker.
It was sooo good! There were Christmas trees, snow and presents. It was all very Christmasy. Those ballerinas were awesome…their grace, their strength, their bodies were amazing! The little kids in the performance were so cute! The one thing I did notice was the absence of anyone with any color in their skin. Where were all the Black and Indian dancers? Come on Boston Ballet!
It was sooo good! There were Christmas trees, snow and presents. It was all very Christmasy. Those ballerinas were awesome…their grace, their strength, their bodies were amazing! The little kids in the performance were so cute! The one thing I did notice was the absence of anyone with any color in their skin. Where were all the Black and Indian dancers? Come on Boston Ballet!
All the women in attendance, myself included, decided that their unborn daughters were going to take ballet lessons like it or not. I pity our children!
I am actually contemplating taking adult ballet lessons at the Cambridge Dance Studio next semester. We shall see…
Have you done anything Christmasy this year? Any parties? Caroling? Tree decorating parties?
Do share so I can live vicariously! LOL!
6 comments:
hello!
i am a student at Boston Ballet and over the years, i too notice that MOST of the GOOD parts such as clara and party girls are given to white blonde girls.. thats really mean b/c maybe theres someone with a darker color skin that could have been a better role or character...
The 2007 Boston Ballet production that my daughters danced in had representation from many countries: In their party scene cast they had three children with different South American ancestry (one of them was their Clara) and a girl who has parents that immigrated from India - certainly a well-represented group. One of their friends was in another cast also dancing the party scene role who is a girl of color. Perhaps you saw a cast with a different group of children, but ours was a great cast of kids!
Um, I go to Boston Ballet aswell, and this year I'm playing a party boy, but I must say, especially this year, there are a lot more people with darker skin colors in the party scene. I think the school is doing a better job in that aspect. And my I also include that Alex, (playing as Clara last year and this year), has a darker skin color than most Claras. And in the Boston Ballet, there happen to be more lighter sinned people than darker skinned people, so perhaps that would be why aswell.
Oh and one more thing, they tend to put alot of foundation on their faces making them look paler, but they only do that because they don't want the people with darker skin to look too different. So it's not really a bad thing anyways! Maybe you just didn't spot the people with darker skin because of all the make-up!
But I have TONS of friends from Boston ballet Nutcrcker in the party scene, who have dark skin colors, Incluing Alex as clara!
and Jefferson as Fritz!
I don't know where you get your information, but the children do not wear makeup at Boston Ballet. They are strictly forbidden to put it on except the Chinese Tea girls who are allowed to put on eyeliner. It's in the rules. I know because my daughters have danced in the nutcracker for many years.
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