How Inclusion Has Gone Way Too Far

As I type out this article I am going to try not to heighten my emotions to Threat Level Midnight. Let's jump right to it. At the height of the BLM Movement in 2020, as I have mentioned before, I began to notice the shift in dance standards amid blackness and "wokeness". One of the first things to get my attention was the openness of various dancers' position on dance standards. I'd like to say I knew their stance prior to the 2020 uproar but I did not. However, on multiple occasions I heard dancers holding positions that once upon a time were not even a general thought. Things like any hair and any body type had become the crux of certain interviews. My concern has always been that many public perspectives on things like black women being able to wear any hairstyle on stage as a ballerina and dancers' bodies not being in shape were ushering the overall expectation of professional dance to a meager place.

Well, it is now 2023 and my reservations were not far off. Bottom line? The push of inclusion within the professional realm of dance has gone too far. Today as I browsed a dance brand catalogue I was honestly shocked out of my mind to see bodies that were not in shaped and feet that were not stretched or pointed. It’s just like hiring non dancers for a product line with the hopes of achieving the “dancer look”. Just hire an actual dancer.  How can we advertise dance wear for dancers and not cater to actual dancers? Today especially, a great portion of society does not want to lead with truth. We would much rather seduce the emotions of people by making them believe that anything goes and nothing actually matters. That just isn’t the truth. To narrow this article I will hone in on Ballet specifically. The catalogue did the same. I could not believe what I was seeing. 

It is diminishing the visibility of serious dancers, their careers and their hard work—when you advertise this made up representation of dancers. In complete honesty, it is unrealistic to showcase dancers who are not in shape, whose hair is not tamed and who are not showcasing nice feet and lines as if that is the reality of the professional ballet world. It is not. In all of the efforts of inclusion, the standards of a beloved art form are being lost. What is the matter with standards? In life there are standards to meet with different endeavors. You will never see the lines blurred between a juco football program and a division 1 program. Why? they operate on different levels (although great talent comes from juco programs) and a lot of times have lower standards. Some guys who are talented on the field cannot enter their dream program due to grades. That is a standard. Standards are not bad but they uphold an image and operation in order to maintain certain levels and to attract what they showcase. Why are the standards of dance being destroyed?

Everyone has access to dance and to make it a career but no one should be forcefully accepted. To placate anyone by exalting blackness or coddling things below the true standard is not the answer, but rather the minimization of dance as a true profession.