The sleeping beauty… and her heterosexual male partner
Gender norms in classical ballet, and the harm they’re causing.
When you think of the term ballet, what comes to mind?
For many, images of pink tutus and girls on their toes would materialize. Since its creation, classical ballet has showcased very clear gender norms. There are specific steps that only men perform, and traditionally, pointe work is solely done by women.
Men lift women, and that’s the way it has always been.
Many people are so set in the traditional roles of men and women in ballet, that it would seem ludicrous to alter them. Classical ballet strongly reinforces gender norms due to the repertoire that classical ballet companies reproduce, with little to no changes made to these works since their creation. Additionally, many of the classical works performed by popular ballet companies exclude anything created by female choreographers.
Unfortunately, these gender norms that have been carried through for many years can be extremely harmful to women, as well as, people who are struggling with their gender identity.
Big ballet companies that mainly perform classical repertoire continue to support harmful, traditional gender norms. These works lack gender diversity and perpetuate the stereotype that love, and sexual attraction must always be between a man and a woman. Additionally, they perpetuate the idea that women are always weak, and men are always strong.
Classical ballet companies like The Royal ballet in London have been performing works- like The Sleeping Beauty- that were created in 1890. The female character-Aurora- is partnered by a male-prince desire. All partnering work involves the female being lifted and supported by the male, not a single scene in this ballet involves the female dancer doing anything to support her male counterpart. This ballet, and many other similar works, illustrate the fact that classical ballet is very centered around traditional gender roles. It perpetuates the idea that a man must be strong and fierce while a female must always be soft and delicate.
Repertoire like this, that was created in the 19th century and before, centre around the idea that a woman cannot fend for herself, and therefore needs to be saved by a man, all whilst a love connection is brewing between them.
The Sleeping Beauty is just one example of a work that continues to be performed almost exactly as it was when it originated.
By performing ballets with content centered around this stereotype, it demonstrates the idea that dancers are bound by their gender and must always play a certain role.
The man must be strong, and the woman must be delicate and helpless; the man must make the first move, and the woman will swoon. There is very little freedom for dancers to interpret and re-imagine classical ballet repertoire; their skill set is ultimately dictated by the job market.
Currently, classical ballet is not a changing, fluid art. It is very stuck in its old ways.
Women don’t learn traditional male partnering steps, and vice versa. By performing works that were created so many years ago and refusing to alter the gender stereotypes in them, these companies are only supporting the harmful ideology that a manly man must fall in love with a feminine woman, and that love can only exist in this heterosexual relationship.
This idea of love between a man and woman is similarly represented in the duet or pas de deux of another classical ballet- Swan Lake. In this case though, it can be seen through sexual desire. Adalie Palma writes in her article for The Medium “In the traditional pas de deux’s, these gender roles are acted out by a female and male dancer to showcase their sexual desire towards each other.”
In the case of this ballet, Prince Siegfried pursues the female character- a half swan, half human Odette. She represents an object for him to obtain- similar to a hunting trophy. His sexual desire for her, is the basis of their relationship throughout the entire performance. The traditional gender norms portrayed in this ballet, don’t offer much room for interpretation. A man and women must fall in love and this is seen in all classical ballets including the aforementioned, Swan Lake and The sleeping Beauty.
In each of these ballets, it is the man pursuing the woman- and it’s always a man and woman- never a same sex couple.
The fact that it’s always a heterosexual relationship is harmful to people struggling with their gender identity, because they do not see themselves represented in any works being performed by popular ballet companies.
These “classics” offer no representation of anyone who is not in a heterosexual relationship, or who does not identify as heterosexual. Additionally, they demonstrate the idea that men and women must always play a certain role, and they cannot deviate or interpret that role for themselves. The classical ballets support harmful gender norms through their refusal to acknowledge that true love and sexual desire can occur outside of those people who identify strictly as man and woman.
These narrow views translate into the industry as well; the performance of classical ballets severely under represents female choreographers. Very few of the works performed by popular ballet companies are created by women. This can be seen through observations in a New York times article written by Michael Cooper. He writes that in their 2016 season, the New York City Ballet “performed 58 ballets, including seven world premieres — and not one was by a woman.”
This is an astonishing statistic because the majority of dancers responsible for actually presenting these pieces are women. Unfortunately, it reinforces the gender norm that only men can be the creators. If ballets being performed by the “big” ballet companies are only ones created by men, it perpetuates the idea that the only ballets worth being performed are by men. It makes women feel as though it’s a man’s world, and even if they were to create something, odds are that a man’s work would be chosen over theirs.
Additionally, in many cases, men receive more funding and grants for their works. This creates a cycle where men continue to create and be rewarded for their new works, while works created by women- objectively of the same caliber — fall into the background.
By giving precedence to male works, it can be very discouraging to women, they feel underrepresented and that they are not worthy of having their works performed by a big company. At the same time, it perpetuates the male perspective that their work is more important and valued than women’s.
Similarly, in the same article, Cooper states that “In recent years, there has been an explosion of new work — but at the big companies, most [have] been by men.” Again, this can ultimately cause women end up quitting because they feel as though they cannot get ahead in the male dominated field.
A former dancer at the English National Ballet-Tamara Rojo- interviewed in the same article, speaks of the fact that in her 20 years of being a professional dancer, she had never performed a work choreographed by woman. Not only do these missed opportunities greatly affect how women view their value in their industry, it takes away a robust breadth of works from the world of dance altogether.
Women have been creating work of equal distinction to their male counterparts for years, but they have been seldom acknowledged. Also, in any industry, it is difficult to feel connected and passionate when you don’t see yourself represented within it; women feel as though they aren’t being taken seriously and this causes them to give up. Once again, this comes back to the idea of representation- if dancer’s growing up and going through the ranks don’t see and perform works choreographed by women, similar to Tamara Rojo’s sentiment, they will be less likely to believe that they themselves could become choreographers.
Classical ballet strongly reinforces gender norms due to the repertoire that classical ballet companies reproduce, with little to no changes made to these works since their creation. Additionally, many of the classical works performed by popular ballet companies exclude anything created by female choreographers.
Unfortunately, these gender norms that have been carried through for many years, can be extremely harmful to women, as well as, people who are struggling with their gender identity. In any industry, but especially those involving the arts, representation matters. In classical ballet, female choreographers are severely underrepresented, with very few big ballet companies performing works created by women.
Also, in classical ballets like Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, there is no representation of anyone other than a heterosexual couple. They portray love and sexual desire through a very narrow lens. The gender norms in these respective examples cause anyone who does not fit into classical ballet’s idea of “normal” to feel excluded and discouraged.
Despite this, there is certainly room for growth, these classical pieces could be re-interpreted to portray more diverse gender dynamics, and along with a more open-minded approach to pieces created by women, the industry has a chance to embrace inclusivity in the future.
