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- The Northern School of Contemporary Dance has dropped ballet from auditions
- Leeds conservatoire said ballet was an ‘elitist form’ and classes too expensive
- It said traditional language divides men and women with different dance roles
- Ballet ‘is built around particular white European ideas and body shapes’, it added
A top British dance school has dropped ballet from its auditions after branding it an ‘elitist art form’, built around ‘white European ideas and body shapes’.
The Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD) reviewed the dance as part of a wider plan to ‘decolonise the curriculum’, and consider the impact of race and gender on dance.
The Leeds-based school will no longer require ballet as part of its auditions, due to the cost of learning the dance style, its idealisation of particular body shapes and gender-divided roles, staff have said.
Head of undergraduate studies at the conservatoire, Francesca McCarthy, called ballet an ‘elitist art form’.
Ballet’s traditional terminology uses ‘ballerina’ for women and ‘danseur’ for men, with female dancers focusing on pointe work and lifts and leaps for men.
Ms McCarthy said the ballet’s terminology has ‘strongly gendered roots’ and was, ‘problematic in relation to inclusion of non-binary and trans dancers.’
Ballet will still be taught at the school, which charges £9,250 per year for British students, and £17,500 per year for international dancers.
The Northern School of Contemporary Dance (pictured) has dropped ballet from its auditions because the dance style is centred in ‘white European ideas
Ballet’s traditional terminology uses ‘ballerina’ for women and ‘danseur’ for men, with female dancers focusing on pointe work and lifts and leaps for men. Pictured, Darcey Bussel performs at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games
However the classes and teaching methods have been altered to be more ‘inclusive’.
‘There are issues relating to body, money, language and movement vocabulary,’ Ms McCarthy told The Telegraph.
She said that class costs impact students who cannot afford to learn the dance, adding ballet ‘is built around particular white European ideas and body shapes’ which could put off dancers who do not fit this ‘aesthetic ideal’.
Ms McCarthy added that the dance’s terminology has ‘strongly gendered roots’, with most teachers trained at a point in time that focused on a clear distinction between female and male dancers.
‘There was a shift to ladies and gentleman over time but this is still problematic in relation to inclusion of non-binary and trans dancers,’ she added.
The head of undergraduate studies, who credits her ‘wonderful wife’ and two adopted sons for becoming more aware of ‘challenges experienced by young people today’, added that the NSCD is encouraging staff to use gender-neutral words, such as ‘dancers/people/folk/everyone/everybody’.
Staff are also encouraged to use ‘they’ instead of he and she, to ‘not make assumptions’ about students’ identities.
It comes as the school works to ‘decolonise’ its teaching and work with LGBT+ societies on the matter.
The NSCD said that it reviews its content, and has removed the dance from audition days ‘due to its potentially contentious nature’.
NSCD is encouraging staff to use gender-neutral words, such as ‘dancers, people, folk, everyone, everybody’. Pictured Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales perform a divert from Swan Lake amidst the pandemic
In 2019, staff at the conservatoire began learning more about ‘unconscious bias’ in dance, in a bid to ‘decolonise the curriculum’.
This was further prioritised following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
That year, students launched an LGBTQ+ group, which advised on ‘pronouns and the implications of gendered movement vocabularies such as in ballet classes’.
The school is also a member of the Conservatoire of Dance and Drama, which launched plans to scrap leotards and tight dance-wear to help transgender people feel more comfortable.
The Leeds-based school will no longer require ballet as part of its auditions, due to the cost of learning the dance style, its idealisation of particular body shapes and gender-divided roles, staff explained. File image
