Variety: “Center Stage” stars Zoe Saldana, Amanda Schull, Sascha Radetsky and Ethan Stiefel reunited 20 years after the film’s debut to discuss the cultural touchstone and life-changing ballet film. Between port de bras and pas de trois references and stories about driving Harleys across fancy stages, the cast took this moment to reflect on larger issues of representation and diversity in the ballet community.
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We are having a lot of conversations like this right now, and it’s amazing. Since I’m not a dancer or interested in ballet, I hadn’t even thought of this. The image of a ballet dancer is a tall, skinny, cis, white woman. Everyone besides this group feels some kind of pressure if they decide to go into dance. Men are seen by their family as “gay” or “effeminate”, and aren’t taken seriously. Shorter or larger people, no matter how physically fit or talented, are less likely to be hired. The Radio City Rockettes are especially guilty to this. I once knew a rather tall women, that was still considered too short to be accepted, and every Rockette has the same body type. BIPOC and trans folks also face discrimination in the dance field, simply for not “looking the part”. This mentality can also be found in pretty much every other performing arts field, and that lack of diversity has held many people back from pursuing their dreams.
The ballet world has a lot of changing to do when it comes to diversity and inclusion. I’m glad those with a voice, such as the cast from Center Stage, are able to speak out about the issues in their industry. Art should not require you to be born a certain height, weight, race, etc to even make it into an audition room. Saldala was right when she talked about how important it is for children to see someone like them represented in ballet. Right now, there are many kids who don’t have someone they look up to, which makes pursuing that dream even harder. It made me happy to hear that many male dancers are now getting proper recognition for their work and stereotypes are being broken. Additionally, it is good they have made space to talk about harm done to them in the industry because I’m sure it makes other male dancers feel less alone.
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