Dance against Discrimination

According to an article, Topomorphological approach to automatic posture recognition in ballet dance, “Ballet is an artistic dance form, performed to music using unequivocal and highly formalized set steps and kinesics.” When I was dancing classical ballet as an Asian child, I used to be told that If I want to be a professional ballet dancer, I have to have better techniques because Asian bone structure is “poor” compared to European or American. Essentially, we Asian have shorter legs, bigger face, and the shape of our legs is not straight enough for a ballet dancer. Also most of ballet stories are set in Europe, not Asia, it means our skin color and appearances don’t fit in with characters. That’s why Asian have to cover the “disadvantage” by techniques. This is what I was told. According to an e-book, Equality in Sports, “Anyone can play sports. Right? Well, not exactly. For years, many people have had to fight for the right to play. Many have not been allowed to compete because other people said they had to play separately or not play at all. People have had to fight for equality in society. They have also had to fight for equality in sports.” Not only in classical ballet world, but there is still racism in sports.

I believe that racism in classical ballet still exists. Actually, racism in ballet is way behind the times compared to other sports. For example, in baseball, soccer, basketball, and others, there are so many players who are colored races and have come up big even though there was racism in the past. If you ever watched classical ballet, you would realize that the most of dancers are Caucasians. I found an interesting article called “Is Nutcracker Racist?” In that article, Ronald Alexander mentioned that “The whole ballet tradition is inherently racist, so the traditional productions of Nutcracker can also be seen as racist.” Just like as I mentioned earlier, he thinks ballet is racist too. I understand that ballet has such a long history and it has begun with Caucasian, however, we are in 21^st century now and I think it should be more open to other races. As I said earlier, ballet is way behind the times in issues of discrimination. Is it because classical ballet is not as major as baseball, soccer, or American football? Maybe.

Major sports such as American football, baseball, soccer, and basketball, can be attention-getting because they are on media almost every day. However, it’s different for classical ballet. It’s not something you would see every day. Maybe so many people in the U.S. might have never watched ballet before. That’s why it needs to be discourses. According to our textbook, Sport, Media and Society, “Discourses can be detected in the repeated way in which an event is framed and the effect of that framing on individuals’ behavior, thoughts, and opinions.” Also “Discourses is, therefore, a way of knowing – one that has an effect in the world” (19). I think that the reason why ballet is way behind the times compared to other sports is because of ignorance of people. In order to change something, we need to gather voices of people. But for right now, it is so hard for ballet to be discourses and get attention as long as media does not cover about the issues of discrimination in ballet.

In 2015, Misty Danielle Copeland finally became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer. There are so many African American athletes out there, however, it took so long for an African American person to become a principal ballet dancer even though ballet started in 15^th century. There is an article on Time, and it’s about the conversation between Barack Obama and Misty Copeland. According to the article, Copeland said, “‘I feel like a lot of the time what I’m being judged on is my aesthetic,’ she admits. ‘It may not be said, but a lot of the time I don’t think that the classical ­ballet world will ever accept me because I’m something different.’” She also said, “That something that I fought so hard for throughout the beginning of my career is I didn’t want to pancake my skin a lighter color to fit into the ballet. I wanted to be myself. I didn’t want to have to wear makeup that made my nose look thinner.” She is such a strong person, however, we can tell that she has been through a lot because of the “tradition” of ballet. Obviously, she doesn’t need to change herself to be a prima ballerina. But in the reality, it must have been hard to be successful without trying to fit in with others. Every time when I went on stage, I had to put makeup on my face and make my skin whiter and contour my nose to make it look sharper. At that time, I was a child and wasn’t thinking anything, but do we really need to do it? In the article, she also mentioned, “being the only African American at this level in American Ballet Theatre, I feel like people are looking at me, and it’s my responsibility for me to do whatever I can to provide these opportunities in communities to be able to educate them.” In another article, Ballerina Misty Copeland On Diversity In Ballet World, Copeland mentioned why ballet in discrimination is way behind. “Ballet is different from a sport because it's subjective. So there’s no real rule. If you run frack and you win the meet, that’s if. It’s plain to see. But in ballet, it's up to someone else's judgement. So it's about educating people on ballet and exposing more dancers of color so that it doesn’t seem so far away and not attainable. I think the more this goes beyond the ballet world, the more ballet will open up.” I completely agree with her. Ballet in discrimination is way behind, and it’s because people don’t pay attention or just don’t know about it. How can we solve it then? I said it earlier, the key is in media.

According to the textbook, Sport, Media and Society, “Newspapers do more than report the news; they determine what news is and present it in accordance with particular values and organizational needs” (74). Not only newspaper, there are so many platforms in media such as web, television, radio, and blog. “The media chooses from a large pool of events and issues what they wish to include and and how they wish to tell about them” (74). When media tells a story to society, it educates people and make their eyes open for something they never knew. This is something that is lacking in ballet world and something that ballet world needs. Not only Misty Copeland, also Kiara Felder, an African American dancer with Atlanta Ballet, has suffered from discrimination. According to an article, When “Diversity” Isn’t Enough, “Not too long ago Kiara Felder, a dancer with Atlanta Ballet, got a haircut and was surprised by a choreographer’s reaction to it. ‘I was told my hair looked messy and I needed to do something different with it,’ remembers Felder, who is the only African-American female dancer in the company and wears her hair curly and natural. ‘I looked around the room and saw messy straight hair.’ Felder felt embarrassed for being ‘singled out so publicly’ even while she recognizes it was possible the choreographer didn’t intend to discriminate against her.” If the exact same thing has happened to player in different sports, it would have been a huge problem. “Discrimination in ballet is often made worse by a reluctance to break rank and speak out. However, now in her second season, Felder has a new confidence and feels that if her hair was commented on again, she would stand up for herself.” I truly believe that nobody should feel ashamed of their body or hair for anything including ballet. I’m pretty sure that there are more individuals who have discriminated in ballet world, and they need to speak up to make the environment better for everyone. 

In the past, media used to just address issues and talk about it one-sidedly, however, since the Internet has appeared, users of internet has been able to participate the argument and share their own opinions with others. According to the textbook, Sport, Media and Society, “Users of the Internet can participate in virtual communities, adopting any identity they wish. The ability of users to appropriate racial identity, enabling one to ‘co-opt the exotic and attach it to oneself’ has led to the practice of identity tourism in cyberspace” (174).  It means now is the time to speak and spread about discrimination in ballet world and make change. Racism is still there because of media. Ballet is such a minor sport; therefore, it takes time to change the “tradition.”  We need to use the power of Internet to raise awareness the problem in ballet world so that more dancers of color will have opportunity like Caucasian dancers.

Works Cited        

Saha, Sriparna, and Amit Konar. "Topomorphological Approach To Automatic Posture Recognition In Ballet Dance." IET Image Processing 9.11 (2015): 1002-1011. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2016. 

Miller, Tracy. Equality In Sports. Minneapolis, MN: ABDO Publishing, 2014. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

"Is Nutcracker Racist?." Dance Magazine 87.12 (2013): 78-81. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

Rhodan, Maya. "Across Generations And Professions, A President And A Prima Ballerina Talk About Race, Beauty And Breaking Barriers. In Conversation: Misty Copeland And Barack Obama." Time 187.11 (2016): 56-60. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

Stephen, Curtis. "Ballerina Misty Copeland On Diversity In Ballet World." Crisis (15591573) 121.1 (2014): 7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

Kennedy, Eileen, and Laura Hills. "Analysing Media Sport." Sport, Media and Society. Oxford: Berg, 2009. N. pag. Print.

Kennedy, Eileen, and Laura Hills. "Sport and the Press." Sport, Media and Society. Oxford: Berg, 2009. N. pag. Print.

THOMPSON, CANDICE. "When "Diversity" Isn't Enough." Dance Magazine 90.4 (2016): 56. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

Kennedy, Eileen, and Laura Hills. "New Media Sportscapes: Branding and the Internet." Sport, Media and Society. Oxford: Berg, 2009. N. pag. Print.

Sportsmanship is Compassion

Let me be honest. I usually don’t read news articles. Maybe just a little in Japanese but I wouldn’t click the sport section. It’s because I’m not really a sports person. I heard that it’s an American football season in the public mind, however, I don’t know what is going on since I don’t know the rule of American football. But when I was given this assignment, one article caught my eyes and heart. The article is “Rival football teams work together for a touching touchdown” on kake.com.

Here is what this article about. 

Canton Middle School and Waynesville Middle School are the precursor for Pisgah and Tuscola, one of the area's biggest football rivalries. Canton hosted Waynesville on September 22nd, and there was one of the audiences, Lou Stamey. He is a student at Canton Middle School, and was born with quadriplegic cerebral palsy, which means the condition affects his whole body. He’s wheelchair-bound, and can hardly speak. His father has passes away, but before he died, he passed on a love for football. On the game day, a miracle happened. Canton coach drew up a play for this game, and Waynesville didn’t even stop, yet cooperated with them. The quarterback took the snap and handed off to Lou, and his classmate Brayden West pushed Lou from the 50-yard line. Everyone was screaming his name, and his mom was giving a shout. Lou made defenders fall and reached the end zone. Then both teams surrounded him to chant his name. Lou can’t say anything but he got a big smile on his face.

This represents the humanity that we all should have in both sports and everyday life. In sports game, all the players want is win. However, the players in that game, assigned the highest priority to let Lou play as a part of team, and showed him that he can do anything he wants to. 

This news reminded me of the days when I was practicing classical ballet so hard when I was in middle school. My ballet teacher was very strict about being polite and respectful. She taught me that even if I could dance well, if I wasn’t polite and rude to people, I wouldn’t be able to be a great dancer in the true sense of the term. One time I had to dance with people who were around fifty years old and started dancing five years ago. When you dance ballet with people, it becomes a team work. We have to make the timing right and synchronize our moves. I started dancing at age of five, so obviously I could dance better than them at that time. I had to teach them the choreography and never forgot to be polite and respectful even if they couldn’t pick up the choreography. To be honest, I wasn't even thinking of being respectful at that time, however, at a later date, I heard from the teacher that the people felt so happy because I was polite, and she was proud of me. As of this moment, I don’t dance anymore. But I know that what she taught me has been affecting the way I interact with people even now.

I believe that playing sports is not always about being “strong” and win. Sport is something that makes us grow and teaches us how to show our humanity and dignity. I have so much respect to the coach who planned this whole thing, however, I have even more respect to the players of the other team. They don’t even know Lou but no one stopped, and yet cooperated fully with them. Even though the point wasn’t counted, it sure has become the special moment that he would never forget. They taught us that sometimes there is more important thing than win. It’s compassion. Also this showed us that sport can give people hope and happiness. I hope we can witness like this moment more through sport.