Tufts Blogs

Recently, I have been thoroughly enjoying my Ballet 4 class twice a week where I’m able to do what I love most during the academic day- dance! Dance has always been an incredibly useful outlet for me allowing me to take a break from work and reset and I feel lucky that Tufts offers me the opportunity to do so along with my classes for my major. What I love most about the Tufts Dance Department is that the faculty are incredibly intentional about making dance enjoyable and educational. In class, not only do we have a typical ballet barre class but we also complete readings and assignments for class which allow us to expand our perspectives as dancers. 

Our last assignment was to watch the ballet La Bayadere- a ballet choreographed back in 1877 by Marius Petipa, a white European choreographer. The ballet was clearly inherently born from a place of assumptions, misconceptions, and appropriations of Eastern culture. After watching the ballet and forming our own opinions, the assignment included multiple opinion piece articles explaining the recent controversy over this ballet. This controversy stems from the realization that the depiction of Indian culture in the ballet is misconstrued to fit the Western European view. In reality, it is a culture much more complex than it is portrayed. To any audience member watching La Bayadere, it is easy to view this beautiful ballet at the surface level- taking in the gorgeous costumes, talented dancers, and intriguing love story. However, when we stop to consider the deeper messages that lie within the movement of the dancers, it becomes more clear how unauthentic the portrayal of Indian culture is patronized and how it contributes to the perpetuation of stereotypical Orientalism.

In reading the articles provided, my perspective on the ballet was expanded a great deal. I actually danced in La Bayadere at age 14 as a “bayadere” in the vision scene: “Kingdom of Shades” as my studio called it. At this age, I will honestly say not once did I consider the implications of performing this ballet nor did I notice the ingrained stereotypes within the story line and choreography.

This led me to stop and notice how many of the extremely famous ballets performed today were created during a time of little exposure to other cultures for the ballet world outside of Europe, however; we are now living in a time when we know better.  I think in order to continue performing these ballets we can take a lesson from the videos included in the Pointe Magazine article titled “A “La Bayadere” for the 21st century: How Companies are Confronting the Ballet’s Orientalist Stereotypes” by Joseph Carman. Shobana Jeyasingh, a dancer choreographer with Indian heritage creatively created a response to the original La Bayadere in which she draws attention to the objectification and misrepresentation of her own culture. She creatively shows the ballet world in which we can be more intentional and inclusive with our dancing, and choose to acknowledge how ballets from the beginning of time cannot continue to be performed at face value with no education and follow up. 

 I feel very strongly that in this day and age where we have the resources and opportunity to learn about other cultures, it is not difficult to acknowledge when a culture is being diminished, objectified, and misconstrued. I personally feel as though even though this ballet is a form of ballet history as some of the articles point out, it shouldn’t be performed without being accompanied by education. Especially when children are performing this ballet as well, like I did years ago, I feel it is especially important to not have dancers blindly perpetuating stereotypes that they are not aware of. To also perform this ballet for audiences that may be completely unaware of the origins and false portrayals included in the ballet, it dangerously influences social thought and interpretation of an entire culture. If performed, the company or group performing it should take on the responsibility of educating their dancers and audience on the origination of the ballet explaining that it was created during a time where there was little correct knowledge about other cultures that were not born from assumptions and stereotypes. 

I feel fortunate to attend a school that has a dance program that is devoted to being intentional and conscious of the implications of the dance world. This assignment was helpful in allowing me to address the norms of a dance world I have been a part of for so long. This can be a helpful step in working to dispel erroneous depictions of cultures.