Voice of Race

Today, racial issues are at the core of many contemporary debates and controversies. At the heart of their claims are the many racist stereotypes that still hang around dance studios and in certain works in the repertoire. Moreover, the classical ballet scene struggles to adapt to the specificities of non-white dancers' bodies (colour of tights and shoes, make-up or hairstyle, lighting effects). Indeed, at the Paris National Opera, out of more than 150 dancers, only 5 are black or mixed race.  In addition, with the George Floyd affair that broke out on 25 May in the United States, bringing the Black Lives Matter movement back to life, even more crucial racial questions have emerged: How can the ideal of dancers' homogeneity on stage be discriminatory for non-white people? How can we reinterpret works that convey racist stereotypes in the light of our times, without going so far as to eliminate them?  To discuss this, Cynthia welcomes Anika, a dancer at the Paris Opera, on Voice of Race.