ep. 180: Ballerina, Interrupted
Who gets to be a ballerina and why? Erika Lantz, host of The Turning: Room of Mirrors, details the rigid hierarchy, body standards and elite ballet culture fostered by George "Father of American Ballet" Balanchine. Then, dancer Alyah Baker finds how to express her whole self as a Black, queer ballet dancer.
guests:
Erika Lantz: website | Twitter | The Turning: Room of Mirrors
Alyah Baker: website | IG | Twitter | Quare Dance | Ballet for Black and Brown Bodies
sources:
Baker, Alyah. Quare Dance: Fashioning a Black, Queer, Fem(me)inist Aesthetic in Ballet. Master's thesis, Duke University. 2021.
Dance Data Project. Global Ballet Leadership Report. Dec 2021.
Dixon, Emily. The #QueertheBallet movement: 'it's more than a man lifting a woman in a tutu'. The Guardian. Feb 10, 2021.
Fuhrer, Margaret. Do Men Still Rule Ballet? Let Us Count the Ways. The New York Times. Jan 21, 2022.
Gottschild, Brenda Dixon. The Black Dancing Body: A Geography from Coon to Cool.
Homans, Jennifer. Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet. Random House. 2010.
Klapper, Melissa R. Ballet Class: An American History. Oxford University Press. 2010.
