Brazilian Artist Applauds Diversity Movement at Paris Opera Following Discrimination Experience
January 27, 2021
The renowned Paris Opera, one of the last major cultural institutions worldwide to engage in a debate on greater diversity, has begun a movement initiated by mixed-race artists within the organization. These artists are calling for an end to racial discrimination in the 300-year-old institution. Brazilian artist Thais Sobreira, who once worked at the Paris Opera and faced discrimination, supports this movement. Meanwhile, dancer Helena Van Renemsdijk, who studies movement notation at the National Conservatoire of Paris, advocates for updating classic repertoire works rather than resorting to "cancel culture."
The mixed-race artists at the Paris Opera represent a tiny minority, an exception that highlights the institution's norms. Among the 154 members of the ballet corps, there are only five dancers of mixed race, all of whom are French with one parent of African descent.
Inspired by the American Black Lives Matter movement and supported by two Black baritones in the Opera choir, these artists have decided to challenge the "invisibility" they experience within the institution. In the second half of 2020, they launched the manifesto "On the Racial Issue in the Paris Opera", which quickly garnered the support of 400 employees and prompted director Alexander Neef to commission an independent study on diversity at the Opera. The study has yet to be completed.
In their manifesto, the artists describe the unique experience of being the only non-white performers in the ballet corps. They highlight the lack of proper shoes, tights, and makeup suited to their skin tones, the discrimination in casting for leading roles, and the hurtful, stigmatizing racist comments they endure. They also question the relevance of works inherited from the colonial era and the continued practice of blackface in performances.
Dancer Letizia Galloni recalls hearing at age ten that she would never be accepted into ballet because she was Black. Today, she holds an intermediate position in the company, which has never had a Black principal dancer, and believes "the institution must represent society."
Aesthetic and technical uniformity has long been a tradition at the Paris Opera. "Why would having non-white people in the corps de ballet disrupt this uniformity?" asks dancer Guillaume Diop.
"Too Mixed-Race for the Opera"
"I'm looking forward to the day when people will be hired for their artistry, not the color of their skin", says Thais Sobreira. Trained in classical ballet at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, the Brazilian artist left dance due to a knee injury and is now an actress and singer. After moving to Paris in 2012, she was cast in the Paris Opera's production of Don Giovanni, directed by the award-winning filmmaker Michael Haneke.
However, while exploring other opportunities at the Opera, she had a troubling experience. "Someone in the administrative department told me, 'Unfortunately, you're too mixed-race.' They said I was hired for Don Giovanni because it was a modern version, with characters who clean and live in the suburbs, so they needed people of color. But for other operas, I wasn't suitable", Thais recounted. She shared this incident with several people, including a government representative, who found it outrageous but remained silent. This is why she fully supports the movement started by the dancers to open a dialogue on the issue.
Ballet companies in New York and London have already created working groups to address minority representation. In France, one proposed solution is to open the Paris Opera Ballet School, known for being highly elitist despite being tuition-free, to students from underprivileged neighborhoods.
The Classical Repertoire
The dancers' requests for properly fitted shoes and tights have already been met. Regarding the repertoire and greater diversity in the corps de ballet, the institution is awaiting the results of the study commissioned by director Alexander Neef. However, Neef's comment that "some works might be removed from the repertoire" has already sparked considerable controversy.
Conservatives, including publications like Le Figaro and Valeurs Actuelles and far-right politicians, criticize what they perceive as "identity orthodoxy" and fear that the institution’s heritage, marked by the aesthetic choices of Russian genius Rudolf Nureyev, who directed the Paris Opera Ballet and modernized 19th-century Eurocentric choreography, could be lost. La Bayadère, set in India and featuring blackface, has come under particular scrutiny, raising concerns of a potential "cancel culture" similar to what is seen in the United States.
Helena Van Renemsdijk, who has lived in France since 2014, argues that this debate is not new. "This issue has been around for a long time, and it's really about updating works. I don't think the proposal is to remove these works from the repertoire. Do we need to continue using blackface or Asian clichés? Can't we rethink these works in a different way without discarding them entirely? Can't we modernize?" she questions.
Swan Lake Danced Only by Men
Helena points to a version of Swan Lake performed entirely by men as an example. "The story remains the same, retaining its poetry, values, morals, and the meaning we associate with Swan Lake, but with a different symbolism." She argues that multiple versions of the same ballet can coexist to appeal to different audiences.
Helena also emphasizes the importance of movement notation, which is the practice of writing choreography in a score. "Dance history is about exactly that — updated versions. We call solos 'variations' because they are variations on the same movement. Wanting to preserve a version for historical reasons is fine, but holding onto it for purely aesthetic reasons doesn’t make much sense", she concludes.