Nearly every ballet studio dress code in the world includes the following line: "girls must wear pink tights and pink shoes..."

sometimes they let you wear white canvas! That's exciting. 

Can we talk about this for a minute? I think now is a good time. 

 

Thanks for visiting! Just so you know, my blog contains affiliate links, which generate commission for me off your purchase. Learn more about that here.. All reviews are 100% my own opinion. Any item featured may have been received free in exchange for promotion or review, but does not in any way affect my review. See the rest of my privacy policy, review policy, and disclaimer here. Thank you for supporting Beyond the Barre!

Oh, you guys know how much I love breaking traditions in ballet. 

The idea was to extend the lines and make their limbs look longer and more elegant. 

Flash-forward to the 20-21 centuries when dancers of all ethnicities and skin tones are now participating in ballet. All over the world, dancers are lined up in pink tights and pink shoes. 

Meanwhile, if you look at the top half of their bodies, we see all kinds of colors. 

It's really quite odd. 

I know this picture is horrible, but I feel it makes a good point.

Arthur Mitchel of Dance Theatre of Harlem made the change quite a while ago when he asked all dancers to wear colored tights. 

I watched this presentation by Homor Hans Bryant while putting together my TED Talk for Dance playlist. It struck me and has stuck with me - why do we make brown dancers wear pink tights? As a ballet teacher and dancer, we are so used to seeing it that we don't even notice how strange it looks. He shows this picture to illustrate the idea of how uncomfortable it would make us feel if we switched it.