It is sometimes suggested that women simply do not think they can choreograph as men do. One aspect of the problem may be due to training that does not suggest that this is a plausible path. This is what makes Pacific Northwest Ballet School’s New Voices: Choreography and Process for Young Women course so significant. At a time when girls’ confidence begins to fade in comparison to young boys’, the school has introduced a class intended to empower them through creativity. Few programs like PNB’s exist at a ballet school level.

In fact, the majority of choreography courses are implemented at a college level. This problematic given the tendency for young dancers to skip college and go straight into the ranks of a company at a young age. Dancers are exposed to the choreographic process only through the lens of a performer, a tendency that is detrimental not only to their success as a dancer, but also to their confidence as they take their next steps in dance, following retirement.

In a time when ballet dancers are embracing new styles and career paths, their schools need to reflect that diversity and experimental nature.

Whether for a major or minor requirement, most university dance programs encourage dancers to explore all aspects of dance. For dance composition, students learn either through a course in which they produce actual works for the stage or through improvisation courses with no end-game of a performance. This opportunity to “workshop,” as choreographers often put it, is exactly what the dance faculty at Dean College are encouraging, Dance Spirit reports. The faculty even went so far as to assert that these courses should be a requirement in dance programs in order to “make sure your dance degree is going to work for you in the real world.” Dance Spirit suggests this may be due to the dying “choreographer/muse” relationship in a process that now “favors collaboration” or improvisation when prompted by the choreographer. As a dancer graduates and joins a company, he or she should be fully prepared to work closely with a choreographer and understand the choreographic process from the creator’s perspective.

This philosophy is extremely relevant for dancers joining smaller companies, where the hierarchical corps structure of a ballet company is replaced by a collaborative, “everyone does everything” environment. It may be advantageous for larger, more influential companies with the corps-soloist-principal hierarchy to embrace, too. Pacific Northwest Ballet artistic director Peter Boal, for instance, introduced collaboration and inverted the power dynamic of director-student relationships by showing his own new work, a piece he made on the Professional Division men for their School Performance, to students in the PNB school’s New Voices course. Following the showing, the group had a 30-minute critique of the work, which dealt with alienation and the support peers can offer. In this choreographer-to-choreographer discussion, the young women ended up helping Boal both in how to approach his final weeks with his dancers and in how to most clearly communicate his ideas for the work.

Dancers at other ballet schools who inevitably skip college will entirely miss this key element in dance pedagogy.

Stephen Ursprung, a professor of Dance Studies at Dean College told Dance Spirit, “‘Oftentimes we impose limitations on what the students can or cannot do and this ignites their imaginations. At first it may be scary or overwhelming: Many dancers come from very rigorous technical training and get caught up in whether what they do is ‘right’ or ‘wrong.’ In a choreography class, these binaries do not exist.'” If these ideas were incorporated into courses at ballet schools, we could be dealing with a greater pool of young dancers feeling empowered to choreograph, regardless of gender.

Many will remember in April 2018 when Ashley Bouder wrote an OpEd for Dance Magazine, “It’s Time for Ballet to Embrace Feminism.” She wrote with honesty and a well-informed ear:

Personally, I like receiving flowers and being escorted offstage. I like dancing in pointe shoes and being lifted and supported. Yet that doesn’t mean a man shouldn’t be able to have those things too. It seems that whenever a man is escorted offstage or receives flowers—other than at retirement or a single rose from the ballerina—it’s only done for a humorous reaction, to make fun of him for being like a woman.

The problem with these traditions is that they highlight more serious gender inequality. It’s as if the image of a man leading a woman into the wings is a metaphor for how the dance world is run. A male director leading the careers of dancers. A male choreographer laying down the pathway of steps to perform. 

Of course, there are women who have broken through this mold. But there it is in the phrase: “broken through.” A simple place at the table would be sufficient. Instead, it’s like women are crashing the dinner party.

In order to move forward socially, and, yes, artfully, we must be willing to break from tradition and make room for all types. That doesn’t mean that the traditional male and female roles cannot exist. As long as performances of Petipa’s Swan Lake keep selling out, it is guaranteed that they will exist.

Bouder, leader of The Ashley Bouder Project, is constantly doing more to reinforce and stand by her statements from both this OpEd and her social media accounts. Recently, however, Bouder faced retaliation from her ex-male director, Peter Martins. This time, instead of laying down the pathway of steps to perform, Martins took away all steps, more specifically, an opening night, first-cast performance of the Sleeping Beauty, from Bouder. According to the New York Times, Martins continues to maintain the authority to change casts and whatever else he wants in his version of the production for New York City Ballet, despite no longer serving as Artistic Director for the company after severe allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct. Jonathan Stafford, the interim Artistic Director, had no authority to prevent this last-minute change to his first cast.

Bouder has chosen to fearlessly speak out, revealing the disturbing truth of a reality she and her peers face. Dance Data Project stands with Bouder as she remains steadfast and strong – “‘I feel like he is punishing me, even though he is not my boss anymore,” Ms. Bouder said. “And by talking about it I can be punished even further. But that’s a risk I have to take.'” Her honesty is the advocacy this community needs to fight the policies and leadership that do not promote equity and fairness in classical dance.

Read the New York Times article on Martins’ continued control here.

Read the New York Times article featuring Ms. Bouder’s project and advocacy here.

Read Bouder’s OpEd for Dance Magazine here.

Visit www.theashleybouderproject.com to see first-hand the dancer/leader’s advocacy.