Have you ever seen the Nutcracker? The ballet that every child dreams to be in. Ballerinas in striking white tutus enhanced with tool, sparkles and gems. Dozens of ballerinas in pink satin pointe shoes waltz across the stage without hesitation. What the audience sees is the glitz and glamour of ballet. Little do they know behind it is 38 weeks of rehearsal, sweat, bloody toes, stress fractures and barely 1000 dollars a week to live off of and buy supplies for dancing. Seeing a professional ballerina twirl and jump onstage may seem like a piece of cake. But there's more to ballet than pristine shoes and dazzling costumes.
The average lead role ballerina gets paid 830 dollars a week, according to journalist Kay Bosworth. That means 830 dollars for: food, rent, transportation, costumes, medical tape, pointe shoes and if you are unfortunate, doctors appointments. And that's only the lead role dancer. The corps de ballet
(the ensemble) gets paid less, around 500 dollars a week. So after a long days work of dancing, a ballerina has bloody toes, pained limbs, a hungry stomach and less than adequate food because of their lack of salary.
I have been dancing on pointe for three years now and have gone through seven pairs of pointe shoes. Lucky for me I only need a pair every five months or so. But there are dancers out there who go through a pair every three weeks. And if they are dancing twelve hour days six days a week, they will break in the shoes faster than a dancer who only dances three times a week, therefore needing a new pair more often. The average pair of pointe shoes costs 100 dollars. Let's say you are in the corps de ballet and you need a new pair of shoes every week. In three weeks they will get 1500 dollars if they get paid 500 a week. Three weeks means 3 pairs of shoes, which is 300 dollars and 1/5 of their monthly pay. Plus add in 50 dollars for sewing supplies, ribbons and elastic. Pointe shoes have to by hand sewn because each foot is unique, which means the dancer has to sew them by hand herself.
So the next time you go see a ballet with experienced dancers, appreciate the work and dedication they put in because dancing is not only their work but their passion. Behind the mask of makeup, royal costumes and perfect smiles is hard work and devotion.
I really liked your post. It was very detailed and grasped my attention right away. I like how you could make a personal connection. Dancing is something a lot of people think to be easy and doesn't require a lot of time and effort, but obviously your post explains that it is a really difficult profession. Your point came across clearly and made sense. I was shocked when you said that dancers had to buy their own shoes, especially because of how quickly they wear out and how expensive they are. I especially liked how detailed you explained how the dancers felt after long hours of rehearsal and performances, I thought this added to the affect and made the post seem very realistic.
ReplyDeleteYour information from Kay Bosworth gives your post creditability. Also I thought the last paragraph, even though it was short, tied the whole post together really well. I loved when you said "Behind the mask of makeup." I thought it was a really cool way to explain how the ballerinas hide the pain they endure in order to get their royal costumes and perfect smiles.
Colette, this post is very good. I'm glad that you've chosen something slightly different to write about. As I've shared, I have a new fascination with ballet, primarily because it appears to be an incredibly rigorous, yet beautiful form of art. In fact, as your post suggests, part of the art is hiding the rigor. Over the break, I watched Patricia McBride be honored at the Kennedy Center. Misty Copeland and various less famous dancers from the New York City Ballet performed.
ReplyDeleteMy only issue with your post is that I wish you would have streamlined your argument a bit. I wish you would have written either about the physical demands of ballet or the financial burden that dancers must endure. You try to write about both, and as a result, you don't really give adequate coverage to either. If you had chosen just one hardship to write about, you might have been able to offer a bit more evidence.