NYT Writer Defends Article Criticizing Ballerina’s Weight
It’s a controversy that couldn’t have possibly been better timed. Last Friday, just as people in big cities headed out to see Natalie Portman act like a dancing fool in Black Swan, a New York Times ballet critic was fielding criticism for an unsavory line he wrote about a real-life ballerina’s eating habits, without acknowledging that she’d once stopped dancing altogether because of her weight.
Specifically, Alaistair Macaulay wrote in his review of “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” that “Jenifer Ringer, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, looked as if she’d eaten one sugar plum too many; and Jared Angle, as the Cavalier, seems to have been sampling half the Sweet realm.”
It’s a pretty sharp jab, made even sharper by Ringer’s history with food and weight — the dancer had, as far back as 1996, experienced various problems with her weight, food and self esteem. According to Dance Magazine, Ringer suffered a back injury that put her out of commission for nine months of 1996. She gained weight while she was away from the New York City Ballet, and when she was ready to dance again she started to lose parts because of the new pounds. She left the ballet at the end of the 1997 summer and didn’t come back, even after she started losing weight, until another member of the company practically begged her to start dancing again.
Understandably, Macaulay has been raked over the coals since the critique got published. Then on Friday, he responded (notice we didn’t say apologized), writing that while he might have been tough, he applied the same standard to ringer that he (and ostensibly all good ballet critics) apply to all dancers.
Ms. Ringer has spoken in the past about coping with eating disorders. Some of my correspondents feel I should know this history of hers, just as others have on occasion written to explain which ballerinas have histories of scoliosis. I think otherwise. Dancers do not ask to be considered victims. When I’ve praised Ms. Ringer, I’ve applied the standards I’ve applied to Suzanne Farrell, Natalia Makarova and Kyra Nichols.
…
Some correspondents have argued that the body in ballet is “irrelevant.” Sorry, but the opposite is true. If you want to make your appearance irrelevant to criticism, do not choose ballet as a career. The body in ballet becomes a subject of the keenest observation and the most intense discussion. I am severe — but ballet, as dancers know, is more so.
We appreciate his candor and his honesty, but we still think what he said was still fairly insensitive, especially given Ringer’s history. Do you think Macaulay was right to say what he said, or should he have held back in light of what he knew about her?
Alastair Macaulay Responds To Ballerina Weight Comments, Says Body In Ballet Is Relevant [The Huffington Post]
Timeless Alchemy, Even When No One Is Dancing [The New York Times]
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