Berlin: Staatsballett's first black female dancer
accuses it of racism
Chloé Lopes Gomes claims she was repeatedly told she
did not fit in because of her skin colour
Kate
Connolly in Berlin
Wed 9 Dec
2020 05.00 GMTLast modified on Wed 9 Dec 2020 05.54 GMT
The first
black female dancer at Berlin’s principal ballet company has accused the
institution of racial harassment, claiming she was repeatedly told she did not
fit in because of her skin colour.
Chloé Lopes
Gomes, a French citizen, who joined the Staatsballett as a corps de ballet
member in 2018, said she had faced recurrent racial abuse from her ballet
mistress. In an interview with the Guardian she also accuses the company of institutional
racism after managers failed to act even after various incidents were brought
to their attention.
Lopes
Gomes, 29, said the dance teacher forced her to wear white makeup to “blend in”
with other dancers in Swan Lake, and she had refused to give her a white veil
for a performance of La Bayadére, telling her: “It’s because you’re black.” She
said the teacher repeatedly told her her skin colour was not aesthetically
acceptable and used her to recreate a painting of a black dancer surrounded by
white dancers, telling her she would show her friends that the company “also
has one of those”.
She said
that an atmosphere of fear at the company, which was typically found throughout
the dance world, “meant that whilst my fellow dancers often felt uncomfortable
at my treatment they were mostly too scared to speak up.”
The scandal
has triggered a large response across social media, attracting the support of
Misty Copeland, American Ballet Theatre’s principal dancer, as well as dancers
from Ballet Opera de Paris, English Ballet and the organisation Blacks in
Ballet. Berlin’s ballet world was already reeling from the results of an
investigation which confirmed physical and psychological abuse of pupils had
carried on unchecked for years at the state ballet school.
In a
statement this week the Staatsballett’s interim artistic director, Christiane
Theobald, said: “The racist and discriminatory behaviour that was brought to
light in our company deeply moves us … The necessary skills and tools to deal
with issues of discrimination need to be worked on thoroughly.”
Lopes Gomes
said she had felt pride when she joined the company in early 2018. “It was the
fulfilment of a childhood dream,” she said. “I had not known I was the
Staatsballett’s first black female dancer, until I was interviewed by some
local journalists who told me.” The Berlin tabloid, BZ, ran its story under the
headline Why This Swan is Something Special and marvelled that as a black
dancer, she would now be “playing a snow flake” in The Nutcracker.
“Of course,
Berlin is not as ethnically diverse as London or Paris,” Lopes Gomes said. “But
I was happy that I had the chance to show other young black girls that they
could do the same.”
But she
said joy quickly turned to anxiety when she was made to feel she did not fit
in. “The day after my audition and the ballet mistress told a fellow dancer of
mine she thought it had been a mistake to hire me because a black woman spoils
the aesthetics. This same woman spent the next two years discriminating against
me,” she said.
“I was
under her supervision most of the time so I could not avoid her. We began with
Swan Lake. She was always correcting me, telling me I was out of line. But I
know I was not. It’s not that I can’t take criticism, but we’re talking about
the basics that you learn when you are three years old.”
As the
premiere neared, the dance teacher told Lopes Gomes she would have to whiten
her skin.
“She said
to me everyone needs to powder their skin white to blend in. I told her I would
never look white, I am black. She just told me I’d simply need to use more
powder.”
Lopes Gomes
approached the company’s then co-artistic director, Johannes Öhman, who told
her she should never have to whiten her skin. “The ballet mistress was annoyed
that I had effectively undermined her authority,” she said. “She was angry and
she became increasingly unpleasant towards me.”
The teacher
has refused to comment since allegations first appeared in Germany.
Lopes
Gomes, who trained at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Russia, said because she
spoke no German and the teacher, a German, spoke no French or English, they
initially communicated in Russian. “It meant that my colleagues often didn’t
understand her throw-away remarks to me, like: ‘You’re not in line and we see
that you stick out because you’re black’.
“When she
was handing out the Shades’ veils for La Bayadére, and reached me, she laughed,
and in front of everyone said: ‘Of course I can’t give you one: the veil is
white and you’re black’. I felt so humiliated,” Lopes Gomes said.
The
Guardian has spoken to another dancer who witnessed the veil incident and has
corroborated Lopes Gomes’ account.
Lopes Gomes
claimed that when she again approached Öhman, he told her she should not accept
such behaviour towards her. “But he said there was little he could do as, as a
civil servant, the teacher has a lifetime contract which effectively means she
can never be fired.” Lopes Gomes said she turned down his offer to talk to the
teacher “because I feared it would only exacerbate the situation”.
When Öhman
unexpectedly announced in January that he would be leaving the company Gomes
said the treatment worsened.
“On the
very day he announced his departure, the ballet mistress told me that from now
on I was going to have to use white powder whether I liked it or not. I knew I
was on my own.
“It was
horrible. My skin was like this grey-green tone. I felt like the ugly duckling.
It just amazed me they couldn’t accept the idea of there being a black swan,”
she said.
She had
bumped into Theobald in a corridor while wearing the makeup. “She asked me why
I had whitened my skin, that I was not supposed to. But nothing happened.”
Lopes Gomes
said the company has no safe way for dancers to report discrimination or
maltreatment and that dancers lived in fear of being dismissed if they
complained. “They show little sense of responsibility towards their dancers,”
she said.
She also
said she had been appalled to discover on joining, that the practice of
blackfacing dancers was considered normal, after she saw young white children
applied with black makeup for a production of The Nutcracker.
Lopes Gomes
said she was told in October by Theobald that the company would not be renewing
her contract. “They said because of the Covid pandemic they were letting some
dancers go and that they thought I would be better off in a smaller company,”
she said. “She insisted to me that race was not the reason they were firing me,
as well as admitting that it was awful what had happened to me.”
She was
however subsequently cast in Covid-adapted productions of Giselle and Swan
Lake, for which the number of dancers was cut by half. “Instead of 24 dancers,
they chose 12. If I was so substandard, why would they have chosen me?” she
asked.
Theobald has
said she only became aware of Lopes Gomes’ treatment after she wrote a letter
to the Staatsballett management in September, signed by several of her fellow
dancers, detailing the racist incidents. She said she was “deeply shocked” at
the revelations.
Her
statement said the Staatsballett planned a series of workshops for its
employees, as well as a restructuring of the company and a review of its
longstanding repertory customs.
A
Staatsballett spokeswoman said that she was not able to comment on personnel
issues, but confirmed that the company was now undergoing an “extensive process
of reappraisal”. It would not comment on whether it would consider rehiring
Lopes Gomes, or dismissing the ballet teacher if the allegations were legally
proven.
Berlin’s minister
for culture, Klaus Lederer, has said he is “appalled” by the accusations but a
spokesman said while he was fully aware of the affair, he was “not able to
interfere in a matter concerning labour law”.
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