You don’t need to be a ballet fan, or even a fan of dance for that matter, to appreciate professional ballerina Misty Copeland’s reflections in this recent reel.
“I have been colouring my own point shoes my own skin colour since I started dance,” she tells the camera.
Explaining the shoes are sold in a colour called “European pink”, Misty says the name in itself represents an “interesting choice of words… and I think it’s a subtle way of excluding brown and Black dancers”.
Now, if this is what Misty Copeland – who made history as the first African American Female Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre – has to deal with, should we really be surprised it’s a widespread issue in the dance community globally? Yet, when it confronts you face-on, especially as a mum, you can’t help but feel taken aback at first. Then you remember, if you don’t call out systemic racism in this day and age, what example are you setting for the next generation? My daughter’s generation?
A few weeks ago, I entered a store to buy tights for my daughter, who like the rest of the students in her cohort, is required to wear these for class, concerts and dance exams. When I learned there weren’t any that matched my daughter’s darker complexion, I was told by a bystander to buy the “pink tights” so “everyone would match”. I said to the woman clearly, “I want my daughter to have tights that match her skin tone”. She didn’t accept that and said, “When they’re on stage the lights will be on and it won’t be a huge difference”.
Again, you don’t need to be a fan of dance to understand the issues with what this woman said and that it clearly doesn’t look good when you have brown skin and your legs are ‘beige’. A part of me dies every time I see it. Can you imagine it the other way around? A Caucasian child in brown tights?
My daughter was there. “But why didn’t that lady want me to match my skin colour?” she innocently asked.
That was her first experience of racism. We have to point it out so we can move on from this, and fast. The recent TikTok Awards ‘racism’ story reminded us just how much it is ingrained and unspoken about. In this case, it is not always intentional or from malice, but it is built into a system.
That woman in the store didn’t even know the impact of her own words. She didn’t even know that what she was saying was micro racism – unaware and unknown of the racial microaggressions at play. She didn’t know that not having access to a whole shade of humans is linked to systemic racism.
I spoke to Janani Beadle from Sydney-based dance and fitness business, Get Fit Janani. She has over 30 years of dance experience in Bharatanatyam, jazz, tap, ballet, contemporary, lyrical and Hip-hop dance. When she was eight, the only tights and makeup that were available were made for white skin.
“I never spoke about this before and it’s time we do,” she tells me. “I was micro conditioned to think that that was the only option and therefore that was okay. I felt awkward going on stage where my top half was brown and then the bottom half was pink. I just kind of adjusted. We need to stop adjusting, we have the resources now,” she adds.
“Australia is a multicultural country and it is not only Caucasian people that do western dance forms. We need to change and adapt. We need to educate and tell them how we feel. We need to speak out for our daughters so that we can create the change that our mothers could not.”
I started my hair and beauty services brand, Gather & Stitch Beauty, 15 years ago at a time where we couldn’t find our foundation on makeup shelves. We mixed foundations to suit our clients’ skin. We made their skin tone. Janani started her business to ensure that South Asian women felt seen and heard with dance and fitness.
We are built on making sure women, of ALL skin tones, feel confident in their own skin.
It is 2025 and there is no excuse to leave out a whole colour range. Can you imagine a makeup store not stocking brown?
I believe systemic racism has deep physiological impacts and while it may not seem like an important enough issue to some, it truly is. My daughter was thoroughly confused. It was her first experience of racism, and its impact was further amplified when her colour wasn’t on the shop stand. I had a discussion with her for days after about why her skin colour was not represented.
I don’t think people are aware of the significance of it or the conversations that happen in our homes. I think it is really important that we advocate for our children, especially when shops or dance schools haven’t fully grasped an understanding that it is a form of exclusion.
Bodysuits and tights should match your child’s skin. Not someone else’s.
Top image source: Canva (with additional design by Draw Your Box)
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