Aesha Ash dancer with alonzo King Lines Ballet

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Ballet: The Last Frontier

Rachel Howard

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, January 28, 2007

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  lines_155_df.JPG Aesha Ash is a dancer with Alonzo King Lines Ballet. Deanne Fitzmaurice / San Francisco Chronicle blackdance28 Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice
  lines_155_df.JPG Aesha Ash is a dancer with Alonzo King Lines...
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  AUGUST 1 2006: Smuin Ballet 2006-07 studio shoot in San Francisco, CA. Photo by Tom Hauck/Courtesy of Smuin Ballet Ran on: 01-28-2007 Aesha Ash of Alonzo King's Lines Ballet, left, and Ikolo Griffin of Smuin Ballet, inset. Photo: Tom Hauck/Courtesy Of Smuin Ball
  AUGUST 1 2006: Smuin Ballet 2006-07 studio shoot in San Francisco,...

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Growing up, Aesha Ash knew that black women were rare in American ballet companies. But joining the corps of New York City Ballet, the troupe created by 20th century dance behemoth George Balanchine, was still a shock.

"The typical Balanchine ballerina has long flowing hair and blue eyes," said Ash, now a member of San Francisco's Alonzo King's Lines Ballet. "I thought, 'Where do I fit in here?' "

Dancing "Symphony in Three Movements," she'd look down the long row of pale-skinned girls in white leotards and pink tights and feel conspicuous. Once during rehearsals for "Swan Lake," a ballet mistress scolded the corps for tanning, saying, "I don't want to see any dark bodies on that stage!"
But during her eight years at NYCB -- most of those as the only black woman in the company -- Ash was on a mission. "There are so many stereotypes of black women being strong and aggressive," she said. "I wanted to show we can also be elegant and ethereal."
Ballet may be the last frontier for black dancers, long prominent in jazz, tap and even modern dance, with its early connections to socially progressive ideals. Is the scarcity of African Americans in ballet due to economic barriers or a bias toward white European ideals? And what should be done about it? The answers depend on the particular dancer's experience.

Ikolo Griffin was the first outreach student to graduate from the San Francisco Ballet School. Born to an African American father and Jewish mother, and raised by a Japanese stepfather, Griffin joined the company in 1993, when it had four black dancers. "I thought we were so beautiful," he said. "We had pride in the same way the Spanish or Russian dancers do."

But, frustrated by being passed over for soloist roles, in 2001 Griffin decamped for the mostly black Dance Theatre of Harlem, where he quickly rose to principal. He attributes the greater opportunities to being in a "smaller pond" of talent than at San Francisco Ballet. After DTH disbanded in 2004, Griffin joined the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. He's now back in the Bay Area as a member of the Smuin Ballet.

Ash and Griffin shared very different ideas about why African Americans are still such a minority in ballet.
"The African American culture isn't that interested in ballet as an art form," Griffin said. "I think that's what eventually caused DTH to sink. There wasn't enough interest from the black community to support a ballet company. But African American culture has its successes in music, in sports, in jazz, in so many other fields. And the ballet has enough support from other communities."
But Ash saw the high cost of ballet class and pointe shoes as an enormous barrier, and felt African Americans would embrace ballet if given the chance.

"Someone asked me, 'How do you get more blacks to see ballet?' " she said. "The answer is to put blacks out there in it. It's the same as Tiger Woods or the Williams (Venus and Serena) sisters. If you see someone from your own community, you think, 'Maybe I like tennis. Maybe I like ballet.' "

They also had very different reactions to the old stereotype, promulgated by New York Times chief dance critic John Martin in the 1940s, that African Americans have the wrong body type for ballet.

"The curve, the muscle tone, is different," Griffin said. "At the major ballet companies, the director's personal taste may not include the African American dancer." Rather than seeing a need to change ballet's limited body aesthetic, Griffin saw ballet as a dying art form wedded to its European aristocratic roots.
But Ash pointed out that body ideals in ballet have changed over time from the curvaceous figures favored in Russian courts to the rail-thin builds that dominate stages today. "Balanchine changed the image of the ballerina," she said. "If you go from that image, you never see butts or chests. And that doesn't fit the stereotypical black woman now."
Both dancers clearly feel that their presence makes a statement. Griffin -- who identifies as black, white and Japanese -- is proud to represent all three with the Smuin Ballet. "I feel bi-racialness will soon be the norm in society," he said. "And we bi-racial people are bridges among cultures, a living example of cultures mixing."
After a decade of determination to "change the hearts and minds of the ballet audience," Ash said she's still hoping to see real change.
"The fact that we're here in 2007 and people are still interested in what it's like to be a black ballerina says a lot," she said. "I'm waiting for the day when someone calls to ask what it's like to be a ballerina, period."

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