Boston Ballet is partnering with the MASSACHUSETTS TRANSGENDER POLITICAL COALITION (MTPC) to continue to evolve gender portrayals in classical ballet. MTPC works to ensure the wellbeing, safety, and lived equity of all trans, non-binary, and gender expansive community members in Massachusetts. They have been leading training and conversations to help build Boston Ballet’s collective literacy on respectful and inclusive gender representation in the arts and update the portrayal of the stepsisters in SIR FREDERICK ASHTON’S CINDERELLA.
“Providing organizations and the people that make them up with the tools and knowledge to create more affirming and inclusive environments for trans and nonbinary people is one of the key pillars of MTPC’s mission,” says Tre’Andre Valentine, Executive Director of MTPC. “We are excited by this opportunity to engage with Boston Ballet to ensure that their work positively represents our community and provides a welcoming and inclusive space for all.”
“Boston Ballet believes dance is for everyone,” says Boston Ballet Executive Director Ming Min Hui. “We are exploring ways to evolve the role of the Stepsisters in Cinderella from ‘caricature’ towards ‘character’. We care deeply about the trans community and welcome this opportunity to engage in an important dialogue on topics of transgender issues, drag history, and gendered performance. Our hope is that audiences and artists can engage with the production with added meaning and context so that we are building literacy in LGBTQIA+ issues and trans rights alongside a celebration of classical dance.”
History of the Stepsisters in Cinderella
Sir Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella premiered on December 23, 1948 with Sadler’s Wells Ballet, later to become The Royal Ballet. Ashton originally created the role of Cinderella for famed ballerina Margot Fonteyn, but Moira Shearer performed the opening night because Fonteyn was injured. Historically, the roles of the stepsisters are performed by cisgender male dancers. Ashton himself famously danced as a stepsister with The Royal Ballet.
“For most of the past 100 years of ballet and opera, the most ungrateful siblings in fairy tale history have been played by men in drag,” writes Rebecca Ritzel in THE GLOBE AND MAIL. “In 1948, English choreographer Frederick Ashton played one himself, with Moira Shearer (of Red Shoes fame) as the titular scullery maid. It was a crowd-pleasing gimmick, not necessarily a progressive development, yet Ashton’s choreography became the definitive version set to Prokofiev’s score.”
Through a modern lens, not only does the story of Cinderella have misogynistic plot points written into it, with beauty standards, obedience and domesticity attributed to femininity, but also the caricatures and tropes in cross-casting roles that are already misogynistic compounds with transgender oppression.
Transmisogyny is defined as the intersection of transphobia, the discrimination and oppression of trans people for their gender expression, and misogyny, the hatred and devaluation of women and femininity. Comedic portrayals of “masculine women” as the ugly and unappealing character or the villain in arts and entertainment deeply impacts trans women and transfeminine people.
“The joke is an old joke. It’s usually ‘Ha ha, look! A man in a dress! They’re not supposed to be in dresses!’ And it sort of bucks up against our old ways of seeing gender and gender roles. It can be, and has been, extremely harmful because that then gives a cue for society sometimes to take trans people as a joke, especially if they aren’t, in society’s eyes, succeeding at presenting in a socially acceptable gendered way,” writes trans performer Angelica Ross in The New York Times.
Moving from caricature to character
While Boston Ballet strives to uphold the artistic intentions of its choreographers, we realize we must confront issues such as transphobic gender portrayals. “As we curate the future of ballet, it is important to remember where we came from. I want to preserve choreographic gems while removing problematic themes. It is important to expose dancers and audiences to the academic classical approach, adapted for today’s world,” says Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen.
“We are so glad to be working closely with the Boston Ballet to address the portrayal of the stepsisters in this production of Cinderella,” says MG Xiong, Director of Programs at MTPC. “Against the backdrop of rising anti-trans rhetoric and discrimination throughout the US, it is important now more than ever for cultural institutions such as the Ballet to ensure that they are uplifting, including, and affirming transgender people, their identities, and their stories.”
MTPC has been leading conversations with Boston Ballet that focus on the respectful portrayal of gender in the arts. The trainers cover foundational knowledge about gender identity and its portrayal in the arts, especially that of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive communities. Literacy on these topics is intended to assist Boston Ballet with thoughtful representation of gender identity in ballet and avoid negative tropes, stereotypes, and caricatures.
“We will gather more audience, staff, and artist feedback on the updated presentation of male stepsisters, and continue to incorporate what we hear in making programmatic choices and evolving repertoire in the classical canon,” says Nissinen.
