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Dance wear for Black & Mixed Race dancers


Katymac

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Am sure I have seen some specific ranges.....absolutely right that one persons nude sure isn't another's :) !

If you do not find anything on dance shop websites, maybe you could try Instagramming or similar with a dancer such as Precious Adams from English National Ballet for advice - good luck!

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Am sure I have seen some specific ranges.....absolutely right that one persons nude sure isn't another's :) !

If you do not find anything on dance shop websites, maybe you could try Instagramming or similar with a dancer such as Precious Adams from English National Ballet for advice - good luck!

Great idea. Or if Ballet Black has a Twitter/Instagram feed (I'm pretty sure they are on Twitter), their dancers may be able to provide advice.

 

Not on topic of black and mixed race dancers (apologies) but my daughter often has the opposite problem of "nude" being too dark!

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It's so complicated & pink tights look awful over really dark skin - DD can just get away with it

 

I have dyed her some canvas shoes the right colour - but it's hard to match anyones skin I guess, my dad always called my legs dayglo white!

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Over the years, I must admit that I've noticed some *very* odd "skin-coloured" undergarments, particular on the Manons in the Royal Ballet production, third act (where she's supposed to be bare-legged and in rags - I assume the underwear is supposed to be something like skin-coloured, but I've seen some greys and even some blueish tinges).

 

I've actually just got back from watching the Alvin Ailey company - predominantly dancers of African-American heritage, I think - in the cinema.  They were dancing the Royal Ballet's Chroma, where I think the original costumes were supposed to be fairly close to skin-colour.  For the Ailey dancers, I was surprised to see a lot of dusky - but relatively bright - pinks, usually with a blueish tinge.

 

Like other people who have posted on that site, I'm really surprised to see this is still quite such an issue - I'd have expected businesspeople to have become aware of the problem at least 15 years ago and done something about it, even if only because it was an untapped market.  I know I bought a "coffee"-coloured bra, I think from M&S, sometime around then, but I'll admit to having walked round the lingerie department several times since then and been vaguely aware that there probably wasn't that much "skin"-coloured underwear available for people with darker skin.

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But Ballet schools wouldn't let them wear 'non-uniform' we tried with our nude shoes......one school it was 'OK for class but for exams & shows you'll have to wear the proper uniform'

Not great, is it. If uniform specifies "nude" anything, then the "nude" should match or be near to the student's own skin tone. Otherwise they'd be better off specifying "pink" or "beige".

 

Having said that, a year or two ago when we watched ENB's Swan Lake, Precious Adams was wearing pink tights and they looked fine. She didn't stand out (and I mean that in a good way).

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