Turning Pointe
I had high expectations for this book and it somehow exceeded them.
I had high expectations for this book and it somehow exceeded them. I have been following Chloe Angyal's Substack, My Pointe Is..., for a few years and have been eagerly awaiting this book ever since she announced she was writing it. Angyal covers a lot of ground with attention to detail, empathy, and nuance in 300 short pages. Her writing is (as always) engaging and informative and I read this book in one sitting. Ballet is simultaneously an art form that has entranced mainstream culture for centuries and an insular world that monopolizes the time and bodies of its dancers. Therefore, Angyal's writing is all the more important.
Angyal writes about the strict gender binary in traditional ballet, and more importantly, how some dancers are making space for queer and gender-nonconforming dancers, like Katy Pyle of Ballez (NYT coverage of Ballez). I am aware of strict performances of gender in dance because of my –interest in– obsession with figure skating (or as I call it, "foot-knife-ballet") and it was interesting to see the parallels between the two athletic art forms.
“It’s in ballet class, no matter how long they stick with it, that so many girls learn what it means to be a woman.”
As in all insular and strictly-gendered environments, the ballet world is a ripe hunting ground for abuse, especially for young girls and women. Angyal writes about the cycles of abuse that are allowed to continue in ballet that mirror similar sectors such as USA Gymnastics and academia.
“an age when most girls are taught to be hyper-vigilant about the privacy and protection of their bodies, ballet requires that only ... the hands of their instructors, but those of their classmates [are allowed to] touch them in places only certain doctors and lovers should be familiar with.”
Though full of depressing statistics and stories, it is important that this issue gets highlighted, along with the co-morbid issues of eating disorders and workplace injuries in ballet. This book is not all doom and gloom, however. Turning Pointe is about the future of ballet and the trailblazers, like Katy Pyle, who are seeking to create a safer and more habitable sphere for all its dancers. Angyal makes sure to include race discrimination in ballet hiring practices (and casting, and dance apparel) and barriers that fat dancers face. I would recommend this book to people who love ballet and even to those who do not know much about ballet. Many of the toxic aspects of ballet are also present in society more generally – overwork, "no days off," working through physical and mental pain, sexual harassment, racism, fatphobia, and misogyny – and this book explores these issues very thoroughly and thoughtfully.
And while we are on the subject of fat dancers, it's time to hang up that inflatable "fat ballerina" Halloween costume.
