The announcements may seem straightforward, but the conversation about the Paris Opera and diversity has already caused a stir in France this year.
In December, an article in Le Monde magazine, the daily newspaper, caused a stir when it suggested Neef was considering banning problematic works. At one point the article discussed the “aesthetic choices” of Rudolf Nureyev, the star Russian ballet dancer who directed the Paris Opera Ballet for much of the 1980s. Some of its productions, which the company still performs, originally featured dancers in black and yellow, and although they are no longer presented that way, some sequences, like the “Chinese Dance” in its “Nutcracker,” still seem to viewers to be regarded as insensitive.
“Some works will undoubtedly disappear from the repertoire,” Neef was quoted as saying.
This comment, which Neef later said was taken out of context, was picked up by Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally Party, who wrote on Twitter that it was an example of “insane anti-racism.” It also sparked a debate in the media and online about whether the focus on diversity was a sign of creeping Americanization.
Neef said he wasn’t concerned about a similar reaction to the new report. “We are not here to promote a climate of censorship or dictatorial leadership,” he said. “The whole point of this initiative is that we want to perform opera and ballet by artists of the 21st century for the audience of the 21st century.”
It was clear, however, that the excitement had an impact on how the report was drafted. “I expect protest from the far-right and the most conservative politicians and intellectuals, and say it is once again about the Americanization of French culture,” said Ndiaye. He wrote it carefully to ward off these reactions, he added.
The Paris Opera isn’t the only ballet company in Europe involved in racial debates. Last year Chloé Lopes Gomes, the only black dancer at the Berlin State Ballet, made global headlines when she complained about racism in the company. In 2019, Misty Copeland, an African-American director at the American Ballet Theater, complained about the use of blackface at the Bolshoi in Moscow, although many in Russia defended its use, arguing that it wasn’t racist because it was the way it was classic Ballets have always been performed in the country.
