According to the newspaper, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, part of London's Conservatoire for Dance & Drama, has made the decision to review the "elitist" art form as part of a diversity drive to become a progressive institution.
"Young people need to pay to take ballet classes as a general rule and for a vast number of potential students, they've not had access to ballet... It is a very specific form that is built around particular white European ideas and body shapes that are often alienating to young people who do not fit that aesthetic ideal," head of undergraduate studies at the conservatoire Francesca McCarthy was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.
McCarthy also noted the traditional vocabulary problem when it comes to gender distinctions in the classroom: the word "ballerina" for women and "danseur" for men. She added that the school staff are encouraged to use gender-neutral terms like "dancers/people/everyone" and the pronouns "they."
A year ago, the Telegraph reported that the conservatoire decided to radically change the curriculum and begin to eradicate the concept of "white supremacy" which is allegedly rooted in some subjects. The authors of the initiative were concerned about "pointe shoes and tights" and demanded to make sure that "the whole spectrum of skin colors will be represented."