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Chloé Lopes Gomes, a French citizen, joined Berlin’s principal ballet company in 2018. Photograph: pickledthoughtz
The first black female dancer at Berlin’s principal ballet company has accused the institution of racial harassment, claiming she was repeatedly told she did not fit in because of her skin colour.
Chloé Lopes Gomes, a French citizen, who joined the Staatsballett as a corps de ballet member in 2018, said she had faced recurrent racial abuse from her ballet mistress. In an interview with the Guardian she also accuses the company of institutional racism after managers failed to act even after various incidents were brought to their attention.
Lopes Gomes, 29, said the dance teacher forced her to wear white makeup to “blend in” with other dancers in Swan Lake, and she had refused to give her a white veil for a performance of La Bayadére, telling her: “It’s because you’re black.” She said the teacher repeatedly told her her skin colour was not aesthetically acceptable and used her to recreate a painting of a black dancer surrounded by white dancers, telling her she would show her friends that the company “also has one of those”.
She said that an atmosphere of fear at the company, which was typically found throughout the dance world, “meant that whilst my fellow dancers often felt uncomfortable at my treatment they were mostly too scared to speak up.”
