Ballet Russe and Nijinsky influence the gendering of ballet? Consider both repertories and choreography.

Today, when the average individual thinks of dance, they quite often think of ballet. But if ballet itself is a cultural stereotype of what 'dance is,' the specific art form of ballet itself has a legion of cultural stereotypes attached to it. Legendary choreographic interpreters past and present have attempted to break such ballet cliches and stereotypes, with different degrees of success. But perhaps the greatest tradition breakers of ballet as an artistic form have come from the dances and dancers of the Ballet Ruse, such as Nijinsky.

Some of the stereotypes the Ballet Russe under the leadership of Nijinsky attempted to break were that ballet as a female art, conducted in a series of tightly constrained feminine steps, performed by dancers in highly recognizable dance costumes such as tutus, to conventional (then popular) strains of...
[ View Full Essay]