Alastair Macaulay Says Ballerina Jenifer Ringer 'Looked As If She'd Eaten One Sugar Plum Too Many'

New York Times critic Alastair Macaulay recently reviewed "George Balanchine's The Nutcracker" and he took what could be interpreted as a jab at one ballerina's weight -- and she'd previously left the ballet due to struggles with her body image.

Of the performance, Macaulay wrote:

This didn't feel, however, like an opening night. Jenifer Ringer, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, looked as if she'd eaten one sugar plum too many; and Jared Angle, as the Cavalier, seems to have been sampling half the Sweet realm.

"One sugar plum too many"? Are you kidding us? And as if that wasn't mean enough, here's some background on Ringer -- a few excerpts from from a Dance Magazine article in the November 2001 edition:

But even as her career was taking off, her self-esteem was plummeting. If weight gain and injuries are the twin demons of a dancer's career, Ringer was about to deal with both.

[....]

Stressed out from her hectic schedule, Ringer became physically and emotionally depleted. She says, "I would be so tired and I would think, 'If I eat that extra--whatever--it would give me more energy the next day.'" Early in 1996, Ringer suffered a severe back injury that sidelined her for nine months. When she came back, she was heavier and began to lose parts. The company tried to put her in costumes with more coverage, but soon even that wouldn't work. "It was mortifying," says Ringer. "Dancing had become anathema for me." At the close of the 1997 summer season, she left NYCB by mutual agreement, with the caveat that the door was always open.

[....]

As Ringer shed pounds, she gained confidence. Before she left the company, James Fayette, a soloist with NYCB, had asked her to perform the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker for the New Paltz Ballet Theatre in upstate New York. In late 1997, he called to remind her that it was time to start rehearsing. Ringer tried to beg off, protesting she was still too heavy and out of shape, but Fayette insisted. For the next few months, she and Fayette performed around the tri-state area (New York, Connecticut, New Jersey).

Tsk, tsk, Mr. Macaulay. We'll eat a few extra sugar plums this holiday season in your honor.

(Via Fit Perez)

Comments

[DrSnuggles]

03:34 PM on 12/17/2010

Interestingly enough, a ballerina's weight IS important - simply because they spend so much time balanced on their toes (in some cases on half the toes of one foot) - not to mention the complicated lifts within a ballet.

However, that is an issue for the company and the ballerina herself - not for some juvenile reporter who should be concentrating on the quality and enjoyment of the performance as opposed to making snarky and utterly useless comments.

[lissy0625]

05:16 PM on 12/27/2010

Bet he can't even do a grand plie. Reporters should stick to their area of expertise.

[Brett Hatfield]

01:11 PM on 12/17/2010

Well folks, I'm going to have to agree that criticizing a dancer's body type is completely wrong. Jenifer Ringer is a very beautiful dancer and I do believe Alastair Macaulay owes her and the gentleman an apology and ought to use better discretion in the future of his review's. Afterall, ballet is a gift to us and something we should be thankful for - especially during the Holiday's..

That being said, if you pass by this comment Ms. Ringer, please know that your audience loves you unconditionally and that you truly are a beautiful ballerina...

[KevinCasey filmcritic]

08:19 PM on 12/14/2010

How about a little reporting on Macaulay's follow-up?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/arts/dance/04ballet.html?ref=alastair_macaulay

The fact that no one flamed him for similar criticisms of Ringer's partner in the very same review is as telling as it is predictable.

[MollyDancer]

09:58 PM on 12/13/2010

I am disgusted by his "snide" remark. Not only am I journalism student, but I am also a ballet dancer who has and still does suffer from a minor eating disorder. As a reviewer, maybe he should take a look into the strides that the dance world is attempting to make in hiring dancers that do not look like they weigh next to nothing. In fact, the NYCB, like Ringer states on TODAY, is a company that has women of various body structures. Aren't we trying to tell our young dancers that they can be successful and healthy? We read every where that actors are too thin and are sending the wrong message, blah blah blah...isn't it the same thing for dancers? I find it refreshing to see an amazing ballerina who actually looks healthy (not like she's going to break in pieces), like Ringer. Yes, a dancer does expect her body to be "criticized," it's part of the job, but save your ignorant and rude comments.

[lissy0625]

05:19 PM on 12/27/2010

Well said! How are we to help our daughters (and ourselves) when there are people like this? Reporters are the worst. I guess all we can do is surround all the gals in our lives with love and support. Keep hanging in there with your own struggle!

[Piepie]

05:02 PM on 12/13/2010

I doubt that he will suffer any penalty, but Mr. Macaulay apparently has a history of including snarky comments that have little to do with dancing in his dance reviews. Now he's claiming to have liked a plump dancer once--akin to the "I've got lots of black friends" excuse. Perhaps Macaulay has written one review too many.

[Michael Lang]

04:32 PM on 12/13/2010

I looked at the coverage of her dancing and she did not look like she had an ounce of extra body fat. The ideal ballerina as a anorexic freak is a homosexual aesthetic where the ideal female is supposed to look like a young boy. If the woman was fat, I would agree with the criticism but from a heterosexual point of view, I would say she was perfect.

From the Black Swan people have come to the conclusion that Balanchine liked his dancers to be anorexic. That is complete crap. Has any one heard of Suzanne Farrell who had wide hips and full thighs or Karin von Arnoldingen. His dancers had curves and were hot.

[Ted Walling]

09:37 AM on 12/13/2010

Critics rarely offer an opinion that is relevant. When I see a movie review that the critics like, I know not to watch it. When a critic slams something, or someone, I know it is worthwhile. I do not understand why people listen to critics. Who decides which overbearing windbags should decide what is good and what is bad? I have never needed anyone to help me decide what my opinion should be and do not value any opinion more, or less, than mine. The critic is allowed his opinion but, I think his opinion is weakened by this personal attack.

[STACABIRDA]

08:56 AM on 12/13/2010

It is appalling that this critic chose to share his tasteless opinion of Ringer's weight, but even more so is that he ever thought she was too big for the role. I studied the clips of her performance on TV and watched the TODAY show interview this morning, and in both Ringer appeared to be beautiful and far from overweight. Her frame, proportions, and health all appear to be dead-on perfect and no way overweight. I can appreciate that a ballerina, by nature of her craft, is up for commentary on physical aspects but they should be about the form, the physical flow and function of the performance; the strength and energy and power of the performance; not about the appearance of the human body. Totally tasteless writing, and to me, it says that he lacked substance in his review because of the garbage he chose to comment on. He must have been distracted when watching the show because there surely were better things to review and write on that that.

[2huffed]

11:05 AM on 12/07/2010

It is as if Mr. Macaulay were saying, "Look at the utter nastiness of this dig I have gotten printed. Remark with what cunning I attempt to make myself look erudite and authoritative by dropping the names of four classic painters in my first paragraph. And you do notice how precisely I choose my metaphors and how snarkily I style my prose, don't you? Yes, of course you do. And you, my darling unwashed American audience, can be sure that I bring this condescending, cheap, and utterly base attitude, to every critique I write for you, whilst deigning in my reviews to put my smarmy words in the mouths of the artists I so envy and despise. You will keep reading me, won't you? Oh yes, do."

[2huffed]

12:04 PM on 12/07/2010

For reference, from the past year only:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/arts/dance/11lyon.html?scp=22&sq=alastair%20macaulay%20%22dance%20review%22%20saying&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/arts/dance/30fall.html?scp=27&sq=alastair%20macaulay%20%22dance%20review%22%20saying&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/arts/dance/18biennial.html?scp=31&sq=alastair%20macaulay%20%22dance%20review%22%20saying&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/arts/dance/27away.html?scp=16&sq=alastair%20macaulay%20%22dance%20review%22%20saying&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/arts/dance/24martins.html?scp=21&sq=macaulay%20%22dance%20review%22%20%22to%20say%22&st=cse

[unone]

01:53 AM on 12/04/2010

Calm down, everyone. You may or may not feel that Ringer and/or Angle looked several overstuffed in this performance -- and how many of you were there? -- but it is decidedly the right & even obligation of a dance critic to remark on the bodies that are performing. The fact that there dancers are plagued by eating disorders does not mean that a critic can't comment on bodies that are displayed onstage. It's part of the reality of dance. And it's interesting that most of the remarks here focus on Jenifer Ringer, when Jared Angle's several-sugarplums-too-many appearance was mentioned in the same sentence. Gender bias, anyone?

[Ariana SextonHughes]

06:13 PM on 12/04/2010

i've seen both of them recently. in the FRONT ROW.

not only are macaulay's snarky quotes are no substitute for good critique, YOUR idea that it's the reviewers "obligation to remark on the bodies that are performing," is equally poor form. BODIES are performing. DANCERS are. there is NOTHING written in four centuries of ballet that dictates any absolute ideal in BMI.

yes, balanchine, during his later life, expressed a preference for waifish male and female dancers. however, his "baby ballerinas" were hardly anorexic .

finally, your allusion to the furor of his comments focusing primarily on the female dancer and not the male dancer in this year's nutcracker is a red herring. macaulay seeks in his even more wrenching non-apology. the thrust of our anger focuses on the female dancer because mr. macaulay is keenly aware of her battles with an eating disorder, thereby amplifying the cruelty of his commentary. whereas, the critique of the male dancer appears to emerge from nowhere. gender bias? perhaps. a thorough review of mr. macaulay's "work" might expose a long, underlying misogyny and a great potential thesis for an aspiring doctoral student in feminist studies.

the boycott of the new york times is about to begin.

alastair macaulay must be retired.

[Christina Vuleta]

10:14 AM on 12/03/2010

This kind of comment along with the stories of extreme weight loss that both MIla Kunis and Natalie Portman had to endure to play the ballerina' s in the new movie The Black Swan continue to fuel the body image conflicts of women today. It's all in the name of art but it still sets up unrealistic ideals.

http://4020vision.com/

[Christina Vuleta]

10:12 AM on 12/03/2010

This kind of comment along with the stories of extreme weight loss that both MIla Kunis and Natalie Portman had to endure to play the ballerina's in the new movie The Black Swan contunie to fuel the body image conflicts of women today. It's all in the name of art but it still sets up unrealistic ideals.

[IrishgirlsUSA]

11:32 PM on 12/02/2010

I was really enjoying his piece in the NYT until out of nowhere, at the very end - complete bitchiness came out and ruined everything. What is up with him.............male menopause creeping in maybe..........

[Natalie Cammarata]

03:53 PM on 12/02/2010

It was an unnecessary attack that obviously should have been edited out. What was Macaulay thinking???

www.chicagonow.com/everybodydancenow

[Katherine Lopez]

11:49 AM on 12/02/2010

What a tool!