NYC Ballerina Jenifer Ringer Responds To Alastair Macaulay's Body Criticism In NY Times Review (VIDEO)

New York City Ballet dancer Jenifer Ringer appeared on the Today Show this morning to respond to a comment made about her weight in a recent NY Times review of her performance in The Nutcracker. The quip heard round the internet, dance critic Alastair Macaulay's comment that RInger looked like "she'd eaten one sugar plum too many" has been vilified, but has gone un-apologized for. Macaulay responded to the uproar with a follow up in the NY Times defending his decision to comment on the dancer's body under the justification that if you'd rather not be critiqued on your body, don't enter the world of dance.

The justification Macaulay makes is not a new one and this issue has been raised before in dance criticism. However, the dance-world and media uproar about his criticism also derive from the fact that Ringer had previously been very open about her eating disorders in the past, having admitted to overeating and anorexia. On this morning's Today Show, Ringer paid a visit to reply to this issue in person as well as to discuss the aesthetic of an ideal ballet dancer's body, especially as highlighted by Natalie Portman's shocking weight loss for Black Swan.

Comments

[American in Exile]

08:01 AM on 12/18/2010

Mr MacCauley, you are a bore. Too bad you didn't have anything worthy to read: yet again. Your prose is not over weight, in fact it is downright anemic. Perhaps you should do something about it?

[Violinhunter]

04:55 PM on 12/17/2010

Hey, I agree with the critic - if you can't take the punches or rejection slips, get out of the kitchen. NOW.

[Robin Regan StPierre]

02:45 PM on 12/31/2010

HEY...No One need be vilified because of their looks OR body. If she is a crappy DANCER than critique THAT.

[Renee Libby]

12:21 PM on 12/16/2010

Degas anyone?

[Mark Berry]

01:19 AM on 12/16/2010

It wasn't just that Macaulay made some cheap shot about dancers' weight. It's that he failed as a critic. He had a chance to probe a little deeper into the relationship between body image and movement in ballet, and missed it: http://bit.ly/gy1ZJm

[m1jones]

09:16 PM on 12/15/2010

I hope the big public response to the critics inaccurate criticism spurred ticket sales.

[chickenygoodness]

01:02 PM on 12/15/2010

Since he has no fresh insights about dance, I guess he feels the need to resort to lame "witticisms."

[Tom O]

10:46 AM on 12/15/2010

When you are dancing onstage in a leotard, you are fair game for comments of the public and critics. Hopefully your love of the art overcomes annoyances and unflattering feedback.

[chickenygoodness]

01:04 PM on 12/15/2010

It's true that Ballet has a very demanding aesthetic, but the guy isn't critiquing ballet, he's taking low-level jabs like Joan Rivers on Oscar night. Hell, Joan Rivers is more incisive...

[Violinhunter]

05:01 PM on 12/17/2010

Absolutely yes. Even Picasso, even Mozart, even Bach, even Nureyev gets criticised. Every artist is a dartboard. If she cannot put up with the stings and the blows, she should go teach at an ivory tower where she can be anonymous.

[kellygreen]

01:58 PM on 12/20/2010

Calling a wisecrack about the weight of someone who is trying to recover from an eating disorder a "cheap shot" is an insult to cheap shots. Most cheap shots have more self-respect than that.

The man's comments either show an appalling lack of human decency....or an equally appalling level of ignorance.

It takes talent (and courage) to be an artist. I've yet to meet a CRITIC who ever created anything of lasting value...

...or merit.

...and it doesn't take much courage to hurl pointless personal insults at someone while hiding behing the shield of "artistic criticism".

[KevinCasey filmcritic]

11:15 PM on 12/14/2010

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

[Schweik]

11:43 AM on 12/15/2010

This was the point Macaulay himself made..
Those who accuse Macaulay of all mortal sins are guilty of gender bias.

[Schweik]

09:08 PM on 12/14/2010

So it's OK to say that a sports figure is out of shape, but not ballerina. Why the double standard?

[Angie Cordeiro]

09:56 PM on 12/14/2010

She is not "out of shape"; oh wait, you didn't see her dance...

[Schweik]

03:16 AM on 12/15/2010

Did you. Angie, see the live performance?

[kellygreen]

02:09 PM on 12/20/2010

Because the "weight" standard in the world of ballet has nothing to do with being in good physical shape....and is all about meeting a pretty warped and toxic standard of "beauty".

That is what this controversy is about.

When people refer to a "yoga body" in a woman, they are talking about someone who is a example of lean, healthy, fit-yet-supple strength. Yoga teachers are every bit as supple-and-strong as any ballerina. Many advanced yoga postures (asana) require incredible strength, flexibility and concentration to perform without injury.

But in the world of ballet, a yoga teacher (many of whom are vegetarians) would be considered "fat".

http://yoganonymous.org/the-body-and-beyond-seane-corne-workshop-nyc/

versus....

http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/1115012220053519156pOIjwT

Which is why anorexia and other eating disorders run rampant in the world ballet.

[Arielski]

07:46 PM on 12/14/2010

Macaulay needs to take a look at videos and photos of Margot Fontayne. Often judged to be the best ballerina of the 20th century, she was of normal weight and continued dancing into her 50's.

On the other hand, and to paraphrase Winston Churchill, "Ringer can always lose a little weight, but Macaulay will always be ugly."

[Aitch5]

05:04 PM on 12/14/2010

Critic made a totally unnecessary comment.

[Ariana SextonHughes]

03:40 PM on 12/14/2010

it's time to fire alastair macaulay.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/200273/nbc-today-show-‘fat’-ballerina-‘i’m-not-overweight’

[gaia bellavera]

11:38 AM on 12/14/2010

Alastair Macaulay is a fat bald, untalented ugly white man.
I have been disgraced by his presence at the NYTimes ever since I became a professional dancer 20 + years ago and became aware of the importance of a NY TImes review.
his critique of anything other than European-based ballet or modern dance is ALWAYS off and heavily biased in his obviously limited and ancient cultural perspective. When will they fire him or poison his wine at intermission???? a true cultural disgrace is that sad excuse for a writer and man.
Needless to say Ms. ringer is FAR from an overweight or out of shape ballerina... i shutter to see written what he thinks of Misty Copeland....

[jourdankr]

02:57 PM on 12/14/2010

nice one!

[Schweik]

09:05 PM on 12/14/2010

Um... so you're entiteled to your racially tinged insults , but Macaulay, who knows more about ballet that most of us puit together is no entitled to judge ballerina's

I suppose you think it is logical. You 're wrong It is is not.

[kellygreen]

02:13 PM on 12/20/2010

Any one who considers it appropriate to call someone recovering from an eating disorder "fat"...deserves all the criticism he gets.

Including being called a miserable excuse for a man.

[BettyEverdene]

10:21 AM on 12/14/2010

Jenifer Ringer was exquisite in both form and technique. I wonder if the critic was reacting to the stiff underskirt she had on that was causing her skirt to (intentionally) billow at the sides? If so, he should have criticized the skirt. He reminded me of Balanchine, who was exacting to the point of plastic surgery about the physical silhouette of the ballerinas. Balanchine wanted them to resemble his favorite ballerina, Suzanne Farrell. Such extremes do not enhance the intention of ballet.

[Scorpiosunshine]

10:00 AM on 12/14/2010

She looks fantastic in her interview and in her performance. As a matter of fact, she is quite thin, just not skeletal. (thank goodness)

Her dance was graceful, perfectly and beautifully executed, and in my opinion her athletic body added to the performance, whereas a skeletal appearance probably would have distracted me from the dance.

If that is what one too many sugar plums does to a body, I'll have a bushel!!

[m1jones]

09:13 PM on 12/15/2010

I am a big ballet fan and have often been disgusted by the current fashion of extremely thin ballerinas. It is painful to watch them from a distance, looking like dancing X-rays. It is also painful to see them up close. I was shocked to see a San Francisco prima ballerina (then about 35 - close to retirement) who was not only painfully thin but prematurely wrinkled. In contrast, Jenifer Ringer looks like the Sugar Plum Fairy should look. She moves easily, quickly, and gracefully, and looks lovely in her costume. The magic of the ballet is intact. We see plenty of people who are over weight for their roles. That is not the case here. In contrast, Natalie Portman looks completely overwrought, absurdly made up, and without real appreciation of Swan Lake. The movie is a melodramatic absurdity directed by someone with little appreciation of classical ballet. There are many ballerinas who are beautiful and would have been more convincing. Portman, at over 30, is too old for a ballerina who is supposed to be making her debut in a major classical role which would have best been performed by a twenty year old. The transformation - indeed mutilation - of an actual ballerina from a fluid teenager into a turned out, ultra thin woman with permanently deformed feet and hip sockets is both fascinating and masochistic. The movie Black Swan misses an opportunity to tell the engrossing story about the horror behind the apparent effortlessness of ballet.