Challenging classical ballet with Annabelle Lopez Ochoa

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She challenged the norms of classical ballet by putting male dancers in a tutu. Here's how Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is changing the world of ballet.

Transcript

00:00When I said, I want tutus, everybody's kept really quiet.

00:03It was like a flat line.

00:05And I said, just give me a really cheap tutu and I'll make something from it.

00:09Meet award winning choreographer Annabel Lopez Ochoa.

00:12In the studio and on stage, she's challenging traditional notions

00:15of classical dance.

00:16In contemporary dance, putting a man in a skirt is like so deja vu.

00:22I mean, we did that in the 80s.

00:25And now in classical ballet, you put a man in a skirt, it's like

00:29I wanted them to break out of their normative cisgender.

00:34I'm a male dancer and I'm always have to do this.

00:38But breakout, it was a little off for the classical companies.

00:43But then when these dancers came together, they just loved it.

00:47They just embrace it.

00:49In her early years as a dancer, she quickly learned that she didn't fit

00:52the mold of a classical ballerina.

00:54I was not fit because my physiognomy,

00:58I mean, I'm a Latina woman.

00:59I have short legs. I have very muscular legs.

01:02I have wide hips. I have short arms.

01:04I mean, everything is not good, except I was very flexible.

01:09I had an arch.

01:10You know, I had to hear for seven years that I was ugly,

01:13that I didn't fit until even in the last year.

01:17I was one month before graduation in June.

01:20It was you know, we were on the roof terrace.

01:22We went to sunbathe and the director saw us and she stormed out.

01:27And she said, a classical ballerina is white.

01:31You get all out of the sun.

01:32And I was shocked because I had never heard of that.

01:35She looked at me and she startled and went away.

01:39And I thought, well, but I'm brown the entire year.

01:42What does that do to me?

01:43And that's where I realized, unfortunately, one month

01:47before I graduate as a classical ballerina, that actually my color

01:52did not fit, not just the shape of my body.

01:58For Lopez Ochoa, creating new narratives and dance is more than a calling.

02:02It's a mission.

02:03I think those ballets like Giselle and Swan Lake, Cinderella,

02:07they were made, I mean, Giselle was made in 1847.

02:11If you look at Giselle, 1847, it was very contemporary, actually.

02:16And that was served to the audience then.

02:19And it was based on what society was then.

02:23It was very much about the people in the audience.

02:27But then I think, why can't we have our contemporary stories?

02:31Why was so much made in those times and remains?

02:35I mean, there's like 15 ballets that still remain.

02:39And we are not making more effort in trying new ballets.

02:43And, you know, we're going to make 100 new stories and maybe 12 will remain.

02:48So I feel that it is my duty for the classical art form

02:53to bring new stories and not just for audiences,

02:57but also for the ballerinas.

02:59Her work centers women's perspectives, offering nuanced views of historical

03:03figures rather than the cliche of the damsel in distress

03:06present in much of classical ballet.

03:08I feel like I want to give something to those artists to put their teeth

03:12into it and to think, who was Frida Kahlo?

03:14In which world did she live? In Mexico?

03:17What does that do when you have an accident?

03:19What does it do to be Chanel and you've collaborated with the Nazis?

03:23I'm hoping to make those ballets,

03:25but also to create those roles for those ballerinas.

03:30With all my respect, the world of classical ballet

03:33is not yet ready for the stories that I want to tell.

03:36I want to do those stories.

03:38Do we have the companies for it?

03:40Do we have directors?

03:41Do we have a board of directors saying, yes, let's do it.

03:44Let's take the risk.

03:46I'm 50. I'm hoping that until I choreograph, what will it be, 68?

03:51I hope I can choreograph until 68, so I have 18 more years

03:54for the world of dance to change so that I can do those stories.

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