Staatsballett Berlin hunts black dancer, it's 'racism'

A teacher of the "racist" dance troupe, who demanded the practice of "whitefacing" from a black dancer, to represent "Swan Lake".

This is the heart of the complaint by Chloe Lopes Gomes, which overwhelms the Berlin Staatsballett.

    The French dancer told - for the first time at the Spiegel - that she suffered severe discrimination in the prestigious institution of the German capital due to the color of her skin.

At the end of October, Lopes Gomes did not have her contract renewed, and at this point she stepped forward to report the highly discriminatory climate.

The story bounced around in the local press, which reported accusations in particular against the dance teacher, who in the past claimed, among other things, that the dancer would make up her face in white, so as not to penalize the "homogeneity" of the representation of Swan Lake.

    According to the Tagesspiegel it would be "a German with a biography in the East".

Lopes Gomes, who has worked in the past for companies in Nice, London and for the "Bejart Ballet" said she has never been so discriminated against as at the Berlin Staatsballett.

The case has also raised controversy in the sector: the German magazine "Ballett Journal", for example, writes about the affair with an article entitled "how a bad dancer puts herself on stage as a victim".