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Ballet Dancers Defend Kendall Jenner After Disastrous Vogue Campaign

By Val Powell
Published on: 04:01 PST, Sep 22, 2016

Kendall Jenner was pummelled with criticisms following her Vogue España campaign where she tried to dance like a ballerina in a BTS shoot.

The operative word is “tried,” but failed miserably she did, according to people who saw the behind-the-scenes video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=48&v=dzNtTCGa_p0

Now, professional ballet dancers have come to the defense of Kendall Jenner as they cried foul over the bullying that she’s being subjected to through no fault of her own.

Mic reached out to ballet dancers like Andrew Hayes-Daly, formerly of Pennsylvania Ballet; Michael Breeden, Miami City Ballet dancer; Allison DeBona of Ballet West in Utah and Kathryn Morgan of the New York City Ballet.

Morgan has a problem more of the way Vogue tried to belittle their jobs by making it appear that “all you have to do to become a ballerina is wear pointe shoes.”

“Wearing a tutu does not make you a ballerina. Running around a studio does not make you a ballerina. Discipline, passion, hard work, pain and constant blood, sweat, tears is what it takes to be a ballerina,” she said.

Nevertheless, she said that Kendall Jenner is a model who’s just doing her job.

For his part, Daly stated that it’s not the fault of Kendall Jenner because she’s being made to follow a concept envisioned by the team. But he said that Vogue should know better especially after the Free People controversy involving American Ballet Theatre soloist Misty Copeland two years back.

He said that the magazine has no excuse considering that it featured professional ballet dancers in fashion shoots before.

Breeden, meanwhile, described the Kendall Jenner BTS video as “definitely cringeworthy.” But he stopped short of joining the bandwagon to take out the pitchforks against the model.

“Ballet dancers are very used to seeing our art form ‘borrowed,’ and I think it’s a little silly to think there’s malice or ill intent behind Kendall’s shoot,” he said. “Ballet is seen as glamorous, and she’s in the business of glamor.”

DeBona reiterated the sentiments of the other ballet dancers saying that Kendall Jenner should not be blamed. She was, however, disappointed that Vogue España chose Jenner for the campaign instead of a real ballerina.

However, the criticisms against Kendall Jenner just continued to come in droves.

Dance Moms instructor Abby Lee Miller said in an Instagram post that she’s not a fan of the photo shoot.

“There are so many amazing dancers in the world… Kendall Jenner is not one of them! Shame on Momager, Kris Jenner!!! She never made these kids take dance class. She better get North West to the @aldcstudiola before it’s too late!” Miller apparently wrote.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKj7BO5gVD7/?tagged=abbyleemiller

Twitter fans pulled no punches when it came to showing their displeasure over the photo shoot. One Twitter user could not understand why Vogue España tapped Kendall Jenner instead of a professional ballerina. Another described the whole thing as “offensive” because “you can’t just put on pointe shoes and go for it oh my god.”

Refinery29 even suggested that Zendaya threw shade at Kendall Jenner when she posted a photo on her Instagram promoting her new line of shoes.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKmXPQNg7dY/

There’s no report about a quarrel between the two, so this could just be a coincidence. However, it must be pointed out that Zendaya Coleman was also a model for Old Navy and Macy’s among others, as well as a backup dancer. Maybe Zendaya could be sympathizing with professional dancers out there considering that the word “ballet” in her Instagram caption was enclosed in quotation marks.

[Featured Image by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images]

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