Kendall Jenner is the October cover girl for Vogue Espana. It’s her fifth Vogue cover overall. And I still don’t really get it, the hype around Kendall. It’s all a mystery to me. For Vogue Espana, Kendall agreed to a ballet-themed shoot. In many of the photos, Kendall seems to be in some kind of ballet studio, wearing cute ballet-themed clothes, and even wearing pointe shoes. There’s also a video of Kendall not-being-a-ballerina and talking about absolutely nothing:
Do you see the problem? I’ll admit, I didn’t think there was a problem, or I didn’t recognize what some would see as a problem. The problem is that real ballerinas are really, really mad that the magazine did this shoot with someone who has no ballet training. They think it’s, like, ballerina appropriation.
Kendall Jenner is many things: a reckless driver; an excellent goth; a carbophobe. What she is not — as video evidence can attest — is a good dancer. Nevertheless, for a recent shoot Vogue España elected to dress the model in a variety of ballet-adjacent outfits and to film her sashaying around a dance studio. And when the ballet world caught wind of the video, it was not pleased.
“I had to grow up pretty fast, I love being a kid — to run around like a child just not caring,” Jenner says in the video. “I’ve always been adventurous, so I love doing stuff like that — I don’t know, just stupid stuff. I love walking around; being able to be free.”
“The video is, apparently, a sort of little-girl fantasy on ballerina-ness,” writes one blogger for Dance Spirit. “Which, O.K. But to our eyes, the whole thing reads as pretty disrespectful to the artists who devote their lives to this demanding craft.”
One tweet reads: “Kendall Jenner & that vogue ballet video is so horrible. Lol it’s actually offensive to people who trained in dance all their life.”
I’ve never really thought about it in those terms, like actual ballet dancers would be offended that an uncoordinated model was play-acting the “ballet” for the sake of a photo shoot. Would I be offended if Vogue did a photoshoot with Kendall pretending to be a blogger? LOL. Now I’m giggling at the idea of that. Kendall could get a pair of hipster glasses and blankly stare at a cute laptop, whilst wearing Prada. So glam. That’s exactly what my life is like! As for ballerinas hating on Kendall… I get it. It was a stupid editorial concept and Kendall is an idiot too.
Photos courtesy of Vogue Espana, Fame/Flynet, WENN, Instagram.
It’s a freakin’ fashion editorial! Tell the bun-heads to get over it. Good grief.
Next week they do an editorial in the streets and pedestrians will be mad cause they don’t look like pedestrians in those shoes.
This perfectly sums up how ridiculous this is. Models “pretend” to do a lot of things while showcasing clothes (boxing, running…), should people who do those things professionally be upset that they weren’t asked to do it? Ugh. So silly.
Models have always pretended to be many things, just like actors. The ballerinas need to simmer down.
This doesn’t bother me. But I have a kid who is an obsessive bunhead (in class 6 days a week at a preprofessional ballet school) and she gets such flak from her middle school classmates who are all on sports teams for doing an activity they think is for toddlers/is all about tiaras and wands. None of her peers consider her an athlete. This is the kind of photo shoot that just reinforces that idea.
The funny thing about this is that (to my eye) ballet students can be unbelievably snobby about other people’s technique–maybe born of defensiveness for being disparaged, maybe because the field is so cutthroat. I’m sure that her ballet friends would take one look at Kendall are pronounce her “so Dolly Dinkle.”
How does it reinforce that idea? She’s just showcasing clothing. Models “play” other athletes too when they are working for sport-wear brands.
It’s more offensive to ballerinas when someone like Natalie Portman plays one of them and dismiss years of practice saying she learned everything in a small period of time and did her own dance scenes.
Because it’s all about her being childlike and flouncing around airily in tutus, which is the idea many people have about ballet. Most people don’t underestimate the intensity of athletes on sports teams by imagining them as childlike and silly. I think the intent was to make HER seem childlike and silly or maybe ethereal, it’s just unfortunate that she drags in a field that’s already feeling underestimated and misunderstood.
First – good luck to your daughter.
Second – thank you for speaking to the cut throat nature of ballerinas.
I danced with the Pittsburgh ballet. Now in my early 40’s I’m looking at hip replacement, another surgery on my foot, and digestive issues due to 10 years of AnaMia.
That’s the life.
Cut throat is the word.
I’m going to be honest -for my era – The tail end of Gelsey . . .
I looked at the picture in the leotard and said : she’s too fat to be a ballerina. No definition in her thighs.
That’s the “mentality” from my era.
It’s cut throat, vicious, hungry and competitive sacrifice.
They are over reacting because until they leave – they can’t see anyone stepping on their broken toes objectively.
Exactly Birdix and Hannah – Ballet is a real sport and ballerinas are real athletes that put in time, money, years and years of effort – plus sacrifice their bodies (as MrsFToYou states) for the art that is beautiful but that requires you give everything to it.
While I roll my eyes at Kendall, it’s disappointing that so many people view it as frivolous and pejoratively girly, when it is actually about grit and sacrifice. Way more than football or tennis. Ballet is on the level of gymnastics.
MrsFToYou–some of my daughter’s friends have been sent off to board at Gelsey’s summer program… hopefully she’s recovered and is a great teacher/can draw from her own experience as a cautionary tale, but I’m also pretty sure most of those parents haven’t read her first book…
MrsF….For whatever reason, your post just really struck me on a visceral level. Truly. I’ve never been a dancer, but when I lived in NYC I was friendly with a girl who was in some prestigious school and I was constantly in shock over the stories she would tell me and all the health issues she struggled with. I also remember quite vividly being in complete awe over how effortlessly she moved her body and trying to imagine the strength that took. Wishing you all the best.
@MrsFToYou
Great comment. Fascinating and sent me down an internet rabbit hole. Thank you.
I am a dancer and all I wanted was for her to AT LEAST make an effort to point her toes…
Well, get over it then.
Mieke, that’s not fair. I can’t equate my former sport (swimming) with anything glamorous, but if I had been a dancer that devoted the time and energy many ballerinas do I think I would be annoyed at seeing any Kardashian/Jenner completely phone it in and act little a silly little child while spouting some weird nonsense.
yup. former dancer here. I know kendall is a model and NOT a ballerina but having 20-some-odd years of training I couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t even trying to point those toes. lol.
Nataly Portman taking credit of being a PRIMA ballerina was most offensive. The years it takes to master this and she says in 6 months she was taught .
My thoughts exactly. There has to be a limit to this misappropriation thing. Please, tell me there is!
I’m a Brazilian writting in broken English…. let the games begin!
I agree. The nonstop barrage of hurt feelings over every little thing is exhausting. To be clear, before anyone jumps on me, I am not talking about legitimate grievances. If Kendall dressed up as a lobbyist for a photoshoot I’d roll my eyes and turn the page.
People are freaking out that what’s his name used models with colorful dreads,what’s the difference.
I’ve sneered at female models pretending to be chemists in ads for chemistry equipment, with their fancy hair falling all over their face in full makeup with a pristine lab coat, merrily contaminating all their samples and risking going up in flames themselves…. There’s a reason we tie our hair back and don’t wear makeup in the lab, people.
When you actually do the thing the models are pretending to do, you notice the fakery and it’s irritating.
What did they photoshop to make her inner thigh look like a finger print in the last photo. Is my monitor crazy?
Is it the texture of the tights she is wearing?
You’re right it does look like a big fingerprint!
It’s the tights.
Flesh colored fishnets pulling from the position of her leg.
LOL I thought this was a joke.
The video isn’t that awesome and she obviously has no idea about ballet movement but jeez, fashion these days is not supposed to do anything at all. If fashion would be as correct as it should be so that nobody would ever feel insulted, it would be very gray and boring.
I work at a ballet conservatory and people really are pissed about this. They feel that dance is not as respected as other arts to begin with, and then it’s romanticized on top of that – it mak s dancers feel like their years and years of training and hard work are being trivialized in a way that doesn’t happen to other professions.
If she was playing a ballerina in a film I would understand it, but this is a flimsy photoshoot. This is about the aesthetics of ballet, not technical knowledge.
Right – but the aesthetic is still all wrong. It looks terrible to a dancer’s eye, but maybe it looks great to the layperson? I don’t have such strong feelings about it – I think it looks awful and stupid, but it doesn’t offend me.
That’s creative freedom. A few years ago it was a thing in fashion to create skirts that reminded ballet clothing. Should that be forbidden too?
Yeah, I think the ballet crowd need to get over it. They feel like they’re not respected? That’s a shame, because they’re some of the most elegant and able-bodied athlete/artists in the universe. Need to work on their confidence though, by the sound of it if THIS is pissing them off. Seriously.
Onerous – I’m a total non-dancer and it looks way off even to me. Makes Kendall look foolish since she doesn’t even try to make it look a little more real.
Following this logic, ballet dancers shouldn’t wear any swan-costumes, because hard work and pissed mood should be seen. Let them wear something dark with blood stains.
Ballerinas can be ridiculously precious snowflakes, though. You don’t hear doctors constantly whining about actors in TV shows and movies who play doctors yet everytime a movie has dance they go on and on about the actors not being as good (well, duh, they’re actors).
+1
My husband complains all the time about television shows and movies that portray federal law enforcement because they make it look too easy. A guy says, “Enhance that photo!” and then they have a crystal-clear image of the suspect and they solve case promptly. drives him nuts. And it does have actual implications because people expect him to solve a case in a matter of days, when really, it can take months, even years, to build a case.
You know what really gets on my nerves? Those fake heart surgeons, they couldn’t replace a heart valve if their fake patient’s life depended on it.
Now what really was funny, was the Grey’s Anatomy representation of a dermatology department. Hand rubs and massages all around. They had fun with it.
I’m a doctor and a dance fanatic (on the board of a major ballet). My impression was the criticism from dancers was mostly that if they are going to do a ballet themed shoot, they should at least TRY to make her look like she is a serious dancer. The video was cringeworthy, the way she was clumsily jumping around and slouching over things – and I like Kendall as a model, so not shading her just to shade. Similar feelings when I watch surgeons on TV – I don’t expect it to be perfect, but when they do super stupid stuff like listed for heart sounds on the wrong side, it irritates me because someone should have been fact-checking.
If I couldn’t eat fries or cheese or bread, I’d be pissed, too.
No shade to dancers, I cannot imagine that level of commitment.
I have steered my kids away from sports choices such as dance and football (the american kind) because the risk of injury is so high.
But dancing and modeling are closer related than modeling and medicine or any other service profession. Aesthetics and imagery play strong roles in both fields. So what makes this video more galling to the dance community is that a dancer/model could easily been cast for this video. Not even talking about professional, working dancers. Tons of models have a dance background, specifically ballet. I don’t think anybody was expecting Kendal to move like a professional dancer, but she didn’t even try to point her toes. The Editor erred too much on the side of loose and flimsy resulting in Kendal looking inept and unbelievable.
And speaking abou other professions, I HATE how interior designers are portrayed in tv/films, reality shows. It doesn’t show the hard work and technical knowledge that it takes and it actually harms work, because clients think it’s like on tv, FAST and cheap. But non of that it’s real and it’s our job to explain and show that to people. Eye rolling? Yes, enough to be mad? Please!
And women working in tech are all like Garcia from Criminal Minds. We bleed quirky and dress up in little girls clothes, and are insufferable because we’re constantly making pop culture references and pretending to type on a keyboard while a video plays on screen to make it look like our manic typing is doing something. We also yell “ENHANCE!” all the time while zooming in on terrible resolution photos.
Honestly – I’m not sure where the hell ballerinas have been – but almost every single tv show out there is showing a completely false reality of at least one profession. NONE of these things show the reality and hard work that go into the profession.
I get it – if you feel angry about something, speak up. But don’t act like it’s only one profession that gets a false representation. And a fashion shoot is pretty darn minimal in the scheme of things – it’s a few photos stylized to look a certain way. It’s not episode after episode on series after series.
This reply is for Erinn. Your description made me lol.
Yes, that’s the real source of the irritation. The false images just make it harder when you’re doing the real job and people expect the tv version.
I was at an energy miniconference many years ago, the only real techie in the room. I was the only one dubious about their idea that of course a technological fix would come soon. They were influenced by the tv/movie/comic book version of science, where the world is threatened by something horrible and a lone-wolf scientist goes into his basement lab and comes out with the solution two hours later. Science doesn’t work that way. It can take years just to try to figure out the right way to prepare your samples….
I just … are we really talking about this? There are tons of professions that aren’t respected. There are countless fashion shoots where models pretend to be business women etc. You’re talking to someone here who works as an assistant and laughs her ass off every time some dumb movie secretary spends her day filing her nails. Please. If that were my life, I’d be seriously overpaid. I know dancers live in a bubble but this is just ridiculous. Yes, it’s a hard job, it’s not well paid, it’s an art form that takes forever to master. But I don’t see the lawyers in my firm going nuts over a TV show like Suits. They laugh about it. Apparently ballet dancers have no sense of humor?
ITA
I just can’t with this.
What bugs me is this kind of stuff will be used to mock and denigrate REAL examples of cultural appropriation. Ugh.
I’m a lawyer. We’re either the devil’s own advocates or investigative geniuses in editorials and the arts. Get over it, ballerinas.
But you aaaare!
They do equestrian themed photo shoots all the time with models who clearly don’t know the first thing about horses. Holding equipment wrong while furiously pouting, perched on a horse with equitation so poor they’d topple off if the horse took a single step, tack improperly (even dangerously) misused, the list goes on. They sometimes even use horses that obviously suffer from neglect; skinny, long ragged hooves, etc.
I get pissed about it but what can you do? They’re not going to stop because they don’t care. Yes, it’s offensive, but at the end of the day you have to understand they don’t care about anything except the “look”.
You nailed it! It is really upsetting to see those editorials where you can see that the horse is unhappy, or worse, not even properly cared for. It does not really matter how good, beautiful or perfect the pic would otherwise be, but if the horse is uncomfortable the look is gone. I just do not get it how the editors cannot see that – it really isn’t that diffult to see.
If the horse is unhappy, then the problem is not the model or photographer, but the lack of supervision by an actual expert.
That’s the entire point, there is no expert involved. If there is, I am frankly at a loss to explain the ridiculous, dangerous, and/or poor conditions portrayed in the final photos. I can’t think of a single horse person I respect (or even grudgingly accept) who would tolerate such things, much less seek them out as apppears to happen with so many of these shoots. I have no idea who allows such foolery but someone must.
But that’s how it is, they have a vague idea for a “look” and they cobble together a stage version of what they think it ought to be. Nobody bothers with research or bringing in experts, they only evaluate the aesthetic appeal from their point of view. “Let’s have an English fox hunting look! So rich! So chic!” “Let’s have a hippie/native shoot! We need horses! Get that girl on a horse! So free spirited!” Meanwhile those of us who know something about it are bewildered and annoyed.
I’m sure the exact same thing happened here. “Ballet! So pretty! Soft colors, make it look dance-y! Get some of those toe shoe things. So chic!”
What’s your opinion on the Gucci ads featuring Charlotte Casiraghi? Are the horses in those photos well cared for? Because if not that is a huge problem considering she is a competing Equestrian.
Wren: I’m not an equestrian, but the bit about the treatment of the horses might be something worth bringing into the public eye. That’s quite a different matter than an incorrect portrayal of people’s professions and hobbies, and I think might influence ordinary people to avoid companies who advertise using neglected animals.
..maybe their REAL complaint is that it’s Kendall repping the ballet life..?? I would be more pissed about the usage of a sub par, boring ass, dead eyed Jenner/Kardashian than the lack of form… jus sayin..
So many followers, so little to say.
@Yolo112
This!!!!
I’m not a ballerina or related to the professional dance world in any way, and I was pretty offended watching that video. I do consider myself a good dancer, and even at my age, apparently I can dance the sh*t out of Kendall. IMO she almost looked like she or the editors were belittling the profession with that video. I think the problem is the video mostly. The still photos I have to problem with. But the premise that she’s supposed to be like a little girl that’s goofing off in ballerina clothes just doesn’t work. For starters Kendal isn’t a 7 yr or 10 yr old little girl. (Actually a 7 yr old ballerina could dance better than her). The video of her with her 15 yr old body acting with gleeful uncoordination like a 9 yr old while beautifully dressed like a 20/30 yr old dancer would dress is just OFF. Doesn’t match up, and is distracting to my senses.
Yes! I love this thread of complaints!!
As a business graduate what pisses me off is that people like Kim Kardashian are considered talentless and useless, despite the fact that they have built a business and brand empire, and people like Justin Bieber are excused cos “at least he has talent”. So what exactly are we telling people here? That as song as you can sing, dance, act (a subjective artform), MODEL (seriously?), design clothing, etc, then you are so amazing and worthy, but if you’re an intellectual or entrepreneur then you are not as good because you have no “talent”. Well thanks society! I guess I’ll throw my BSc in the garbage then, seeing as I am a talentless hack.
Rant over-
The problem is that average talent (Bieber, Swift, Miley etc.) is extremely overrated in our hyper superficial culture that emphasizes profits and marketability over real “amazing, worthy” talent. That’s what consumers are tired of. The idea the marketers, advertisers, editors, and business grads think they can dictate to consumers what they deem as a successful ad narrative because they’ve used all the formulaic gimmicks: youth, beauty, name recognition, good lighting, and a glossy finish.
Furthermore, if editors are going to use video and somewhat controversial models, then they’re opening the door to criticism. The flat, frozen nature of photography gives a greater allowance to successfully appropriate and exploit imagery. But with video, even the marginally invested consumer will notice the inadequacies of the narrative and thus it’s disingenuous intent.
Kim and Klan are successful at selling their image because they exploit the sensationalism and gossip nature of marketing/advertising by using their personal lives as the narrative content. It’s really not that much of a talent, most anybody could do it given the right circumstances, looks, boobs, greed and thick skin (along with connections of course). I don’t call that talent. I call it a skill to exploit for fame and wealth. Real talent goes way beyond image and narrative manipulation. Real talent inspires and elevates people beyond trivial gossip and artificial sensationalism.
Thanks for your input Cranberry!
What IS talent though?
To me the discussion isn’t about whether Bieber has talent (the kid CAN sign) but why do we praise this type of ability over say, business acumen?
Don’t get me wrong but if “most anybody could do it” then anybody WOULD be doing it… fact is they aren’t. And how many have failed trying? The Kardashians are a huge brand that continues to sell, regardless of what they’re selling.
Chiara Ferraghi of The Blonde Salad is a hugely successful blogger and a multimillionaire thanks to a shoe business – is she talentless? I mean, all she does is dress up and post pictures, right? And yet her success has been a case study at Harvard Business School…. so clearly there is some business savvy and hard work there.
And sure you can blame capitalism and the laws of the market – I absolutely think our world is totally effed up in terms of what we value – but the fact is that some people succeed in business where others don’t. Yet instead of praising their abilities to overcome the fierce competition and be successful, we say they are “talentless” because they don’t have some subjective natural ability.
Beyonce is a massive brand: she is considered talented and amazing and praise (worship *cough*)worthy.
Kim is a massive brand that sells and who has made she whole freaking family rich and famous, but she is considered a whore and a hack…
I’m just saying that I don’t want to be considered talentless and useless if I succeed because my abilities don’t lie in the entertainment industry.
@Val
Sure you can call ‘business acumen’, as anything else, a talent in the most general meaning of the word. But the distinction that most are making when praising people in the arts and entertainment is that those abilities or talents inspire and move us on a very profound level. A beautiful voice, a song that makes you dance, a tragic story, an emotional performance, a vivid painting, etc. Culturally these talents instantaneously bond us together in a common human experience whether you’re alone or among others. This is why these talents are “celebrated” (and exploited) the way they are in our society.
So yes, I think there is a distinction between different talents like singing vs. marketing. One is inspiring and has a visceral effect in and of itself, the other does not. Marketing can obviously involve visual and narrative artistic skills, but it is usually planned and researched for a specific purpose and group. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t very talented people in these fields. There obviously are, but our society is not going to celebrate them to the degree we do “artists”.
I disagree with you that our society doesn’t praise and greatly value business talent and success. No, we don’t celebrate them as cultural ‘celebrities’, but in our culture above all else we value financial success. As you said, business entrepreneurs are being studied at Harvard. We have a leading presidential candidate who’s main qualification is his business success.
I can totally agree with you that too many entertainment “artists” are completely overrated in comparison to their natural/cultivated abilities and quality of what they produce. The reason they are overrated is because of marketing and branding. So while I agree that there’s a lot of inequity among celebrated artists, I don’t think that ‘branding’ should be culturally celebrated. If anything the Busines$ of marketing needs to be seriously readjusted and not play such an all encompassing role in our culture and especially in the arts.
So when people dress up as ballerina for Halloween, do you feel offended? because that person hasn’t studied ballet, but yet they have on the attire of a professional ballerina. I think the bun heads are making to much of it.
“I had to grow up pretty fast, I love being a kid — to run around like a child just not caring,”
She had to grow up pretty fast? Why? Because her parents lost the house and they were turned out onto the streets? Because she had to go to work while still underage to help pay the rent and feed the family? Because she was growing up in a single parent household and had to raise the other kids and miss out on school while mom worked three jobs? Because she was shipped off into foster care at age 8 and had to have her life planned out so she had some place to go when she hit her 18th birthday or finished high school? Because she grew up in an orphanage in a country that would turn her out onto the streets when she hit 13? Oh wait, because she screwed up her Uber account and had her big sister Kim harass the company on Snapchat and Twitter so Lyft now gives her free rides.
I just cannot with these Kardarsians.
😂😂😂 I can’t agree enough with you on this one!
I have friends who are ballet dancers and I can understand their point, There is so much graft in this profession… and well, when I think of Kendall I don’t think of the word graft. I don’t think she even knows what the word means herself.
@Lise
I agree graft no grift yes
I have a tiny little amount of sympathy for the Jenners. I do think that because of the lifestyle their parents profited on … they were forced to grow up quickly. Or at least – encouraged. It’s not the same kind of thing as the scenarios you listed – it’s a lot more comfortable way of growing up too fast. But I don’t doubt that their parents allowed them to be involved in things that were way too adult than what they should have. I think it’s more of a lack of supervision, lack of boundaries, and lack of any real upbringing that have allowed/caused them to grow up so fast. It’s not like they had a ‘real’ childhood in the normal sense of the world.
I feel similarly towards them as I do the Lindsay Lohans of the world. Absolute crap parents who were only looking out for their wallets.
I love your post! *claps*
I have to disagree with you here. YES, the girls had to grow up fast because mommy wanted to turn them into more cash cows for the company. It’s a different scenario from what you described, but it’s still sounds like a pretty messed up way of growing up.
And the result speaks for itself. I wouldn’t want to switch with her for all the money, freebies and job opportunities in the world.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏.
She speaks from a place of ridiculous privilege compared to everyone you mentioned, but this is one time I might let her slide. I’m not sure if it actually was a safe option for her to grow up in that household and refuse to participate in any aspect of an entertainment career. What she’s doing now is her choice, but I can perhaps see that the 14-year-old version of this woman didn’t have a lot of options given who her parents were and what they expected of her.
How come that we are not allowed to wear any costume these days? It’s gonna be hard on Halloween and for all strippers.
You could also offend bunnies ghosts, superheros, real vampires and slutty nurses.
Yes! These theme is a REAL problem, that should be solved immediately before someone gets hurt!!!
My cats are already getting ready to protest. I don’t get why they care because they’re not even black cats like my costume but still, they stay pressed…
Ballet studios always have little fluffy rugs of course….. Eye roll
And yes it does trivialise ballet by reducing it to just a game of dress up. Ballet dancers get this shit all the time.
Music videos, films and tv trivialize a lot of things, many professions are not represented in a realistic way. In the same way that magazine covers use photoshop and houses of characters in films and tv are always too expensive for that character to live in it. I mean, a lot of it is just a prop, set design, inspiration, projection. It’s not meant to be realistic, but from there to get angry because of it, well, it seems too much. It’s not like she is playing a ballerina in a biopic.
But when you’ve got a very expensive, high profile, one minute video editorial (ad) where everything is reduced to the ‘famous-in-real-life’ model, the stylized setting and clothing with some spoken passage, then all those elements and what they signify and what demographic they are targeting is much more loaded than some unrealistic TV show cause the viewer is usually able to suspend their disbelief of inaccuracies in order to follow the plot, or joke, etc. With an ad-video like this all the narrative is the symbolism of those very few and weighted elements: model, and in this case the actual person modeling, the actions, imagery and aesthetics. That’s what ads do. They concentrate the narrative or message to it’s basics symbolic elements. So it’s not fair to compare and editorial video straight across to TV shows or other explicated plot driven entertainment. And as far as music videos, I feel quite the same as to this editorial video ad.
Ballerinas study and train for years and work there asses of everyday to maintain the standard required to be a professional ballerina, its only fair they would be pissed.
why not used a modal for this shoot that actually has a understanding ballet technique and movement , Elle fanning and I think karlie kloss did ballet too.
but people who do ballet love to pick apart other people, Natlie portman and black swan. we had a field day with that at ballet class
It’s ok to complain if we are talking about a film focused on ballet where an actress is supposed to play a ballerina but this is a photoshoot, it’s all about the aesthetics of ballet, nothing more.
Doesn’t every job require that? I’m a lawyer and I definitely have (and continue to) studied and trained for years and worked my ass off. My best friend is a doctor and certainly did the same. Yet neither of us complain to anyone who will listen about Law and Order or Grey’s Anatomy using actors who don’t understand “legal/medical techniques”.
This seems like a bit of a “who. cares.” situation to me…
They start training at 3, when there young children. There athletes and artists. It’s very different to compare a doctor to a ballerina.
Also in ballet you aren’t allowed to do any other sports, in case your muscles develop the “wrong” way. Your body has to be fully curated for only ballet.
I saw this story on another website. This is so stupid. It’s photoshoot. She’s not trying to be a really dancer. Some people really do have to much time on their hands.
She looks really good on that cover. Very beautiful.
Of for goodness sakes. Is there anything we can’t be offended by these days? I’m more offended that she has no expression at all. Ridiculous. I’m a painter. If a model poses as an artist, I could care less. Get offended out the injustices out there.
On a side note, she sounds, how can I say this? Very simple.
Totally agree.
Give it a year or two and Halloween will be a thing of the past because no one can dress up as anything without offended some idiot.
The world needs to take the stick out its ass and get a life
She is so bland!!!!!
I hate when she looks like her mother.
The reason it’s offensive to dancers is because it’s so OBVIOUS she has never danced. Her feet en pointe look silly to me and there is no grace in the way she moves or holds her form. It’s like they gave her a character to play and she has no idea how to play it. The stylist should have realized it would come off as inauthentic and hired a model/dancer more capable of portraying a dancer or put Kendall in a setting that she was clearly more familiar with.
Models should be offended by this. That someone as bland and clumsy as Kendall keeps getting covers and campaigns.
This is a fashion editorial, not a documentary on ballet. It’s not supposed to be accurate.
I know. She looks silly and it is obvious anyone even passingly familiar with ballet that she has no idea what she is doing. Her posture is awful, just to start with.
Agree. Not just dancers but models should be offended by this video. It’s pretty bad. IMO the problem is the video. If it was just a photo shoot like the last pic, there would be no problem. The video just went too far and almost looks like it’s try to belittle or trivialize dancers.
If people feel like the need to be offended, than they should be offended at Vogue for coming up with the concept of the shoot, not the model.
I wish people were offended by British Vogue releasing an interview with Marc Jacobs about how he’s “unafraid to challenge conventional beauty” by choosing Kaia Gerber and being a culturally and racially insensitive d-ckhead.
I couldn’t find the interview, but I really don’t understand why he would find casting her as being unafraid. I never heard of the girl before but she is gorgeous in a very conventional way. Weird.
Seriously? It’s not even about ballet, she’s playing DRESS UP for a FASHION magazine and it’s about her being childlike and silly. She’s doing the shimmy ffs.. People are such precious snowflakes looking for an opportunity to get offended nowadays.
I think she looks pretty. So insane with everything going on in the world people get their panties in a wad over something so insignificant. Sigh, so many special snowflakes…
Oh my God. I am not a professional, but I am a dancer. Photoshoots are silly in general. Who the $%#% cares?
Why are they mad at Kendall when they should be angry with the magazine? It was the magazines concept.
This!
I can’t stand the Kardashian/Jenner clan, but yelling at her for this is stupid. It wasn’t her idea, she’s not claiming to be a dancer, she’s a “model” dressing up and doing what the photographer tells her to do.
If she were proclaiming to be a real ballerina (something Natalie Portman did not do either), I’d have a problem with it. Just like anyone who studies and works hard at a profession is made when a celebrity hops in on it with no effort.
EXACTLY!!!! The photographer, the magazine, and whoever else directed the shoot.
But why be mad at all?
I felt the same way when celebrities started their own clothing lines, just because they were famous. No training, no artistry, and investors were lining up to throw money at them. Not surprising in the least that most of them failed (Jessica Simpson being the obvious exception – but she didn’t try to design herself, she worked with some great professionals). Same with early seasons of Project Runway – no one I knew from the industry would watch that show because of how reductive it was.
I guess no one wants to see their passions trivialized…now people have tumblr to complain to the world about it, rather than grousing with co-workers over lunch or drinks. So if two or three people complain on social media, and they get 1000 mindless likes, it instantly becomes a movement.
Ballet is a kind of a big deal in Russia. I understand the outrage. though I don’t necessarily support it, the best way to handle it is to ignore it and Vogue in general. Vogue has become a joke. But they will only get it when their sales fall.
Ballerinas train very hard, and they have amazing bodies.
Kendalll’s body is not that of a ballerina, she looks weak and soft. Ballerinas look like amazons, they have very strong and lean bodies.
For Americans, imagine having Kendall pose as a tennis player. Why use her if there is Serena?
It’s a shame because Vogue Espana is usually pretty great 🙁
Do ballerinas wear thong leotards nowadays?
I can understand being annoyed at the theme of the shoot, but she’s the model, she doesn’t choose that. She just shows up and gets pictures taken. Being mad at her for it is stupid.
The issue is Kendall. There. I said it. People don’t like her and her family so everything they do will be an issue. I’m not a ballerina so I don’t know how offensive this is but I’ve tried to see their side and I’m not sure that this calls for the outrage that it received.
The real travesty is her single expression and poor modelling in general. I’ve had dolls with more expression.
As a former dancer, I’m not offended but I thought some of the pictures were laughable. The main one where she’s on pointe was just bad but she looked pretty. No biggie…
lilacflowers awesome comment!!! exactly
I think she’s the worst excuse for a model ever. And modeling isn’t even that friggen hard.
I want a Kendall Jenner gemmologist spread now.
I won’t criticise. I want to see this so much.
If anything, the ballerinas should take up their beef with Vogue Spain. Kendall’s just doing her job she was paid to do!
P.s. I wouldn’t care if she did a shoot pretending to either play or teach piano. (My job.)
The only thing that was disturbing to me was her lack of grace. She looked ridiculous.
Well, I hate do defend Kendall, but it’s not like she was the one deciding the theme of the shoot.
Whoa, deep thoughts with Kendull. What the hell is she even talking about? The ballerinas are probably upset with her because she’s never actually had to work for anything. Everything about her “career” has been bought and paid for by her trash family.
They are probably mad because they see this totally non-talented girl pretending to be one of them and not coming close to pulling it off. They know she is there for one reason, her name and I guess it pisses them off. Can’t say that I blame them. She is just so bland and colorless
I get the annoyance. I’m a forensic science student and the sloppiness and inaccuracies in film and tv are things I cannot help but notice. It’s so frustrating to see people do no research and it can feel disrespectful to the discipline.
However, it’s a fact of life and nobody is actually being hurt by this, whereas the inaccurate portrayal of some disciplines can lead to real problems (Like juries thinking that there will be forensic evidence in every court case and that a lack of forensics mean innocence).
Why all the trivializing of dancers’ responses? “Bun heads”? “Special snowflakes?” All they’re doing is pointing out the gross inaccuracies in this portrayal of dancers. They can do that because dance is important to them and they know what it should look like even if just an imitation. This has nothing to do with Halloween costumes or other more important things going on in the world. People complain about inaccurate portrayals of professions and ethnicities and groups of people all the time. Why shouldn’t they? If you know more than the average person about something, of course you’re going to be able to criticize in detail. That’s interesting, not foolish.
I suppose this means we can’t complain about Kanye’s fashion shows anymore? Really, most posts on this site deal with comparing image with reality. Why are the ballerinas’ complaints any different?
She is so… empty. I see more signs of intelligence and depth in my cat than in her.