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.
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CreativityTranscript
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.