Kendall Jenner’s ballet shoot sparks debate in the dance community

Is portraying a model as someone she’s not an artistic statement? Or is it a downright insult to the community being represented?

Kendall Jenner and Vogue España were caught in the midst of this debate recently when the popular magazine collaborated with the model on a ballet-themed photoshoot and the corresponding behind-the-scenes video. In the video, Jenner is seen leaping and dancing around a studio in a variety of ballet outfits. The audio, a voiceover by Jenner, features the celebrity proclaiming herself as “adventurous” and making statements like, “I had to grow up pretty fast, but I love being a kid… To run around like a child and just not care.”

The dance community responded negatively to this shoot, with an explosion of comments on Twitter about the model’s misrepresentation of the life of a dancer.

Twitter user @_acushla wrote, “The shoot was wrongfully appropriated. Dancers like Misty Copeland or Maddie Ziegler could have been way more powerful and graceful… It’s almost offensive to see Kendall act ‘cute’ in it.”

Prominent voices in the dance community, such as infamous dance teacher Abby Lee Miller of “Dance Moms” and Margaret Fuhrer of “Dance Spirit” magazine, also announced their disapproval.

Miller, in a now-deleted Instagram post that resurfaced through the account “The Shade Room,” wrote that she “cannot be a fan of this shoot” and that, “there are so many amazing dancers in the world… Kendall Jenner is not one of them!” Fuhrer lamented over the “very facepalm-y” video and said that Jenner’s dance moves were “pretty disrespectful” to dancers.

This is not the first time a Jenner sister has received backlash for a controversial photoshoot. In 2015, Kylie Jenner was widely ridiculed by media for an “Interview” magazine cover in which she posed in a wheelchair. Twitter user @bandaidknees wrote, “This is honestly disgusting. Who thought this was a good idea? Of all the things to use as a prop. Awful.” Others followed suit with similar messages for Kylie Jenner and the magazine.

The question remains: Is having a model portray someone with a different occupation or a different ability innately wrong? Or is it simply part of being a model?

Either way, the backlash directed at the models themselves is arguably misplaced. After all, Kendall Jenner was simply doing her job by participating in the shoot. As Allison DeBona, First Soloist at Ballet West in Salt Lake City, put it, “as far as Kendall Jenner and the Vogue España shoot, she’s a beautiful young girl whose job is to do what she’s asked to do.”