DressedToExpress_Panel_2025_v5

Okay, hello and welcome
to Dress to Express.

So, as this art form evolves,

I think it's important to include
conversations about the role of dancewear

and how to foster authenticity with it.

My name is Monroe,

I'm 16 years old from Vancouver, D.C.

Jasmine, do you want
to introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Jasmine.

I'm also 16 years old.

I'm from Mississauga, Ontario,

and I'm part of the Youth Assembly
member with Ballet Forward.

But before we jump in,

let's take a second
to introduce our panelists.

Jordana, let's start with you.

Hi everyone, my name
is Jordana Daumec.

I am a graduate of
the National Ballet School,

went on to have
a almost over 20-year career

at the National Ballet of Canada.

And now, I get the pleasure of
being a teacher back here at NBS again.

I'm so happy to be here.

I've done a lot of work over the years
in EDI for the ballet world

and I'm just happy to keep it going.

Awesome, amazing, thank you.

Aaliyah?

Hi everyone, my name is Aaliyah Garcia,

and I'm a dance professional
here in Toronto.

My performing career
has been about 14 plus years,

and now I've transitioned to teach
and help mentor younger performers today.

I also am an entrepreneur,

so I own my own dancewear company
that provides inclusive dancewear

and it's called Exposed.

Nice, thank you.

Now, last but not least, Miss Renee.

Hi everyone, my name is Renee Raymond.

I'm a registered provisional psychologist

as well as a registered psychotherapist
here in Toronto.

I work with a lot of high performers.

I work with ballet dancers and athletes

from the varsity
to the national team level.

But I work with a lot of,
again, professional ballet dancers

and ballet students, coaches, teachers,

and really just working with them
to improve their performance on stage

as well as improve their mental health
whenever there are concerns.

Excellent, thank you all
so much for being here,

and I'm looking forward
to a great discussion,

so let's dive in.

For my first question,

it's directed towards Jordana and Aaliyah,

and it's how has your personal journey
assisted in your passion and advocacy

for dancers' access
to inclusive dancewear?

I don't mind starting (laughing).

Yeah, so my journey started,

I think, similar to
a lot of young dancers.

I grew up dancing at a local dance studio.

I remember I used to compete a lot,
and I had a jazz solo.

There were a few specific moments

that really made me think about
or maybe question

why there weren't options
available for me as a dancer.

In this solo that I had,

my mom, she actually would
paint my jazz shoes brown.

I remember every time I went on stage,

there would be like little beige dots

from where my toes would
kind of scrape the stage.

That memory always kind of sat with me.

And then as I moved on
into my professional career

and trained at university,

there were still no options
for people of color.

It really made me think about
how can I acquire this product,

which eventually led to me
producing this product

for myself and dancers
that came after me.

That's kind of how it
impacted my journey here.

Beautiful, beautiful answer.

Thank you.

Jordana?

For myself, I grew up in New York,

so I was really blessed

that I got to be surrounded
by so many different art forms

and the different schools that I went to,

like I actually got to go to DTH,
Dancer of Harlem,

the school for a little bit.

So I kind of grew up seeing

like tights not being able to show
who our own personal beings were

and the sort of the history
of what tights were supposed to be.

I remember getting into the company
and feeling like the same way for that.

And just when we would
have to pancake our shoes

when we were doing more
of the contemporary ballets

and just how much better
I felt about myself

and the way that I looked in the mirror
and like my line,

and just how everyone felt that way.

It was just across the board.

It didn't matter, like we all
just felt better like that,

and then not seeing
the options that were available.

Or, when there was an option,
it was just like the jazz tan,

that you were like
everyone had to wear jazz tan,

and obviously that did not
look good on everyone.

It's just so beautiful

to see that we have more options
that are coming out

and having people who are...

Aaliyah, I'm pointing at you.

(laughing)

You're in here in my square,
so I'm pointing to you.

That people are out there,

that are making it possible
for everyone to step up on that stage.

What I saw growing up
as a kid with Dancer of Harlem

and that just being a nor.

To now, it being a norm for everyone

and possible for everyone
at every company,

every type of art form.

This is just we're doing the history
of what tights were supposed to be.

Like it was meant to be
this color of the person's skin,

but they couldn't have bare legs.

So now and where we got
ballet pink from like...

It's just really amazing
to just feel like a full circle.

What it felt like for me
like seeing DTH growing up.

And then now just seeing that being

what we should have
for everyone everywhere.

I liked how you both mentioned dyeing
like your dancewear and stuff,

but at what point in your career
did you realize this is a problem

and we need an urgent change
in our dance system,

we have to have inclusive
dancewear for everyone,

not just one specific type of look?

When did you start realizing that?

Yeah, I think I started realizing it
pretty young to be honest,

because before I had that
experience with the jazz shoes.

I also had an experience with tights.

We all had those suntan tights
which were tan.

I remember when I saw
the first pair of brown tights,

I was so excited,

and I had asked my teacher
if I could wear them with my costume,

and because they didn't
have shoes at that time,

she actually said that I couldn't,
because it would cut off my lines.

From that instance,
and that was quite young.

I was maybe 11 around that time.

And then later the experience
with the jazz shoes,

and then later in university
when there were still no options,

I think that was kind of
the turning point for me

when I was like, "OK, I've been
through this much of my career

and there's still nothing for me.

That's not right, so how can I
be a part of that change

and help bring this into the community?"

Yeah similar, like just
going from the states,

and I think it was just
a different vibe down in New York.

especially it's like its own
little universe in New York. (laughing)

To then coming up here
and just seeing that it wasn't available.

I saw it but then I really don't think,

because it just
in the classical ballet company,

it just wasn't a topic
of conversation until COVID

when we actually had a minute to sit down

and actually have the conversations

that we never had had
the time to do before.

It's like when you're
focused just on ballet,

and what the steps are
and putting on the performance.

And then, when you
weren't able to do that,

you actually were able
to sit down and be humans

and talk to each other
and realize like how people are feeling,

what would make you feel better,

what would make you be able
to come out on stage even more.

So I think when that happened,

I think a lot of companies
started hearing those conversations

and then want and the need
to have tights for everyone.

So to see that big change,
it was it was interesting.

It was like something
that my whole career I noticed

but felt kind of helpless for,

and then once the conversations
were happening

and then to see these companies
like Capezio and Bloch and Freed,

like now being like,
"Oh, let us do something now,

and then having entrepreneurs
who are out there

that have the experience
of their own personal lives

to bring forward to show.

Yeah, so it's kind of like that,

I guess it was a feeling of helplessness
of not being able to do something

until those conversations started.

Thank you so much.

Monroe, would you like to
ask your next question?

Yeah, sure.