The Nutcracker Flap: Jenifer Ringers Response To New York Times

by NowPublic Staff | December 13, 2010 at 04:19 pm

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New York Ballet, The Nutcracker: Dancer Jenifer Rogers Response To Alastair Macaulay Sugar Plum Fairy Comments

Jenifer Ringer, the Sugar Plum Fairy character in the New York City ballet's The Nutcrackers is fighting back at comments made by the ballet critic for the New York Times, Alastair Macaulay after he made comments about Jenifer Ringers weight in a review of The Nutcracker.

Jenifer Ringer, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, looked as if she’d eaten one sugar plum too many; and Jared Angle, as the Cavalier, seems to have been sampling half the Sweet realm. They’re among the few City Ballet principals who dance like adults, but without adult depth or complexity.

Jenifer Ringer says it is all part of being a professional dancer

A ballerina who overcame anorexia doesn’t need or want an apology from the New York Times critic who made a crack about her weight in a review of “The Nutcracker,” saying the comment hurt initially but is just part of being a professional in a field that demands perfection from those who work in it.

“As a dancer, I do put myself out there to be criticized, and my body is part of my art form,” Jenifer Ringer, 37, told TODAY’s Ann Curry during an interview Monday. “At the same time, I am not overweight.”

Alastair Macaulay took some heat for his comments about Jenifer Ringers' weight and defended himself by writing the following,

In our own time many other female dancers with obvious physical imperfections have made impressions far greater than those whose bodies were ballet-perfect. But that’s their task: in an Apollonian art that requires purity of line, precision of execution and harmony of appearance, dancers with less than ideal shapes must bring other qualities to bear. Many have, and Ms. Ringer does, too, with several roles. This particular Sugar Plum Fairy — one of her rare tutu parts these days — was not one of them.