By Eunice Wang
Medill Reports

A simple leotard and pink tights are the typical uniform for many ballet dancers when they train. It’s a tradition that dates back hundreds of years to the origin of ballet in Europe. As with many other traditions, however, the times, they are a changin’.

Dancers of color have started to raise a question about the tradition of pink tights, preferring tights that represent who they are. That’s why dancers at the Chicago Multicultural Dance Center have turned to flesh-tone tights.

According to Alexandria Franklin, a ballerina at the dance center, flesh-tone tights are important for ballerinas of color. It creates a better looking line when they dance and reaffirms for the world, as well as the dancers themselves, that it’s okay to have brown skin and be doing ballet.