Changing the Culture: Celebrating Diversity in Synchro

by Nicole Davies and Lee Anne Filosa

Synchronized skating is all about matching – from dresses, to extensions, and even nail polish. Scores are partially based on precision and unison, so every movement must match perfectly. With this in mind, how do we embrace diversity within our sport? How do we honor and respect different body types, skin color, hair color, and even different genders and religions while still maintaining the matching, synchronized essence of the sport?

“What is today’s message in synchronized skating when all races are part of a team but only one race is represented in the ‘flesh’ tone tight color?” one synchronized skating parent asked recently.

“Whether from an artistic standpoint or a standpoint of racial equity, the break in line of flesh tone, from head to arm to leg, also creates a visual imbalance. With every passing year, this imbalance [between upper body flesh tone and lower body flesh tone due to tights] becomes more and more noticeable to skaters and spectators alike.”

This synchro parent is not the first to bring up the importance of seeing all races represented in flesh tones of tights and costumes. There are several recent articles in reputable news sources about the adoption of tights and ballet shoes to match a dancer’s skin tone. In one example, Garlia Cornelia wrote about her experience buying flesh colored tights for her daughter in Flesh-colored tights: Empowering my daughter through dance in The Washington Post.

“I was always acutely aware of my hair and skin color, wanting nothing more than to blend in with the pale complexions of my fellow mini-dancers,” Cornelia reveals her own experience as a black dancer in Birmingham, Michigan. She goes on to describe her feelings on putting her hair into a classic bun, a style all synchronized skaters are familiar with, and many have to wear on a regular basis.

“I was terrified of having my hair corn-rowed into a bun. When I wore braids with beads for band camp in middle school, I made it a point to let the girls in my cabin know I was not like the other black girls. I was afraid to stand out – to be outed as black…So I pulled my kinky coils straight into a bun and hair net, thinking that would do the trick. But assimilation does little to erase ignorance. Same goes for dressing my little girl in pink tights when the point is to create a seamless line with the dancer’s skin.”

From the experience of being able to buy tights that matched her daughter’s skin tone, she felt that “the foundation for her [daughter’s] identity outside the home was destined to be a solid one based on the celebration of the color of her skin.” She saw “young girls, from a multitude of ethnicities, were embracing at such a young age the color of their skin and celebrating their differences and similarities.”

Dance and synchronized skating naturally have many similarities, and clearly synchronized skating isn’t the only sport that depends on uniformity. DANCE Magazine published a piece titled Is Classical Ballet Ready to Embrace Flesh-Tone Tights? which addressed some of the same diversity-related issues we face in synchronized skating, since ballet is also predominantly composed of white females at the moment.

“When ballet organizations started their journey toward diversity, most were solely focused on increasing the number of brown bodies on stage. However, it is becoming clear that the issues run far deeper. Inclusion requires integration. Ballet is learning that you can’t just add brown bodies, you have to change the culture. But we can start to rebuild from the ground up with shoes and tights.”

Some synchro coaches we spoke to felt that synchronized skating should follow in the footsteps of dance and celebrate, not hide, diversity. One coach advocated that “the best thing we can do as coaches or leaders of organizations is to accept everyone for exactly who they are, and ensure they feel comfortable being themselves as they participate in the sport.”

Other coaches we spoke to expressed concerns about disrupting uniformity, echoing a sentiment also discussed in the DANCE Magazine article.

“Most of the arguments against flesh-tone tights center around the preservation of the classical aesthetic of uniformity. It could be said that brown tights work for [Dance Theater of Harlem] because they are a group of dancers of color, therefore the brown tights are in a sense uniform. But when there are only one or two dancers in the corps wearing brown tights, some believe that it ‘breaks the line.’“

Just as in dance, “breaking the line” is something we are often concerned about in synchronized skating. But, there are instances where it happens, and sometimes when it’s even planned or choreographed. There’s a recent trend where one or more skaters are highlighted throughout the program and are costumed differently than the rest of the team. There are also teams with male skaters who wear black or colored pants and black skates instead of tan or beige pants and white or beige skates. The ISU rules allow for these occurrences, and these variations of “breaks in the line” are widely accepted.

A 2017 article in The New York Times spotlighted Zahra Lari of the United Arab Emirates, “the only athlete who wears a hijab on the international skating circuit,” whose score was impacted by her hijab.

The article noted that “at her first major competition, in Italy, points were deducted from her score because some judges considered her head covering a costume prop. She later met with officials of the International Skating Union. Such deductions are no longer being made, she said. The ISU rules say only that clothing must be ‘modest, dignified and appropriate for athletic competition — not garish or theatrical in design.’”

Lari has blazed a path for Muslim skaters in the realm of singles skating, confirming that wearing a hijab does not violate the rules and should never impact a skater’s score, but what about in synchronized skating?

Many teams go to great lengths to get every athlete to blend with the line. Some teams have skaters with blonde or light colored hair paint their hair brown or black to blend with the majority. Some teams require skaters to buy fake hair for buns or ponytails to match all the way down the line.

So, while a hijab might not be a formal costume deduction, does a synchronized skater wearing a hijab, or flesh-tone tights, “break the line” and inadvertently lose the team points for detracting from matching and unison? How can we make sure that these differences in attire are as accepted as a male in black pants, or a skater in a different dress color? How can we make our sport more encouraging and welcoming for diverse athletes even when they don’t see many people who look or dress like them currently competing?

“Families want to belong to groups whose values they identify with – whether they are people of color or not,” one synchro parent expressed.

We must ensure that the synchronized skating community is inclusive and tolerant, and that every athlete feels welcomed and celebrated in their organization. Some teams may be doing this well, others may not, but we have to work together to get our whole community there.

How does your team celebrate diversity? What do you wish the synchronized skating community did better or differently to celebrate diversity?

What are some ways we can celebrate diversity and maintain the aesthetic of uniformity? How do we strike this balance within our sport?

Please share your thoughts so we can get this important conversation started.