Chloe Angyal was best known for her incisive, feminist takes on politics and pop culture when she started writing about ballet for HuffPost in 2016. A former dancer with an undergraduate degree in sociology and a PhD in media studies, Angyal brought both an insider’s and an outsider’s perspective to her widely read articles, which connected ballet-world afflictions—sexism, racism, classism, homophobic bullying—to the larger currents shaping contemporary culture.
As story after story ballooned past its word count, a book idea began to take shape. Angyal’s Turning Pointe: How a New Generation of Dancers is Saving Ballet from Itself, out this month from Bold Type Books, offers a clear-eyed look at a complex, fragile ecosystem. She interviewed nearly 100 people—from pre-pointe students to artistic directors—about their love for and frustration with the art form. Ballet must change, Angyal argues, if it is to survive.
Margaret Fuhrer 