Ballerina to Times Critic: I'm Not Overweight

A New York City Ballet dancer said a newspaper critic needn't apologize for casting aspersions on her performance in "The Nutcracker" by referring to her figure.

Jenifer Ringer, who danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, said Monday on NBC's "Today" that, "As a dancer, I do put myself out there to be criticized, and my body is part of my art form."

"It is a field where our bodies are important. As dancers, we are taught to try to be perfect in every way," the 37-year old mother said.

But Ringer stressed, "At the same time, I am not overweight."

In his November 28 New York Times review, ballet critic Alastair Macaulay said Ringer "looked as if she'd eaten one sugarplum too many." He also wrote that her dance partner, Jared Angle as the Cavalier, "seems to have been sampling half the Sweet realm."

Ringer, who had battled eating disorders and had once left the professional dance world because of body-image issues, said today that she's "a more womanly type than the stereotypical ballerina."

Macaulay's review promoted a storm of Internet criticism, and e-mails that were, according to Macaulay, "in many cases obscene and abusive."

The website Jezebel praised Ringer's figure while noting that "apparently the New York Times is looking at her with the eyes that make ballerinas hate their bodies."

Ringer said Macaulay was entitled to his opinion. And while the review made her feel bad, she said on "Today," "I had to tell myself that was one person's opinion out of 2,000 people who were there."

"The outpouring of people who leapt to my defense was wonderful," Ringer said.

Following his original review, Macaulay responded to criticism of his criticism in a Dec. 4 blog posting:

"Notably, the fuss has been about Ms. Ringer's appearance. No one took issue with what might be considered a much more severe criticism [in his review], that the two danced 'without adult depth or complexity.' And though I was much harder on Mr. Angle's appearance, scarcely a reader objected. When I described Nilas Martins as 'portly' in The New York Times and Mark Morris as 'obese' in the Times Literary Supplement, those remarks were also greeted with silence.

"Fat, apparently, is not so much a feminist issue as a sexist one. Sauce for the goose? Scandal. Sauce for the gander? No problem."

Macaulay also responded to reader complaints that he should not be ignorant or dismissive of Ringer's past coping with eating disorders: "I think otherwise. Dancers do not ask to be considered victims. When I've praised Ms. Ringer, I've applied the standards I've applied to Suzanne Farrell, Natalia Makarova and Kyra Nichols."