An en pointe response! Almost as soon as Kendall Jenner's ballet-inspired Vogue España shoot for the October 2016 issue hit the web, real-life ballerinas were up in arms, asking why the fashion bible would choose a non-dancer to represent them. Well, Jenner is finally speaking up.
"It's so funny that people are getting pregnant and married — or having crazy drama — but my drama is ballerinas being upset at me!" the Estée Lauder brand ambassador, 20, wrote via her app. "With my Vogue Spain shoot, I didn't even know I was going to be a ballerina until I went into hair and makeup. I never said I knew ballet and I didn't practice beforehand. I just show up to do my job!"
But that job — which required her to spin around a dance studio in ballet slippers and pointe shoes — was not considered so innocent by some. One tweeter wrote, "Kendall Jenner's 'ballet' photo shoot explains why most of the world thinks I twirl around in a tutu everyday for 4 hours." A feistier voice added, "Ballet dancers don't train 40+ hours a week to be represented by Kendall Jenner and her fish feet … Also she is going to hurt herself." One more said, "I know Kendall Jenner's ballet ad is the least egregious of the KarJenner cultural appropriations, but as a ballerina of 17 yrs, I'm pissed."
Of course, some did come to her defense. "Guys, I did ballet for 17 years my mom was a ballet teacher and dancer," one dancer write via Twitter. "Give the Kendall Jenner thing A REST you're all doing way too much."
Nevertheless, Jenner never imagined there would be a conflict in the first place. "I have so much respect for women who do their jobs really well and would never purposely try to offend anyone," she wrote. "It confuses me how people can get that upset when there are so many important things going on in the world."
But, she added, "It's obviously not going to stop me from working hard and being me."