The Dark Side of Ballet Schools - Panorama investigation

All of the above was seen as normal as my ballet teacher had been on a diet since age 7 so at 18 we had gotten away with it for ages apparently. And the deputy principal bemoaned that we couldn't all just survive off a single piece of unbuttered toast like she did!

Why would anyone be surprised about this?

I attended one of the "big" MT schools and danced professionally in the 00s/10s. Obvs in the 00s being thin was a thing just in generally so that may have exacerbated it but i experienced a lot of those things

1. Literally everyone I knew had some level of ED, realistically I had it a bit as well and im a natural size 6/8 even now im in my 30s (i was probably a 4 then). I actually still find it hard to accept that this was not good as it was so normalised. I eat very normally now though!

1. Had ballet teachers humiliate me about my "love handles", jazz teachers would also openly talk about how untoned our bellies were and how we should always wear crop tops for inspiration (😬)

1. During a dance job I and others were given laxatives at rehearsals and told to lose weight before opening night. Size 8 me eventually got fired for being "fat". Cruise ships were the worst for putting people on suspension for weight gain ime. Lots had "weigh ins".

1. Rapid weight loss really highly praised at college. And those people being held as an example for the class. Saying you had an ED was a sign of weakness. Same for contract work, i walked into a casting once and the casting director kept saying how amazing my body looked, which in itself is a bit weird.

I eventually pivoted to acting which is still similar looks based but WAAAAAY less toxic.

dd does do ballet but i am highly encouraging her to become an engineer!

Mum was told when I was 4 years old that I showed "early talent" but that if she didn't control my diet I'd end up too large. She didn't. As a teen I was furious that she'd (in my view) destroyed my chances.

As an adult I'm so so fucking pleased she's just let me be a 4 year old. Although I was 'good' if never have been good enough. Or tall enough.

I have a love/hate relationship with dance now.

This. A friend’s daughter left at state school after 16 with straight level 9 to go to ballet school in Russia in Moscow (mum was Russian). Dad was British and married Mum at a British university. She was already extremely thin but became more so after heading to Russia with Mum during term time - like a lollipop - she was an amazing dancer but accepted her career was ‘short’ with Mum’s encouragement (!)she dated many rich older men eventually marrying at 20 a 45 year old Russian businessman. It was a very odd world and situation.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jun/30/sarahhall

How does she keep her muscle mass with that sort of diet I wonder?

Hardly any protein and extremely low cals

3 bananas in one day! Potassium overload!

With regards to the weight issue, what are schools supposed to do? If you want to be a professional ballet dancer with a top tier company, you have to be thin. Post puberty, the only way to achieve this type of body is to follow a restrictive diet. Look at the diet of Deborah Bull when she was a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet Company. This is the reality of ballet. Schools can’t address this directly / honestly with pupils and parents because there would be an uproar and so pupils are left to figure it out for themselves (with disastrous results in some cases).

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/food-drink-daily-bread-what-the-royal-ballet-principal-dancer-ate-one-day-last-week-1504338.html

Re bullying, absolutely no excuse for that in any school.

I dont know about ballet from 100 years ago but I know from older family members who were chorus girls from the 40s and onward, there was no room for any weight at all. They were encouraged to drink cabbage water,, apples and not much more, lots of smoking. Weight and appearance was virtually the same as now in terms of expectations and pressure.

None of this is new or 'modern'

My child knew him. After he was "assessed out" of that school he went to another, more supportive ballet school but the damage was done. She met him when she was on a summer school there as he was one of the helpers. Lovely lad, lovely dancer, it's tragic.

Gosh, watching it now. That poor boy.

This sounds like half of MN tbh. (Not trying to normalise it by the way)
There's currently a thread with people advocating fasting for over a week at a time for alleged health benefits.

I do think though that one big difference I have noticed between drama schools and the conservatoire my son currently attends (who also run acting and MT degrees) is the hold the student union has. There seems to often be a degree of separation between the drama school and the validating university. The SU appears not to care if they ruffle feathers and will use social media to shout loudly and publicly about any issues and management then address/attempt to placate them. The students at drama school tend not to get involved in the SU and may not even be properly aware of it existence.

If they offer degrees they are regulated in the same way as universities are as to offer a degree they have to be affilliated with a university. But all the regulation in the world does not stop these "unsafe" practices.

After she attended vocational dance school and college dd went to drama school for a year. My dh also teaches in that sector. There needs to be a massive shake-up in not only the performing arts sector but higher education as well.

I’m talking about the drama schools post 18 that offer degrees.
Huge amount of unsafe practises go on. My daughter has experience of 3 of them( long story). All well known schools. In each one some of the things that went on were highly disturbing. Some of the teachers, and I use the word loosely should never have been around young people. Yet, they are all still in post, despite complaints being made.

Which is why nothing will change if people continue to have that sort attitude.

Most of ones I know of are. They have to be if they accept Dada or Student Finance or if they provide full time education for children of compulsory school age.

There were a few that were not such as The MTA who only offered their own internal diploma, not an external qualification.

Ah ok.
“I’m pretty sure that Drama Schools are not though.

They are regulated (well most of them) and are overseen by OFSTED for boarding & DaDa funding and ISI for independent schooling.

But it is very easy to manipulate things. OFSTED look primarily at paperwork and policies, not necessarily whether policies are followed.

Well done to the BBC , and the young women who agreed to speak out about this issue.
I think that part of the problem isthat none of these institutions (and I include Musical Theatre schools) are regulated. There is no Ofsted like body that governs them. Consequently they can do what ever they want.
May I also add that abusive and toxic teaching methods also exist in drama schools under the guise of “stripping you back”and trauma digging. This can lead to young people developing eating disorders and other mental health issues.
The whole training industry regarding performing arts in this country needs to be looked at.

I agree.

@DewinDwl I know beauty standards have changed, but I sometimes feel if I wanted to watch a contortionist I would go to the circus, and that the art of ballet is somewhat lost amongst the punishing physical requirements.

I trained with ex dancers in related physical therapy, one of them ex RB. One thing I thought strange was that the RB one thought breasts were disgusting, and would wrinkle her nose up at my very average c cup when we were getting changed. I was definitely not fat by normal standards, she just had a very ingrained idea that an almost childlike, undeveloped body was attractive. She wasn't dancing by that point either. The others were very food conscious and would have a smoothie for lunch, but nothing else. They seemed to still carry a distaste for anything that might be considered fat.