The Dark Side of Ballet Schools - Panorama investigation

[taxi4ballet]

Panorama programme on BBC1 this evening at 8pm, also available on i-player. An investigation into eating disorders and mental health issues suffered by young dancers in full-time ballet training, including the Royal Ballet School.

This really is required watching for anyone whose dc is interested in becoming a professional dancer - and not just ballet either. This sort of thing happens in other performing arts establishments too, although those are not covered by this programme.

Yes, we get your point.

Should the abuse of these children continue, or should we put a stop to it? And it is not all about eating disorders and body shaming, not by a long way.

A programme like this could be the catalyst that we need to start the process to bring an end to these utterly dysfunctional and emotionally destructive teaching methods once and for all.

It is definitely not just about eating disorders, there is so, so much more.

Ballet is all about appearance and how the body looks. It's never going to be healthy to focus so much on appearance and a narrow idea of perfection. The standards required are now extreme, Margot Fonteyn would probably have been rejected these days, on account of her feet or extensions. Ballet seems like a toxic environment to me, at least in these elite schools.

Is he in a healthy place now?

It happens at every major musical theatre school too . I attended the Hammond school and I experienced everything that was mentioned in the documentary and more . It really needs to be talked about more . Most dancers who move out to train at colleges are 16 and still children , the therapy needed to recover is extensive .

”A programme like this could be the catalyst that we need to start the process to bring an end to these utterly dysfunctional and emotionally destructive teaching methods once and for all.”

@taxi4ballet I would really hope so, but I’ve just seen an instagram post from a local dance school all about ‘the bright side of ballet’, saying let’s change the narrative and then stating loads of good things. I don’t think anyone would deny there is good, but it just seemed so dismissive. Almost like - let’s not think about all that nasty stuff, just focus on the good and ignore it. The worst thing is, this school send children to associate classes and places like The Hammond and Elmhurst. Things will sadly never change while dance teachers feel like this. This isn’t my dd dance school btw, just another local one.

What I (non dancer) took from the program.

• Lack of medical & dietary supervision. Are they oblivious, or that their normal is so skewed? They know the links between low weight & bone density/fractures. Why aren’t they insisting on other measures of health for the students.
• Ex dancers as mentors & teachers who have been through the same system, do not necessarily make the best guides for these children. A lack of compassion?
• What data is being kept/used to monitor the ‘drop outs’? It’s easy to manage out those you don’t want.
• Education of the kids - what advice are they being given with regards to how to raise complaints?
• whistleblowing processes - what are they? there are non dance teachers on staff.

All in all, kids & parents kept in line because they’re so grateful to be there. Watched over by dance teachers raised in the system. & Outsiders who are either are sidelined or oblivious. Like the bad old days of boarding schools & I say this as a boarding parent.

I might watch this, I wont be surprised at whats in it Im sure

But I am surprised at the surprise!

Extreme sports (and I count ballet as this) will encourage extreme systems or demand extremes in terms of how the body is used.

Several issues here:

Today's beauty standards are not the same as those of the clasic ballet of 100 years ago. Many famous ballerinas of that time don't look slim or toned on pictures. They still danced beautifully.

Women and girls are taller now. For a male partner to safely lift a female partner, the taller the girl, the lower the bmi she has to be IYSWIM. There are several ways to solve this problem (change techniques, training males to have more upper body strength, accept bulkier male dancers). It seems that ballet has chosen the option of asking women to slim down - you must weigh under 50 kgs, whether you are 1.50 m tall or 1.75.

I personally don't think that extreme thinness equates beauty or that beauty is always very thin. I also don't think there's such a thing as perfection, and even if there was, it wouldn't be desirable or attractive.

I would like to hear more about / from the reinforcers. What on earth goes through the mind of someone who says such vile things to children and young people? They must know they are breaking these children. Why do they do it? They aren't isolated oddballs, this is systematic.

• whistleblowing processes - what are they? there are non dance teachers on staff.

staff who try to whistleblow are got rid of.

Disagree. The men have to be able to lift their partners so there will always be a limit to what is possible in terms of protecting their shoulder joints and being able to perform the choreography

Unfortunately this isn't new knowledge, I remember the Diet Coke and and apple diet being discussed in the 90's. Unfortunately ballet demands (rightly or wrongly) a certain shape that most cannot achieve without dietary restrictions, in fact it would be better if local and regional ballet schools were honest with their students that they simply should do ballet for fun - even my size 6 dd would be considered fat!

Performance arts and sport are the worst for body image. It is definitely something you need to coach a child for if they are really interested in a career. If not, best stick to it as a hobby, keep it as a fun past time.

I have a friend who studied contemporary dance at one of the schools of contemporary dance in the uk.
She said they had lectures every week about food and nutrition - basically all about losing weight. The mantra was "you're not hungry, you're thirsty".
Weight loss was a constant topic in all of the classes.
She is healthy now - as in, a healthy weight - but she still suffers from disordered eating from time to time and regularly goes all day with nothing to eat. If we are out with her for the day she doesn't want to stop to eat and just tells us to drink water as we are "thirsty not hungry".

Its common knowledge like R.Kelly marrying under age Aaliyah was, but it was still shocking to watch Surviving R.Kelly.

Being common knowledge doesn't take away from it being shocking when written in black and white

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.

@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 agree.

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.

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.

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

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.

Why does that not surprise me?

'Lets change the narrative'... and pretend it doesn't happen, presumably. Lets sweep it all under the carpet and tell those who are broken by the system that they weren't cut out for it, they weren't good enough, they lost interest, whatever. After my dd's traumatic experience at the hands of a vocational upper school, I bumped into someone in the dance teaching profession some months later and I told her what had happened. "Oh well," she said, with a casual shrug. "Some of them do just give up." She basically couldn't have cared less. And this was someone who I thought would actually care about the treatment dd had suffered, but no.

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

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.