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. She allegedly also said if people knew how physically cruel ballet was, no one would watch, only those who enjoy bullfighting . I don’t know if that’s true but it’s from a reliable source.

The other atrocity the programme failed to cover was how dancers are being pushed physically to further and further extremes with many now having to be on a par with gymnasts. The long-term effects on the bodies of these young people should be of great concern.

Agreed, the trend for insane numbers of hours of practice each week, with pressure to keep going through illness and injury or threats of losing their place or coveted solo spot. Also the trend for acro and gymnastics tricks especially in the dance competition world, has anyone looked at the long term effects of this kind of training has on young growing bodies?

My DD got to the final 30 for a year 7 place at RBS a couple of years ago (thankfully she didn't get in and turned down places at other schools).

I would say parents are very informed of the dark side of voc training, especially the chance of staying on at on the school post year 9. The ballet world is small and we knew pretty much all the other children auditioning. Conversations were had.

There are very few options for children serious about a career in ballet (appreciate it is mad they have to decide at such a young age at all) which is why sadly so many are willing to take the chance, even knowing the risks.

We have a friend offered a WL place this year and hasn't taken it up (and apparently by no means not the only one) so maybe things are changing.

@Northernmumma I hope your dd is successful in her ambitions, going away at 11 is definitely not the only option.

I'm looking at things from the perspective of being the parent of someone who went into vocational ballet training and was chewed up and spat out the other side, physically and emotionally scarred at 18, and I know things now that I definitely didn't know beforehand. Some of the things that we learned via the grapevine would make your hair curl.

I would say parents are very informed of the dark side of voc training, especially the chance of staying on at on the school post year 9. The ballet world is small and we knew pretty much all the other children auditioning. Conversations were had.

We considered full time vocational training at 11 for my child. We visited one of the schools and were given a tour prior to, and during, an audition. I can honestly say I had no hint of a dark side. I've only since heard whispers (where they're not removed) from the various dance forums where discussion is heavily and cautiously moderated, possibly with good reason.

I don't think the people who featured on the programme had been aware of the problems until they occurred.

@LHayday indeed. And just look at photos of the dancers in eg the Ballets Russes - they wouldn’t even get a second look at any schools now, they’d be laughed out of the place. Yet they premiered some of the greatest 20thc ballets in the repertoire.

I’m sure I’m saying what many people on here know - plenty of you may have been on the threads - but there was a long-running and very informative, though shocking, thread about all this on MN a few years ago, iirc. It disappeared and I couldn’t find it again. But it was eye-opening.

The strongly negative and highly critical posts about certain schools have to be removed from forums because the people running the forums cannot afford to be personally sued by the schools concerned.

There is a UK dance forum that I know of which is run and moderated by volunteers. They are ultimately personally liable for the content on that forum, have been threatened with legal action on more than one occasion, and been forced to take threads down.

That is why there is no mention anywhere on that forum of one particular school, and parents thinking about sending their dc there would find very little information anywhere, other than the school's own publicity.

Oh yes, I said the caution was understandable.

Ballet West and BTUK of course.

Though of course Ballet West has gone now, but I knew two families whose daughters had to find alternative places (to the BW places they had gained) when it suddenly closed that year. They had no idea what had been going on.

Even if you had no idea about the dark side of ballet schools, the idea of sending a 11/12 year old far away from home to boarding school with such focus on elite training and notoriety for strict teaching and high expectations would certainly be reason for serious concerns as a parent.

That's just it @SilverGlitterBaubles until this documentary people wouldn't have used the word 'notoriety' and if you look at all the info on the schools' websites, there are pages and pages of stuff about health, wellbeing and pastoral care, so what are people supposed to believe? Tens of thousands of people send their kids to other academic private schools from an early age anyway, and many of them aren't exactly known for their lack of discipline.

... focus on elite training... ...high expectations...

That's what they go there for in the first place, and what the students are naturally entitled to receive. And anyone training somewhere like that would know that there are high expectations. Of course there are. What they don't expect is to be demoralised and belittled, and made to feel useless.

I agree that parents should be able to rely on what the schools say and yes other parents send their DCs to boarding schools at that age. However the combination of moving away from home and undertaking elite training in a competitive environment at such a crucial age when entering puberty with all that brings is a huge thing for a child. They are still so young and personally it would not be an environment that I would be comfortable with sending my DCs to live in.

Yes @SilverGlitterBaubles I went to boarding school for a time (non vocational) and it was really great. I can see, however, that in combination with this sort of training (some of the local dance schools can be bad enough - I'm sure we all know of someone, who knows someone, who has had a bad experience there), and the parents unable to monitor as they might if they were a day pupil somewhere, that it's not the ideal environment.

Easy to say, but on the other hand, is your dc one of the most talented ballet dancers of their age in the country, who lives and breathes dance, and says they will never forgive you if you don't let them go?

Until you personally are on the horns of that dilemma, you can't really know what you might decide to do.