Choreographer Rosie Kay forced to resign from her own company

[peonyred]

This is a share token so you can read the story. Another Janice Turner article. Simone suggested Crowdfunding for her new company.

Rosie Kay: I resigned from my own dance company after I was accused of transphobia

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/3935bc4a-5858-11ec-a3f7-65d2d47c7fea?shareToken=d4efe0ddb11ede84d52835a0a02d70e3

It does make you wonder what the trustees were thinking would happen when they decided to investigate her for months on end.

This sort of thing, you suspend on full pay, get statements, make a decision (she had already apologised) and move on. Can be done and dusted in a fortnight. Maybe a meeting where everyone airs their views and those unhappy could have been offered a compromise agreement to leave.

But no, they wanted to draw her through an unending process and it resulted in her walking. And as there is no other talent here, it folded.

If they are smart they will capitalise on it and become figureheads for LGBT (which we all know now just means T) inclusion in dance.

Self-fund a performance somewhere, get as much media and viral noise as possible about their bravery in bouncing back from the horror they endured (viral should be easy, plug it as a brave and stunning update on the threads that already exist and get a load of likes and shares from that), use that profile to get some funding, become a go-to talking head on the topic, rinse and repeat.

The whole movement is a massive opportunity for the dumb and overconfident and the deeply cynical to build cultural careers. It makes no sense but the costs of getting it wrong are high, so people with cultural power are very happy to outsource decisions and strategy about "the right thing to do for trans people" to anyone who seems to have answers.

@BraveBananaBadge

Interesting to read your take Bread as yes I've definitely noticed the trend for NB people to consider themselves trans.

The sheer amount of people, even on this board tbh, who didn't recognise JKR's tweet as text from 1984 somewhat goes to show how 'queer' may well have gained ground as an acceptable term. Guess these references and their contexts just aren't recognised these days?

BraveBananaBadge The sheer amount of people, even on this board tbh, who didn't recognise JKR's tweet as text from 1984 somewhat goes to show how 'queer' may well have gained ground as an acceptable term. Guess these references and their contexts just aren't recognised these days?

As was not Orlando or The Female Eunuch.

I do wonder a bit whether this is actual ignorance or deliberate misunderstanding, though. It seems very convenient for the culture-free gonks.

What a massive cock up, and I'm sure it's completely unnecessary.

Its going to be difficult. I'm sure some ppl will now not want to be associated with her, as we know how things work in these close knit fields where it is very important to be seen as 'progressive'. Hopefully she has built up enough contacts, respect, & cache over the years to have a network ready to go. But those who work visibly with her will get nastiness from some quarters. Some people will want to give the dancers who signed the letter a wide birth (silently), but others will want to be seen to rally to them.

I'm still wondering about the 3 who didn't sign.

There is such a discrepancy between the two versions of events though. The letter reads like how it always goes (woman says "because of the risks posed by male ppl, and the number of women who've experienced sexual assault, it's important to have some spaces which are genuinely female only", and it's answered with "Omg you are saying all trans women are rapists".) The allegations read like the "OMG" one dimensional responses that we always see. But with serious allegations set out for everyone to read, it will be very difficult for her. I hope there's some way she can counter that. I ding know if the emoluments tribunal will be able to decipher who really said what.

I don't know what a tribunal would say about how the board acted, and whether it was constructive dismissal. They had to investigate, but they seem to have investigated twice because the dancers didn't like the first answer. It sounds unreasonable to me when she had already apologised.

They say they didn't intend her to lose her job. But when you complain to someone's boss you are waving the ultimate sanction in their face. The only reason an employer has more chance if changing someone's behaviour than anyone else is because the person's job depends on it.

They didn't want her to leave. They wanted her to either start seeing the world the way they see it, or to start pretending that she does. Scary enbies.

I just hope that these dancers go home to their families over the holidays and have some time away from the environment - and have people who care enough about them to give them some home truths.

Torpedoing your career is not a good move. It’s like working for the Bank of England, taking the huff because of something or other (say bringing your kitten into work), very publicly denouncing them and making a load of accusations, then wondering if the job you managed to scrape at the Bank of Auchtwermuchty Kitten Fanciers was such a great career move after all.

I hope they find ok jobs in retail or catering.

Presumably by closing the charity Rosie no longer has anyone to take action against? Does it mean she could use some version of her name in her business more easily again?

Poor woman.

And WTF is “gender training”??

Orwellian.

As for those ballet dancers who complained - spoilt, entitled little shits.

In this case both NB dancers applied for roles aligned with their sex. Interesting no? There was clearly an understanding of the physical reality/demands of the roles they felt they would be good candidates for

Likewise I know of gender fluid competitive sports people who know what sex class to enter in their sport as they would not stand a chance of winning in the other sex class. So again a clear understanding of the physical realities of their bodies.

Yes, similar to these dancers, they speak and act in an entitled and narcissistic manner. But, I feel compassion and frustration in equal measures for those that caused the demise of this dance company.

These dancers, who, like so so many people, young people, have been manipulated into believing that gender matters, that it’s somehow determined (GAAB) by others with money and a persistent and orchestrated agenda. Not to mention how many young women may embrace NB or being gender fluid as a rejection of their female sexed bodies living in a hyper-sexualised and misogynist porn ridden society.

It’s those in charge of our institutions and those trying very hard to corrupt them that ought to be held accountable for the damage being done.

I don’t know which roles they played but there was at least one character who was billed in the casting notice as male or female and who disrupts ideas of gender and sex.

But a choreographer who specifically creates a Character who disrupts idea of gender and sex being transphobic, really?

It's totally ridiculous, isn't it, @Comefromaway? 9 dancers out of a job, in a very very tight job market.

It reminds me of those young employees working at a publishing company who refused to work on a particular book because it wasn’t to their liking I don’t know where this sense of entitlement comes from that the world including what you do in your job has to conform strictly with your (very niche) viewpoint. Clearly these young people don’t know what it means to worry about paying bills or rent or feeding themselves.

I think it tells us how middle class some industries are, Francesca. In recent decades it has been harder and harder to get into creative industries if you don’t have family money behind you until these professions have gone from mostly privileged backgrounds to uniformly so.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

I think it tells us how middle class some industries are, Francesca. In recent decades it has been harder and harder to get into creative industries if you don’t have family money behind you until these professions have gone from mostly privileged backgrounds to uniformly so.

Oh yes, I am really aware of this. It means they exist in an echo chamber all the time.

God forbid they should contaminate themselves by having contact with a BOOK written by an author whose viewpoint contradicted their (carefully curated) own one.

I don't think stupidity is confined to the middle classes, though.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

I don't think stupidity is confined to the middle classes, though.

Stupidity is found everywhere, annoyingly, but this particular area of deliberate, stubborn adherence to a viewpoint that ultimately makes no sense seems confined to a group of very pampered young individuals (publishing/ballet).

unherd.com/2021/12/my-body-will-never-be-erased/

First time posting a link, hope people can see it - a very beautiful and passionate essay by Rosie in today's Unherd

Ach! I wish someone had proof read that for her. The SPAG comments have already started.

And the male "oooh, is that true/oh how sensitive she must be" comments.

It's a strong statement. It deserves to be read and understood without the self serving "Ah yes but [technical point] so my existence proves you wrong on that infinitesimal point!"

Tiresome!

Not her piece, the predicatble reactions to it!

It was beautifully written and apart from some dismissive comments largely men the BTL views seem supportive, which is encouraging. Thought the Lib Dem shot apropos.

What a powerful piece.

You are insulting my daughter. A girl who has devoted nearly every minute of her life to her craft. When other kids were out playing she practiced and studied dance. A girl who at 14 won a scholarship to any top tier Dance school. If you had bothered to actually see the production you would have seen how she brought classically trained excellence to the show. She simply defended the rights of trans people. She always has stuck up for people. If you knew her you would not call her anything but an outstanding and kind person.

If she is a TRA then she is neither 'outstanding' or 'kind'

🙄