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Three dancers performing on a ballet barre
‘Dancers are asking more of us as leaders,’ says Christopher Hampson of Scottish Ballet. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
‘Dancers are asking more of us as leaders,’ says Christopher Hampson of Scottish Ballet. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Death of the dance dictators: ballet in the wake of #MeToo

This article is more than 5 years old

With its culture of discipline, control and pecking orders, the dance world has always been plagued by claims of bullying and sexual exploitation. But old hierarchies are being challenged

Ballet companies are unique in ways that are wonderful and preposterous. At best, they are fabulously creative organisations to which loyal dancers, including the biggest stars, may devote entire careers. But, with scores of dancers striving to master extreme levels of physical perfection, pitted against each other for prime roles and principal rankings, they can also be hotbeds of competitive dissatisfaction. That intensity is exacerbated by the fact that presiding over these very young, driven, vulnerable egos is one person – the artistic director – who holds their destinies in his, and occasionally her, hands.

“Dancers today are not ‘behaving badly’, they are asking more of us as leaders,” wrote Scottish Ballet’s Christopher Hampson earlier this year. He was asking fellow artistic directors to reform their practices in the wake of accusations by ballet dancers around the world of bullying, aggression and misconduct. There have been complaints from dancers at leading companies – among them New York City Ballet, English National Ballet, Paris Opera and Finnish National Ballet – and some allegations have been extremely disturbing.

But what prompted Hampson was not so much specific cases as the conviction that such behaviour would continue to occur as long as certain assumptions within ballet culture have remained unchallenged. “I genuinely believe that every artistic director in the UK is trying to do their best by their dancers, but we all have a way to go,” he says. “We have a problem that we need to admit to, and it can be difficult to talk about because it can involve people in the past who we’ve held in such veneration.”

Given the conditions in which they operate, it’s not surprising how many artistic directors, along with the coaches and choreographers who have worked under them, have abused their power. Sexual predation has historically been rife – from the grim bottom line of dancers coerced to trade sex for jobs and roles, to the more romanticised practice of choreographers selecting dancers to become their latest “muse”.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that such behaviour continues. While today’s dancers may be savvier about challenging overt sexual exploitation, it’s harder for them to speak out in subtler situations, for instance, when the physical touching that is so integral to their work starts to cross a line.

It can be equally hard to challenge more insidious and inbred forms of power play – especially the bullying and humiliation that can occur in classes and rehearsals under the guise of “inspirational direction”. Hampson, who is 45, recalls coaches in his youth who would routinely “try to push someone to breaking point” or disdainfully inform a class that they “only teach talent”.

Dancers in rehearsal. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

He thinks a younger, more enlightened generation are learning to reject such methods as “uncreative and damaging” but their persistence is evident in the recent troubles at English National Ballet (ENB), where dancers complained of being belittled by coaches, being placed under impossible pressure and being undermined by the patrician management style of director Tamara Rojo.

Cassa Pancho, who directs the small classical company Ballet Black, says she does not tolerate “old-school ballet” methods from choreographers and coaches who work for her. But with only eight dancers to oversee, she can easily nip such behaviour in the bud. Larger companies have to rely on more formal structures to monitor the behaviour of those in power, and ensure dancers have a voice to complain.

At the Royal Ballet, Kevin O’Hare has 90 dancers in his charge. He says that, post-Weinstein, the Opera House has clarified and strengthened its contractual code of conduct and swift action is taken if it’s contravened. “We had issues with one guest coming in recently who was behaving in ways that we aren’t used to any more. In the old days, we might have tried to smooth it over. Now, we say this isn’t going to happen. Even if it’s a great choreographer we say, no, they have to go.”

The dancer’s own position in the company is strengthened by robust Equity backing. Two union deputies, elected from the dancers, meet with management every six weeks to discuss anything from the state of toilets to issues about casting. (O’Hare believes it’s important to keep dancers aware of his thinking on the latter, comparing his own approach with the hilariously terse methods of the company’s founder, Ninette de Valois.) The late ballerina Pamela May once told O’Hare there would be no discussion about casting, only hand-delivered notes along the lines of: “Dear Pamela, You won’t be dancing the Black Queen any more. From Ninette.”

The Royal’s approach proved its efficacy in 2002, when the dancers took a vote of no confidence against director Ross Stretton, and he was removed after just one year on the job. But O’Hare is conscious that “no system can be perfect” and says it’s his job to ensure not only “that everyone knows there are pathways to speak out” but they feel confident in using them.

Persuading dancers they can voice complaints without damaging their prospects is not straightforward, even in 2018. Pancho believes there is “a lot of fear out there”. At ENB, Rojo has acknowledged she has significant work to do in creating a more open relationship with her dancers. Rojo, who declined to contribute to this piece, said in a recent interview: “I’ve learned to go back to the drawing board. To open even more channels of communication. We have been sitting more and more with the dancers. Creating more and more platforms in which they feel safe to give their feedback, and to continue the dialogue.”

‘I’ve learned to go back to the drawing board’ … Tamara Rojo. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

One complicating factor is the vocational discipline that is so key to the training of classical dancers – but which can instil a professional passivity. Hampson points out that when someone is trained from childhood to respect their teacher’s word, and to try and make their body conform to a specific ideal, they are inclined to relinquish a sense of self-direction, even self-worth. He holds meetings with his dancers in which he encourages them to formulate their aspirations and assert “ownership of their careers”, but he says progress is slow. “We have 40 dancers, and there are still about 15 who would rather I shouted at them and tell them what to do.”

Listening to dancers and encouraging more confident participation are key managerial skills, but they require training. Too many artistic directors come into the job straight from a stage career, and Hampson and O’Hare regard their own additional experiences (O’Hare as the Royal’s company manager, Hampson as a freelance choreographer with an MBA in creative industries) as essential to their current jobs. O’Hare wonders if he hasn’t been helped by the fact that he was a principal dancer but he was never a star. “It helps if you understand what it’s like for dancers who are lower down the pecking order.”

It is reasonable to speculate that Rojo’s somewhat autocratic style of directing at ENB has been predicated on the fact that she was so ferociously talented and self-motivated as a dancer. This leads on to another complication in Hampson’s case for reform, which is that ballet has never, traditionally, been a democratic art: dancers are ranked quite brutally according to talent. For a company to maintain the highest standards, it requires exacting levels of discipline and control. “If you’re rehearsing act two of Swan Lake,” says O’Hare, “then everyone in the studio has to buy into the fact there is one person who is telling them what the steps are, and they have to listen.”

Discipline … long hours of practice in the studio. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

It may only be changes in the artform itself that will genuinely promote changes in how ballet companies function. O’Hare points out that, as the repertory widens and more choreographers come into the Royal, his own “dictatorship” becomes diluted. He still decides who will dance in the classics but leaves the casting of new works up to those who create them: “It means dancers can be seen in a different light by different people,” he says. Choreographers such as Wayne McGregor, Crystal Pite and Arthur Pita work in styles that range far beyond the strictly academic, giving opportunities to dancers who don’t conform to the classical ideal. They also adopt a highly collaborative way of working in the studio, which creates a far more equal dynamic.

Hampson says the diversity of rep now performed by Scottish Ballet has made him place far greater value on initiative and individuality in his dancers. He thinks it’s crucial that ballet schools do more to encourage those qualities. “When I started in this job, I had a much more rigid idea of the kind of dancer that I wanted. Now I want more than a pretty body and a good technique. I’m interested in what someone can bring as an artist, what they can invest in the repertory – and a compliant, servile dancer isn’t going to do that.”

“When I look at companies who are stuck in the old model,” says O’Hare, “I see them starting to implode a bit.” It does seem that Hampson’s call for ADs to think in more radical ways comes at an interesting time. With ballet opening itself up to more contemporary styles, with dancers being encouraged to have a stronger voice in rehearsals and in the shaping of their careers, it may be that the old hierarchical structures are gradually starting to cave.

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