Tuesday, November 13, 2018
The MeToo Movement Yet to Take Hold in Ballet World
jezebel.com: Earlier this year, Alexandra Waterbury sued her ex-boyfriend, a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, and the dance company after she found explicit photos and videos of her that were shared on a group text of other male dancers. She says the photos were taken without her consent.
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The dance world is an interesting case. It is both an area of extreme modernity with its experimental styles and potential for personal expression as well as one of strict adherence to the past. There are strict methods to various dance forms and a rich history and tradition. Ballet has an unfortunate reputation of teachers, and other authority figures, pushing form over feeling, often being extremely harsh to dancers and making them feel inadequate and unimportant despite becoming incredible dancers. I am not surprised that it is much harder in the dance world to hold men accountable for their actions. The hush-hush mentality about personal emotions already puts a negative view on reporting. The fact that male dancers are few and far between because of a different set of unfortunate societal standards. I hope that it becomes easier and that ballet continues the social progress it has been making in the near near future.
I have always observed ballet to be an art heavily situated in traditions and overall in the past. While many components of it have broken out into modern iterations, this ages-old dance remains ages-old. The rest of the entertainment industry is making strides towards visibility for survivors in the Me Too Movement, but the subject remains mostly too taboo for discussion in ballet. I have noticed from watching a number of documentaries on ballet that a dancer’s environment and the people in it constantly preach that dancers must simply “deal with it” and keep their issues to themselves. There is some sort of problem with speaking out about things that this industry is stuck in, and I hope that as the MeeToo movement finds roots in dance, the industry becomes more open to listening to the things they have traditionally silenced. They will undoubtedly benefit from protecting their female dancers, dissipating the emboldened attitudes of the few male dancers in companies, and creating an overall more comfortable and safe environment.
After reading this article, I had a lot of questions. Questions like why hasn’t the dance world evolved, why are there no consequences for this despicable act, why is there a need to protect boys and men and that same privilege is not extended to women and girls. The dance world is slow to catch up, it is stuck in its old ways and it is very annoying. It seems like they are comfortable where they are even though the world is evolving. The dance world will find it freeing and beneficial if it opens itself to the changes and evolution the world is going through at this time. The dance world needs to protect its women and treat them with the same high regard it gives to its men.
Waterbury's quote to the times regarding young women going into Ballet is utterly heartbreaking. She told the Times that she believes that “no one will protect [them], like no one protected me.” The fact that proper punishment and reckoning has not happened in the ballet world regarding sexual assault and harassment is unacceptable. In any other industry, if a coworker was found to have "explicit photos and videos of [a female coworker] that were shared on a group text of other male [co workers]," I can't imagine that they would be able to be simply suspended without pay for a year. Furthermore, once that year is up, what happens? Do the accomplices get to return to their field? Be reinstated in a company that clearly has no problems "foster[ing] this sort of bad, frat boy-like behavior in its male dancers by failing to discipline them and in turn protecting them?" Ballet has a lot of things that are troubling and need to change, and it needs to start by clearing house of any of these men and their supporters. Sure, talent is great, but no amount of talent can redeem you from being an abuser, and we as patrons should spend our money where abuse is not tolerated.
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