Having watched the panorama programme and reading through all of this thread I do find myself wondering exactly what the consensus is here that people want. I see hints of it but there seems to be a clash of what the realities of what the industry actually needs and the idealism of how the educational experience should actually be.
I don’t think that the shapes of dancers we have today have arrived by chance ,its just been borne out by the needs of the profession itself to fulfill what’s asked of them.
Dancers are fighting against gravity ,what's aesthetically is pleasing to the audience (which is made without prejudice) and the needs of their own and potential partners physical strength to dance to the required standard.
The very fact they are sometimes using coded language appeared to me they are trying to communicate realities in some cases as nicely as possible.
Please don’t misunderstand me and to be clear NO abuse of a child is acceptable. Creating eating disorders also NOT acceptable.
But
How do you all want institutions to handle this ? do you not or do you not want them to . It seems like some points of view ,are that weight just can not be mentioned.
So should RBS, Elmhurst just carry on taking money ( accepting it from funding or a parent) from someone that they know will not go further in the industry than the school due to physical attributes? . Then set the child up for an even bigger fall at the end and also the parent having invested a considerable amount in fees that would have been better spent elsewhere. All due to the fact they were not allowed to speak about physicality and the needs of the industry that are hard baked into the industry by gravity, aesthetics and strength.
I find myself thinking that there needs to be overhaul of communication with parents and child prior to the child joining the vocational school with regards to the needs of the industry and why those needs are as they are.
So that if they do need to come and talk to the parents about this issue its not going to cause a huge problems as it has.
No bullying/abuse should be allowed by ANY teacher though, if its happening that has to change.
As a parent of a child at vocational school I’m now worried they are going to be frightened through fear of potential backlash of telling me the truth on my child’s potential prospects due to their physical attributes.
I find that very concerning because that vocational money may well have better spent following another path .
Hiding from realities till they hit employment age and letting them find out for themselves is not a solution either IMHO.
So I’d like to know what all those who have been affected by the issues brought up in the panorama programme would have found as parents an acceptable and fair conversation to have on this issue in their end of year appraisal for example.
As I don’t think asking a school/teacher to no longer speak about the needed requirements of the industry and just carry on taking my money is a good solution in any way.
Hopefully all of this has come across with intended sentiment , as I’m not in anyway out to offend any posters on this thread. I’m just seeing more a cry for change without solutions . Which feels like another form of cancel culture (a thread elsewhere here has been made asking whether or not we should support these institutions anymore for example) rather than accepting this is a very nuanced conversation that really would be best served with better communication and understanding all round. (parents and school)
The bullying in class that some of those dancers received in the programme due to this lack of communication is obviously not the solution. Are the teachers doing this as they don’t have any other what are deemed to be none offensive tools to tackle this issue ? what would those ideal none offensive conversations be like ?
Ultimately these institutions are not setting out to destroy our children and it would seem to be struggling to navigate the parent child relationship without causing issues.
