The Culture Of Fear In Ballet Schools Is Real

When we launched our summer intensive reviews back in May of 2023, we hoped to get a few submissions for a handful of the larger programs. But, wow, did people come through! As of today, we have nearly 900 reviews for 169 different programs! We can’t thank you enough for the huge levels of participation!

More recently, in response several requests, we launched reviews of year-round ballet programs. On the first day they went live, our traffic increased 20-fold. Clearly, people are interested in what others have to say about year-round ballet schools! 

You know what else happened on that day? Several parents reached out to ask us to make edits to certain comments they put in their review submission for fear of schools figuring out who they were. Others wrote to us to ask that we remove their reviews completely. I assured everyone that their material would remain anonymous but they still wanted them taken down. 

This is totally understandable.

People, the culture of fear in ballet schools is real. 

Then, the other day, we got an email from a teacher at a prominent ballet school. She was concerned about a poor review we published for the program for which she taught. Specifically, this related to some comments a reviewer made about unacceptable language being used by teachers toward students in class. (Don’t bother trying to figure out which school this was — there are loads of comments in our reviews about questionable and inappropriate language used with students!).

This teacher assured me that the school “had reporting systems in place” that were designed to allow students to report issues anonymously. She also mentioned that she knew the faculty well and she couldn’t imagine a teacher saying things like this particular reviewer had written.

I replied to tell her that I’m sure they did have a system in place. I also pointed out that most of these “systems” are window dressing. No kid in their right mind would actually report bad behavior on the part of teachers. The imbalance of power that exists in ballet training is too great and the perceived risk is simply too high for a student to be willing to come forward.

As a real world example, one year at my son’s former school, they sent out a student survey to everyone. When my son got his, I asked him if he was going to be honest and he just looked at me. His reply? “Why would I ever be honest when it will come back and bite me in the rear?” When I asked him if any of his friends planned to fill it out, he laughed. These surveys were supposed to be anonymous. But, since they were tied to a student’s email address, how could the school have possibly thought the kids would believe that anonymity would be maintained?

We’re aware that many, many schools conduct internal surveys. But, if students feel like the risks are too high to provide honest feedback, all that happens is that the school gets bad information. Garbage in, garbage out.

So, back to the teacher who reached out to us. I suggested that maybe instead of concerning themselves with what one review said, perhaps she could work with us to have us collect more reviews for their program so trends might emerge. I genuinely think this teacher has good intentions and she replied that she would run the suggestion by her director. But, it’s ultimately up to the school director, not her.

I’m not holding my breath.

Based on several conversations we’ve had with dance students as well as parents, the reticence to speak up is the result of a few different concerns. First, students and families are afraid that speaking up will result in some sort of backlash in the form of bad casting or even being thrown out of a training program. Or they’re worried about the undefined “black mark” on their record, code for “this kid is trouble.” 

This may not be the case across the board, but we’ve been told this enough times that it’s clearly a real fear that students have. When one or two people basically hold a student’s ballet future in their hands, it’s easy to see why students would be hesitant to ever raise issues.

Second, even when students do raise concerns, they often feel like nothing comes of it. After doing this a few times, they simply throw up their hands and concede that things won’t change. Ever. Here’s the kicker on this. Many times, when students do raise issues, change does happen, albeit VERY slowly. And, often, the measures put in place are never communicated back to the students. Of course there are HR protections in place, but schools would be well-served by being more open to students that their voices are being heard.

Finally, many ballet students just don’t trust their schools to do right by them. After hearing too many stories about teachers body shaming students, pulling casting for no reason, showing blatant favoritism that other students can’t understand, students give up. There are often therapists on staff to help students manage the stress that arises from these situations, but they sometimes are there in name only. They might only have two slots per week, each for 20 minutes. And, we have heard too many times that students are afraid to tell therapists on staff anything, because they’re convinced that it will not be kept confidential. These concerns may be unfounded, but there is a reason students feel this way and it would serve schools well to look internally and ask themselves why this is happening.

The good news is that some schools have reached out to us with genuine interest in what we’re doing. In fact, two programs have already sent links to both our summer and year-round review form and asked current and former students to fill them out. When we spoke with the administrators of both schools, they were clear that the only way they could make improvements to the program was by getting honest feedback. 

And, the only way to get honest feedback is by allowing surveys to be anonymous. We’re thrilled that some schools are thinking about ways to improve their programs and tailor what they offer more toward student needs. Are these two schools perfect? No. Were there less than positive comments on certain areas? Definitely. Were there many areas where both schools excel? Absolutely.

But, they are focusing on constant improvement and it’s encouraging to see this. And, the only way to get schools to sit up and take notice of issues that need to be addressed is by having enough reviews that trends begin to emerge. 

We wish more schools would take this approach. But, until schools are willing to acknowledge the power imbalance and take pains to correct the root problem, students will not be honest. We all know I’m definitely not the first person writing about the culture of fear and the imbalance of power in ballet training. And, I certainly won’t be the last. 

But, we have a huge opportunity here to bring some transparency to ballet education, both the outstanding parts as well as those areas where schools could improve.

It is clear that schools are reading the reviews of their programs on our website. I can’t tell you how many interviews we’ve done for our podcast where school administrators reference them. But, one or two reviews won’t force change. However, 20, 30 or even 50, just might!

This generation of ballet students and their families have an opportunity to be heard and make change.  We look forward to amplifying their voices!

**If you are interested in filling out reviews for either a summer intensive or a year-round ballet program, links can be found on the front page of our website.