Ballet Was the Start of My #MeToo Recovery

Before I was ready for therapy, I had ballet. To be clear, dancing came with difficulty for me. But the experience—with the right teacher—was deeply healing. The thing that helped me start to unite my mind with my body was my teacher’s unique use of language, of words, matched with the movement. I had tried […]

Should Aspiring Ballet Dancers "Run in the Other Direction"?

Update: Additional perspectives have been added to this story as more responses have come in. When news about the lawsuit against New York City Ballet and Chase Finlay emerged last week, plaintiff Alexandra Waterbury, a former School of American Ballet student, told The New York Times: “Every time I see a little girl in a […]

Paris Opéra Ballet Sues One of Its Own Dancers

You’d think the Paris Opéra Ballet would be in damage-control mode after a leaked dancers’ survey, in April, brought up worrying reports of harassment and mismanagement. But instead of addressing these issues internally, the French company is suing one of its own dancers in order to strip him of his union representative status and subsequently […]

#DancersToo: Is The Dance World Ready To Address Sexual Harassment?​

When an anonymous letter accused former New York City Ballet leader Peter Martins of sexual harassment last year, it felt like what had long been an open secret—the prevalence of harassment in the dance world—was finally coming to the surface. But the momentum of the #MeToo movement, at least in dance, has since died down. […]

The Power of Jerome Robbins' The Cage in the #MeToo Era

The encounter with man-eating female creatures in Jerome Robbins’ The Cage never fails to shock audiences. As this tribe of insects initiates the newly-born Novice into their community and prepares her for the attack of the male Intruders, the ballet draws us into a world of survival and instinct. This year celebrates the 100th anniversary […]