Tensions have been high during this year’s production of the Nutcracker. We are setting a four to five minute dance, the Waltz of the Flowers, two weeks before the show, and it has a lot of group work and formations. In all my years of ballet, I have never been in a production that has scrambled this much. Recently, I was considering quitting the production and my numerous roles, due to the ill-mannered audacity of a professional dancer, who I am going to call R.
It was Sunday afternoon, and I was at a rehearsal from 1:00- 3:00 pm for a specific scene in the Nutcracker- the battle scene. The director then wished to move onto setting Waltz of the Flowers, which was unplanned. As the director dismissed the younger students in the battle scene, I picked up my phone with the intention of asking when the rehearsal would be done. In the past we have gone to 4:00 and even 5:00 trying to set group dances. While the director was trying to think about the dance, R, sitting right next to him, barked at me to put my phone down. I calmly explained myself, but before the director could answer, R said that the director was telling me. The director had released the younger dancers 45 minutes before they were supposed to go. Now, there is no telling what he would do because he ended up NOT telling us when we were going to leave.
Imagine that, a professional dancer, who is not my teacher, not my director, does not even know my name thinks he can order me around. I was so shocked that all I could do was stare, and put my phone down in defeat. But that was not the end.
While learning Waltz of the Flowers, there were sections in which the girls were partnered by male dancers. One of the
taller girls was being partnered by R, and during a lift he dropped her. The poor girl could have gotten injured, but instead of apologizing, R just blames his fault on it being “slippery.”
In the past, R has dropped girls, gotten numerous complaints against him, and has performed terribly in past productions. The previous day, he had slept for hours through our rehearsal of scenes that he is actually assigned to be in. The other girls and I agreed that he is the most unprofessional, inconsiderate dancer we have ever seen and that it is very clearly unsafe for our girls to do any partner work requiring lifts with him.
So we discussed it with my mother and the owner of the studio. We stated our situation and came to the conclusion that the director would have to change the choreography, but still keep R in the production, to maintain his “pride” as a friend of the director. I made it very clear that I was to partner with R at any point in the production and the director would not change the choreography, I would quit.
That night, I stayed up late, unable to fall asleep. Fury filled my mind, and I tried to imagine ways that I could have dealt with the situation differently. But in the end, I did not have the strength or fortitude to have acted differently. The world is full of people like R, and I have to learn how to either face them or work around them. I suppose that it all starts with just expressing openly how I feel, being honest. But if not for me, maybe I could make a difference for the others that are stepped upon, and the other girls whose safety and mental well being are compromised. I was then able to drift asleep.
Hi Isabel! First of all, I genuinely think it’s amazing that you perform in ballet productions. I can’t even imagine how much dedication, stamina, and control you would need for that. As for the conflict with R, I can definitely relate. I did taekwondo for many years, and at one point, there was a middle aged male instructor who was a bit… creepy?? But in a subtle way, so the only people who noticed were older female students. He did things that bordered on inappropriate, yet nothing was big enough to actually call him out for it. Despite how frustrated he made me, I simply had to put up with it unless I wanted to initiate the confrontation. After some time, the mother of a girl I knew finally talked to those in charge about his behavior, and after a few weeks, he was removed. It’s great that you and your mother were the ones to talk to the studio owner about R’s behavior, even if he’s still part of the production. I often find that (most) people are more receptive than we hope, and are willing to help solve our problems in at least a minor way.