Safety is a fundamental right, a legal requirement and a moral obligation. The overwhelming majority of dance studios comprehensively uphold their obligations to protect and nurture their students. However, with the 2015 child abuse conviction of Sydney dance teacher Grant Davies and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s recent call for submissions about Child Sex Abuse in the Entertainment Industry, many teachers are rethinking their safety policies and practices.
There are a number of dimensions of safety. The psychological dimension is concerned with the emotional health and wellbeing of students, such as creating an environment that is nurturing and supportive. The physical aspect of safety addresses such things as properly equipped classrooms and correct anatomical instruction of technique along with injury prevention.
The legal aspect of safety, according to Ausdance Safe Dance Fact Sheet, enshrines the right of children to “be safe from any form of abuse when involved in dance, sport or associated activities”. This involves, for dance teachers, due diligence with regard to human contact and touch.
At the extreme end of the scale, some studios are considering the need for surveillance, in the form of CCTV cameras. But, as principal of Darebin School of Dance (Vic) Robert McNamara says, this raises a Pandora’s box of other issues, such as “who will have access to that vision and how the school will protect student privacy”. The installation of such cameras would also require the school to get signed parental permission for students to be filmed.
A small price to pay, some may think. Yet for the vast majority of teachers who do the right thing, does surveillance create unnecessary suspicion and distrust that simply shouldn’t exist? For those who feel that installing cameras in the classroom is too extreme, there are other practices that can be put in place.
Touch
Dance is a physical art and touch is an essential component of teaching, not to mention the most efficient way of correcting a student. Many studios now have policies on touching designed to both protect and respect the student. Carole Hall, principal of the Carolan School of Ballet in South Australia, advises that at her studio teachers are required to “speak to the student first to ask permission to touch in order to direct placement and alignment”. She explains that teachers respect the student’s wishes if they object to being touched. While “teachers may touch the ankle and knee, generally students will be asked to touch the thigh to correct placement themselves”.
Jane Allyn, co-director (with her husband Ashley Killar) of Ecole Vocational Ballet and Contemporary in NSW, says that the male teachers at her school “tend to teach without physical touch, unless it is pas de deux class or rehearsal”.
In place of touching, a number of studios use inventive methods such as chalk lines drawn on leotards and stickers on knees and ankles to help students self-correct their alignment with the use of studio mirrors...
This is an extract from an article by Michelle Dursun in the current issue of Dance Australia. To the read the full article, hurry into your favourite magazine retailer or subscribe here, or purchase an online copy via the Dance Australia app.