What the Heck is Going On in the Dance Industry?

I came across this article entitled, “Dance industry needs greater scrutiny: former teacher”.  This article is about a dance teacher at RG Dance Studio in Sydney, Australia by the name of Grant Davies.  Mr. Davies has been arrested and charged with “grooming children for unlawful sexual activity, and producing and disseminating child abuse material…Additional charges include four counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of child indecent assault, both with a victim under 16 years of age” (ABC News 24, 2013).  Basically, this boils down to Davies abusing his power as a dance instructor.  As a dance teacher, you do need to have a small level of physical contact with your students, but never in an inappropriate way or to the level that Davies was taking it to.  He was apparently having some of the students pose nude in provocative positions and that was the material he was using to produce his child pornography.  This guy was brought up on so many charges it’s ridiculous.  I, for one, am thoroughly disgusted at his behavior.  Thankfully, I haven’t experienced this type of behavior with any of my dance instructors, but it is clearly a real problem.  People like Grant Davies are making it really difficult for parents to trust their children’s dance instructors and that is a real shame because dancing is such a great, empowering experience for children.

            So I found another disturbing piece of news entitled, “Bolshoi ballet dancer to stand trial overacid attack”.  This article is about a ballet dancer at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow by the name of Pavel Dmitrichenko.  Pavel has been accused of throwing acid in the face of Sergei Filin, the theatre’s artistic director.  He reportedly had two accomplices with him that helped him follow through with the attack.  Apparently there was a rivalry between the two men and it stemmed from Sergei being in “the position to make or break careers” (Gabriela Baczynska, 2013) and also because Pavel believed that Sergei had been “playing favorites in the distribution of financial grants” (Gabriela Baczynska, 2013).  Regardless of the reason that the two men had a rivalry or of the way that Pavel is trying to justify his attack, it was still wrong.  Sergei has been recovering in Germany for months and has undergone over 20 operations, with more still to come.  There is a great possibility that he won’t be able to continue his full duties as artistic director as a result of the damages from the attack.  Now I know the dance industry is competitive and that everyone wants to be the best, but letting a stupid feud or rivalry get to the point that you are physically attacking someone, with acid at that, is completely absurd.  Also, Pavel is a grown man and should be able to use his words if he has a problem with someone and not shrink down to attacking to them and not to the point of almost destroying their lives.