Abuse of women in ballet is out of step, says English National director
BALLET companies must reconsider the staging of productions that feature violence against women, according to Tamara Rojo, who believes the dance form is out of step with the real world.
The artistic director of the English National Ballet (ENB) was commenting on a string of recent controversies surrounding the portrayal of women on stage. The Royal Ballet was accused of featuring the “gratuitous abuse” of women in The Wind, a new work by Arthur Pita, while some audience members were disturbed by a gang rape scene in The Judas Tree by Kenneth Macmillan’s Productions in New York have attracted similar complaints.
“This sort of programming... we need to look outside our bubble,” Rojo said. “People give so many years of their life from so young an age to ballet that they don’t see what’s happening out in the world, or even what’s happening in other art forms.
“But ballet has to be as serious as those other art forms, and we have to tackle these issues such as disability, diversity and violence against women.”
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Rojo said: “We need to always ask questions such as: is this sort of scene acceptable in a historic context, in a contemporary context? I hope I have these conversations. I think I do, because I see it, so I can’t ignore it.”
Rojo is guest editing the Boxing Day edition of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, and a number of her chosen features will champion the arts.
“What worries me most is the way the arts have been sidelined in education,” she said. “For many children, particularly from poor backgrounds, or from Bangladeshi or Muslim communities, ballet is not something their families would usually do.
“Schools used to be the only place where they could encounter this amazing world. That’s no longer the case. So I wanted to use the opportunity to emphasise the importance of arts in people’s lives.”
She is also keen for women to push themselves forward as choreographers. “Men fake it ‘til they make it. I wish women were more willing to fake it but they don’t, in general,” she said.
The rarity of boys in ballet classes has worked to their advantage, she argued. “In a normal ballet class there is one boy for every 20 girls. So the boy is always right, because the teacher wants to encourage him since they want him to stay. We encourage male self-esteem and men to take chances, but we don’t do that with women.”
Rojo was principal ballerina at The Royal Ballet for 12 years, before taking over the ENB as artistic director in 2012. She continues to perform at 43, appearing in this season’s Nutcracker.
“Our biggest challenge within the industry is the digital revolution and we are not even acknowledging it as a potential threat,” she added. “It offers a complete transformation of the performing arts, and we cannot be the last art form to join that transformation.”