Drama school head resigns over ‘sexy dance’ allegations

A DRAMA school boss has resigned after an investigation found dance classes were “overly sexualised”, with some sessions known as “wear what you dare”.

Chris Hocking has stepped down from his role as principal at the Arts Ed school, which is based in London, after it launched an external review in June over “serious historic claims of misconduct”.

The investigation, which is being led by Rebecca Tuck QC, has concluded that there was “an overly sexualised environment within a number of music and dance classes”, according to a statement from the school’s chair of trustees.

The statement added: “Terms such as ‘sexy dance’, ‘wear what you dare’ and ‘naked bond’ were notorious and clearly distressed some students. They were wholly inappropriate.”

The statement from Mark Burch, chair of trustees, continued: “She [Ms Tuck] found that some staff members exercised poor judgment in their relationships with HE [higher education] students.”