Since I began this blog I felt sure that those implicated would somehow respond to it. Look me in the eye and deny my allegations, however, there has been no response. The closest they have gotten is pointing their fingers blaming each other for supplying me with information. In fact, a board member asked me where I was getting my information.
How about I tell them where I have gotten my information. From parents and students that are invisible to them. Phone calls, e-mails, and text messages I have received giving me quotes from conversations over-heard in the halls. Actions taken by the directors which have impacted them personally they could not wait to tell me and ask that I post it on the blog. They wanted anonymity in order to prevent a back-lash from the directors. Punishment doled out by being demoted in the company or loosing a part in a performance as has happened to so many already. Invisible because they arn't the "special" girls or their families name isn't on the who's who list in town.
But they were not invisible to Mr. Herriott. He recognized the joy that each and everyone found in dancing or in watching their children dance. The same joy he feels teaching ballet.
Maybe that was why you wanted him gone. He didn't play the game the way he was supposed to. Why he was accused of showing preferential treatment, because he wasn't showing preferential treatment to those he should have, Right!
The ballet should not just be about those with the perfect body type, or those privileged children from wealthy families. It should not just be for children but for anyone who find joy in dancing.
So, run off all of the students and lock out the parents. That will shut the blog down.
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ReplyDeleteTo simply compile all of my frustrations with your blog into one statement; the art of ballet has nothing to do with grants, funding, lavish sets, costumes, and giving everyone what they want.
The art of ballet is about an emotion, when a dancer can bring an audience to tears wearing a simple red leotard, dancing to the sound of a single violin. That, my friend, is the art of ballet. It’s the feeling a dancer gets when she takes the stage, confident in the choreography she learned. The art of ballet is slaughtered, when a dancer learns her piece by watching it from videotape, struggling to reverse the steps. Murdered, if you will, when a small child takes the stage during a last minute performance, with terror and anguish written on her face.
The art of ballet is about discipline, working long hours in the studio to earn your right to become a company member, not moving up because you had a birthday. Ballet is spending twelve years of your dance career admiring the “big girls,” and three years being admired. It’s standing in the back of the room, class, after class, until the instructor asks you to be in the front, and being so overcome with emotion you can’t remember the steps.
The art of ballet is about mutual respect. When a director walks in the room, the class is hushed, warm-ups come off, and dancers take the barre. Choreographers should expel a dancer from the piece if she cannot perform a double pirouette to the left. However, when a dancer is cast as a role, she should have an adequate partner, not one who smells more like a glass of Guiness than a human being. A dancer’s time should be respected, particularly when she is paying the company, not vice versa.
I ask you to re-evaluate the standards at which you judge the success of the Columbus Ballet. Perhaps ask someone who trained under both Millie and Dan. Why don’t you ask the musicians? You know, the ones actually making the music. My guess is that you won’t because there is a shred of guilt in your tiny little heart. Maybe it’s because you are completely wrong.
Sincerely,
Hayden Harrison
P.S. Nick Saban? I’d say Brian VanGorder at best