Shannon Rupp - The Globe & Mail, 04/25/01:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Ballet B.C. adopts harassment policy</B><P>Ballet British Columbia is establishing a workplace harassment policy that will take effect in May in response to dancers' concerns about the way they have been treated by choreographers.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>To read more:<BR>Netscape Users: Search <B>Shannon Rupp</B> on the [url=http://www.globeandmail.com" TARGET=_blank>Globe & Mail's</A> 7 Day Search<BR>IE Users: Use this direct <a href="http://archives.theglobeandmail.com/s97is.vts?action=View&VdkVgwKey=%2Fusr%2Flocal%2Frealtime%2Fsearch%2Fhtml%2F20010425%2FRVBCBC%2Ehtml&DocOffset=1&DocsFound=1&QueryZip=shan non+rupp&Collection=TGAM&SortField=sortdate&ViewTemplate=GAMDocView%2Ehts&SearchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Farchives%2Etheglobeandmail%2Ecom%2Fs97is%2Evts%3FQueryZip%3Dshannon%2Brupp%26Result Template%3DGAMResults%252Ehts%26QueryText%3Dshannon%2Brupp%26Collection%3DTGAM%26SortField%3Dsortdate%26ViewTemplate%3DGAMDocView%252Ehts%26ResultStart%3D1%26ResultCount%3D10&]<B>link</B>[/url]<P>I find the final comment in this article most interesting, a quote from company Executive Director, Kevin Myers: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>If dancers are unhappy, you see it on stage -- and those dancers look phenomenal.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>What say you?<P><BR>

What say I? I am really not much of a politically correct type of person, BUT, I don't think that being a choreographer (or anything else) is a license for yelling/pushing/screaming and general carrying on. <P>Lots of people feel passionately about their work - its a feeling - not an excuse. <P>It's a shame it has to come to a stated policy. Common courtesy should be just that - common. <P>Silly me.

I'm not going to speculate on who it might have been because I think the underlying issue is that management allows it to happen. I don't think it should be entirely up to the dancers to push for change. I'm concerned when I read in an article that anyone would think that there is one standard for how you treat people in an office and another for how you treat them in the creative process. Creation can be emotional but it doesn't have to get personal to the point where it's destructive. <P>And in IMHO most professionals perform well on stage whether or not they are in a good working situation. <p>[This message has been edited by Marie (edited April 25, 2001).]

So are you saying because a company may be over a barrell in terms of replacing a choreographer the dancers are fair game? I guess this is why there is now a policy in place but I have to wonder how it could possibly be enforced if the economic balance of power is still tied to whether a work is produced from a collaboration with a guest artist.

I think I'm going to get really frustrated if someone doesn't tell me who the purported visiting choreographer is...

And of course, being nosy I want to know too. But i would prefer that the name does not appear on the site, unless specific allegations have been made publicly against the individual.<P>I have seen instances where rumours have got out of hand on the web and do damage to individuals.

Quite correct, Stuart. Please don't post any names here in this thread. I'm surprised though that I haven't gotten any private email about the matter as yet...