How many women do you need to replace three men? The answer? One.
I was hired mid-season by a company in Montreal to replace their two male rehearsal masters. The company also had a resident ballet master – an ill tempered Russian. The Russian was one of those types of dance teachers that I’ve never been fond of – those who physically manipulate your body into positions with force or without warning. In my book – this has always been a dangerous practice and I cannot begin to count the number of dance students I have known whose careers were instantly ended by some idiot instructor wrenching their legs higher or shoving their feet into a turned out position when the kid wasn’t ready. Luckily – the practice is dying. Within the first week, the ballet master and I came into conflict. During one of his morning classes, he came up behind me and using his foot pushed my feet into a more technically correct turnout position. My arm automatically flew up and whacked him across the face. I don’t know who was more surprised – me for my reaction or – him for my assault. When I recovered my composure, I looked at him, “Tell me – don’t touch me.” He glared at me – I glared at him. Needless to say – our relationship wasn’t the greatest. It took a month, but with continuous pressure on the director, he was finally let go. From that point on – I taught the company classes on the road.
Speaking of how many women are needed – has anyone ever noticed that while women started most of the major dance companies in Canada, when they retired they were all replaced by men? It’s not that I’m saying that the men are doing a bad job but I wonder why in a business that has more women than men in it that the women aren’t represented better in the top positions.