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Monday, September 07, 2020
Massive complaints have been circulating for months about a “climate of fear” at the state ballet school and art school in Berlin. Experts now name those responsible and suggest solutions.
Following internal complaints of humiliation and threats against children and young people at the State Ballet School and the Art School, experts call for a fundamental reform of Berlin’s elite institution. The school must be democratized. Students, parents and staff must have a voice, says the expert report. For years, physical and mental injuries have had no consequences.
At the school, which was founded in East Berlin in 1951, dancers are trained from childhood. In 1991 it merged with the School of Art. Among other things, experts recommend separating the state youth ballet from the school organization and, for example, joining the Berlin State Ballet. A ballet company of your own is important to the stage experience, but not necessary to the reputation of the school, according to the report of the committee convened by Education Senator Sandra Scheeres.
The performances and tours with the State Youth Ballet have repeatedly been the subject of internal criticism. The students talked about hours of rehearsals, almost without interruptions and injuries. Experts advocate better training for teachers who have come from practicing dance without pedagogical training. A concept of child protection and confidants are also necessary. The school generally lacks a training concept, and the number of students who left the school without a grade would be a disaster for another institution, commission chair Klaus Brunswicker said. The report suggests changing the name of the school to the State School of Ballet and Art.
“A lot of exercise and physical stress”
A clearinghouse established to investigate the allegations had targeted 267 victims, and 153 of them had been spoken to directly. The documentation does not give any details, but many of the statements made by those affected “got under your skin,” said psychologist Elke Nowotny. Students and alumni reported “a lot of exercise and physical stress” with beatings, verbal attacks, and humiliation by dance teachers. “This is unbearable for 12 or 13-year-olds,” Nowotny said. For years, students had an internal anger over the conditions at school with them.
Faced with the “manipulative double messages”, insults and indifference, the report speaks of a failure of school management and school inspection. Others, however, protected the school and reported conditions that professional dancers “could only dream of.” High demands are part of dance education. Education Sen. Scheeres said she was “very shocked.” School reform will be “a long process”, the administration has already tightened the concept of child protection at school. The director and the director of the youth ballet had been fired. The process is pending in the courts.
