In the dance classroom,
particularly in classical dance classrooms, classmates share a long term
relationship. Many of them join their teacher when they’re very young and stay
with them for several years. This not only makes the bond between the teacher
and student a crucial one, but it also binds the students together. “My
senior”, “my junior” and “my classmate” identify and label students of dance
for the years they study together and even after they have launched their
individual careers.
One would imagine that these
seniors, juniors and classmates are great friends largely due to the fact that
they are thrown into the same room week after week, year after year. They share
the same teacher, the same learning material and the same triumphs and
anxieties. While it is true that some become and remain friends, it is not
always the case.
In the competitive world of
dance, classmates do not always look out for each other. They exploit each
other, tell on each other to the teacher, and are subtly nasty to one another -
fighting for the spot of the favourite student. In reality, this relationship
can be very cruel indeed. Of course, not all classroom dynamics in dance are
like this, but the grim side of it does exist and it is worth examining.
Some students do fall victim to
this cruel relationship. In these situations, at best, some students privately
celebrate the failure of their peers, and give bad advice disguised as guidance
that will unfavour the student with the teacher. At worst, they lie about each other
to the teachers or publicly discredit each other’s talent. The insecurity that
drives the competitive atmosphere in the classroom is further fuelled by
favouritism on the part of the teacher. Having a favourite student is not wrong,
maybe its even natural to be drawn to talent. But blatantly displaying the
favouritism can lead to such unpleasant relationships between the students.
Some might argue that competition
is healthy and that every classroom – be it an academic one, or an artistic
class – has some amount of competitiveness that drives the students to excel. Moreover,
some may contend that the will to one day be the ‘star student’ inspires each
student to do their very best at all times. But underneath this all, what
happens in some situations is a slow sedimentation of an attitude that becomes
so deep-set in the minds of the students that it does not leave them even as
they leave the classrooms.
As some of these students mature,
and step into the professional world – becoming dancers, performers, teachers
and/or critics, this attitude wears on. Peers do not have any nice things to
say about one another, they do not wish to work together. Not always
scrutinized by the gaze of the guru anymore, they put each other down in order
to rise high enough above the rest to catch the eye of the public now. Just as
they had done previously in the classrooms with their gurus or teachers. One
hears and sees that dancers are reluctant to praise their contemporaries,
subtly and sweetly criticizing one another. Two dancers cannot work with each
other because one dancer is threatened by another’s youth or slim figure. These
are signs of disturbing trends, the roots of which may lie in their earlier
years of training.
The point I’m driving at is this
– it all begins in the classrooms. The professional world of dance will not
elevate itself from the petty, backstabbing state that it partially (not
entirely) exists in, unless teachers and students nip the problem in the bud.
