A New Zealand dance teacher conducts a survey of teaching dance in New Zealand and finds widespread abuse – “splinters of glass deliberately being placed in the shoes of a young ballerina, a mother pushing her daughter’s rival down a flight of stairs, a mother giving her daughter alcohol and drugs to calm her before ballet exams, and girls forced to diet to maintain the thin ballerina’s figure.” – New Zealand Herald
- DENIAL? Most of Auckland’s ballet teachers met at an emergency meeting to discuss the survey, which attracted wide media attention this week. – New Zealand Herald 10/13/00
- PROTESTS: New Zealand’s ballet world is “up in arms over the survey, which was initially based on 40 students’ experiences.” – New Zealand Herald 10/14/00
- DEFENSE: “It is disconcerting to realise that there are obvious parallels to be seen between the 19th-century model of a perfect female and the 21st-century model of a desirable ballet student/dancer. – New Zealand Herald 10/16/00