“I’m a choreographer who identifies as female. I worked abroad successfully for many years and moved home a couple of years ago. I come from a working-class family and my route into ballet wasn’t through a ballet school. I feel like I am never able to compete with my male colleagues, who often come from families already involved with ballet. When I compare my experience and education with those who get the commissions, I feel so small.
I can see I have the same, and often more, experience than they do. But every time I get in touch they never want to work with me or get to know my work. It feels like it’s more of a popularity contest than anything else and the entire industry reinforces it. I’ve become oversensitive to rejection because the rhetoric is SO harsh and belittling. I feel ostracized and it makes me want to stop doing what I have trained for, studied for, and worked towards for over half of my life.”
-Anonymous
