by The new head of the Royal Ballet has explained that dancers are oversized after a former student claimed that the teachers had “the body’s” students.
Iain Mackay, who was installed last year as the artistic director of the school, also said that same -sex dance partnerships should be normalized.
His comments came months after the historical institution, which was based in the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, was sued by the 31 -year -old student Elphick, 31, for lack of care.
Ms. Elphick said she developed an eating disorder after her weight for her weight during her weight during her studies at the Royal Ballet between 2009 and 2012.
Her lawyers claim that she continues to have body dysmorphia and was unable to pursue a career in dance after the treatment she received through training.
Ms. Elphick remembered an alleged incident in which she was forced to stand in front of a mirror while a trainer pointed out the parts of which she was disgusted.
She was also pushed into the buttocks and the thighs without Ms. Elphick giving her teacher permission.
The Royal Ballet, which enrolled more than 200 students, reached a settlement with Ms. Elphick in January without admitting liability.
In an interview with The Times, Mr. Mackay said that “the audience wants dancers to refer to”, which led to studios distanced themselves from the standard of the “slim” actors.
Mr. Mackay said about larger ballerinas: “You had to be more physical than ever before.
“Dancers who can tell a story, but dancers who are technically incredibly capable.”
When asked about the allegations of body shaming, Mr. Mackay replied: “It makes me so very sad when I hear about people who have bad experience or unfortunate experience with our school or the broader art form.”
Mr. Mackay emphasized the importance of same -sex dance partnerships as an opportunity to “create new audience”.
He said: “The classics are beautiful; they ask many of our young dancers and many of them would say:” I would like to take the lead in the Swan Lake “.
“But all of these new works are created and we have to prepare our dancers to go around the world in organizations.”
Mackay was born in Scotland and trained in Glasgow at the Dance School from Scotland until the age of 16 when he moved to London in the 1990s to end his training in the Royal Ballet.
Mr. Mackay revealed that he kept his love for dance secret from his friends when he grew up because of the “stigma” of dancing of boys.
“I took my son to the ballet with seven or eight and it was only a sea of pink,” he said.
“And he said no. I said why. He says:” I’m the only boy. “There is this stigma, this barrier.”
