Abuse in ballet update

Since Panorama and File on 4 published details of the alleged abuse that my clients and other women suffered in ballet, my team and I have been contacted by a significant number of ballerinas who have sadly suffered in a similar manner.

It is important to give a voice and platform to survivors to disclose their abuse but it is equally important that we listen and act. Since the media pieces mentioned above, our clients have decided to proceed with legal action against the Royal Ballet School and Hammond School currently for body shaming and neglect.

We have registered one case already at the High Court in London and await a court hearing to address next steps in that case, to include the listing of a trial date. We have also instructed a barrister Nina Ross to work with us on these cases, and she is also going to be acting, as we are, on a no win no fee basis.

Royal Ballet haven’t provided a response at the date of writing and the Hammond disputes the claim.

My clients and I have noticed the silence to date generally from lead ballerinas and high profile individuals within the ballet world. My clients want to break the cycle and crucially the silence about abuse, and the more people that are able to speak or offer their support then the greater the prospect of finally achieving this. 

It is for this reason that my clients and I are requesting the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to conduct an inquiry into allegations of body shaming and other abuse in ballet.

As shown by recent inquiries into childhood sexual abuse in football and racial abuse in cricket, shining a light on these allegations by an independent body such as DCMS is needed to give ballerinas and dancers the belief and trust that not only do we need them to feel able to talk, but as a society we will listen and crucially act on these allegations to stop abuse and to hold those who failed to account.

If you have any information about abuse in ballet and dance from the 2000s to date, then please contact me on dnocivelli@leighday.co.uk or 020 7650 1397.