Reading about Professional Ethics and Ethics in general
(Reader 5) was fascinating. It is a topic that is so present in every aspect of
our lives. Dance, like any professions,
have its ethical issues and it is, in my opinion, our duty to make sure those
are dealt with.
As a dancer, ethical issues are raised on a daily basis. I
have to be careful to respect the works of art made by choreographers/artists.
If I change a step in a ballet simply because I cannot do it without telling
anyone, how do I know whether the mind behind the work would care or not? I might
be bringing the work to another direction without even knowing. That is why it
is always important to ask the artistic authority, because in theory they would
have the keys to answer the issue.
When a choreographer creates movement, it is easy to steal
vocabulary from other choreographers. Where is the line between copying
(plagiarising) and being inspired by? I personally enjoy seeing a reference to
another choreographer in an artist’s work as long as the reference is obvious,
or mentioned. Claiming someone else’s work as our own is not even tempting. As
a creator, ‘a writer of movement’, where is the thrill when the movements,
phrases that you unveil belong to somebody else?
Another example is the one of personal benefits versus
external individual’s benefits. Some very talented dancers can have down times,
low confidence and injuries which could benefit other dancers’ in their career
and that’s the way a company goes. But creating doubt, a loss of confidence, or
a physical injury on a peer is certainly, in my opinion, wrong. It seems easy
to answer but it actually is not. Human beings are capable of despicable things
to access their selfish desires and we all know that. What we sometimes do not
realise is that it happens on every level. I am career driven, I want to know,
learn, experience as much as I can, I want to be successful… but not to the
price of my conscience and my good will. My peers, my contemporaries are the
people who make me grow and they each have a life with a past, stories,
culture… why would I want to harm a life that is worth the same as mine?
I have vivid memories of the ballet school where ethics were
not respected. Weight loss or gain, other physical aspects of the body and
technique were topics that were constantly brought up in the classroom. Ballet
teachers thought it was okay to tell a teenager that she was ‘fat’ in front of
the whole class. This kind of behaviour can actually destroy a human and I
strongly disagree with it. Honesty is the most important virtue in my opinion
but public humiliation is not. There are ways of being honest without having to
hurt the person but by committing in helping them towards becoming a better
dancer.
There could be many examples of the disrespect of the rules
of ethics in the world of dance. The young generation of dancers that I am part
of is responsible for making a change. I do not want the students of today to
go through what I have been through as some kind of revenge. I think
Professional ethics is about helping others, but also help our selves to
achieve goals, it is a balance between the self and society to make sure that
everyone live in a world where they feel fulfilled without having to compromise
either on our own or other people’s achievements.
What do you think?
