In this interview series, we offer a look behind the scenes of the dance world, where passion, ambitions and challenges coincide. Today we share the story of Viviane, an inspired dancer, teacher and choreographer.
Written by Lara Sala
“Dance is my happiness and my remedy against grief.
It is my joy to dance”
After Viviane got her swimming certificate, her parents allowed her to choose a new sport. She went to ballet with a friend. It turned out to be a good decision: “It was love at first sight. I was six years old and immediately asked the teacher how I could do better. My love grew as I started practicing more dance forms, such as modern and character dance.”
Soon after she went to preliminary training in classical ballet. She enjoyed it immensely until the last year. “The classical ballet teacher belittled me and made me feel like I was not good enough. No teenager should experience what I went through there. I continued to suffer from it for a very long time. If someone within the school had been there to tell me I would be okay, someone who I could have leaned on for a moment, it would have helped me tremendously.”
The period left traces on her, she developed mental and physical symptoms: a chronic inflammation in the connective tissue of her sternum, which still limits her sometimes. Yet through everything that happened she sought out the silver lining “From that time, I learned to look for the positive strength in the negative. And that’s what I bring into my teaching. I want my students to be able to flourish. If a student can’t do something because they are not feeling well that day or are in pain, then I provide customization so that they can still leave class feeling good. Being able and daring to set your own limits is what I try to teach my students.”
“I want my students to thrive”
The transition to dance school was huge: “It was a melting pot of backgrounds and dance styles. It was an exuberant, extroverted atmosphere. But I did not know or understand the invisible standards and value system. Every Monday I dreaded the weekly opening, which were often assignments like lap dancing and singing solos in front of everyone. But I did well. I got high grades, great assignments and took on challenges that made me develop and evolve myself in dance.”
In her senior year, Viviane did an internship with a major show-ballet in Hilversum. She went to school on Mondays and Tuesdays, then she had rehearsals from Wednesday through Friday, and 5 shows on weekends. “I physically worked for 7 days on an internship fee, half of which I had to give up to training fees. I was also invoiced for book fees, without getting books. I refused, so I went to along the training course wherein I was proven right. I’m very proud of myself for starting that conversation.”
According to Viviane, dance academies have a responsibility in this area: “Dancers are not taught how the workforce works. What should you earn? What are you entitled to? How do you stand up for yourself? A lot more attention needs to be paid to this. Students need someone at the academy to guide them through it.”
Viviane also sees these issues reflected in the work field. Because dancers do not know how to value themselves (or their services), employers take advantage of them by offering unreasonably low compensation. Viviane comes up with a poignant example: “Just a few years ago, I received an offer to dance at a big music show in the Arena. I was expected to take a week off to rehearse for this, while I was only reimbursed for my travel expenses to the shows themselves. For that reason, I politely declined. Dance is an enormously long and intensive investment. Training to be a lawyer also takes ten years, but after that you get paid well,” says Viviane, who, inspired by her experiences, went on to study Applied Psychology. She now develops initiatives and programs to make the dance environment safer and more open: “I want to help – where I didn’t have help before.”
“The size of the show doesn’t matter, when I dance I feel happy”
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