Shirley Ballas Speaks on Misogyny in the Dance Industry
Shirley Ballas of Wirral has been vocal about the issue of bullying within the dancing industry, stating that there are a small number of individuals that exhibit misogynistic attitudes and have inflated egos.
Ahead of her time as head judge on Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One), the 63-year-old recalled the "immense bullying" she endured.
Ballas revealed her experience of intense harassment from powerful men in the industry during an interview with Lauren Laverne on Desert Island Discs, a radio show on BBC Radio 4.
"I’ll just go as far as that, and they were stopping my work."
“I was like an elite teacher, I was teaching the top couples in the world.
“And then there were threats going to certain couples saying, ‘There’s nine of us and one of her, if you train with her, we’re going to make sure you don’t make it in the industry.'"
“Men and women stopping me judging.”
She added: “So there was an awful lot of things going on like that for no particular reason, other than that they didn’t want a woman in any high places."
“And that’s how I felt and that’s my perspective on it.”
Asked if she thinks the industry was misogynistic, she said: “100% for sure and I don’t think it’s much better today. I still think that bullying goes on."
“There’s a lot of great people in my industry. There’s a lot of people who want to see people do extremely well and I think we have this handful of misogynistic people with egos that just will not deflate."
“Even the other day, I was reading messages of a couple that had been to a competition overseas of different professionals that had written these most horrendous messages to them."
“It (bullying) still goes on today. I don’t know how people get away with it, until it becomes name and shame and I’m pretty much close to doing that, I’ll tell you.”
Ballas recently spoke out about the racist and sexist comments she has received on Strictly as a judge.
Her personal assistant "syphons through" the nasty letters addressed to her, she told Channel 5 News in October.
Murder On The Dance Floor, co-written by the dancing champion and judge with Sheila McClure, is a fictitious account of the life of dance superstar and former world champion Lily Richmond, and it was released in October.
The book provides an inside look at the dance industry, according to Ballas, who told the PA news agency that it is far more "sinister" than the public realizes.
On December 10 at 11:15 a.m., BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4 broadcasted Desert Island Discs.