Ethical considerations and my beliefs

Ethics = reflecting on the impact things have on each other.

When I first began writing down what the ethical considerations and code of conduct were in my own professional practice, I was trying to look for really complicated answers and points. As I work in a ballet company in the Czech Republic, ethical considerations could be slightly different to those in a company in the UK. My contract is also written in Czech and not English, so I found myself making things seem more complicated than they actually are. 

I got round to writing down the ethical considerations within my professional practice and a few of them are:

• Punctuality: turning up to class, rehearsals, tours and performances on time
• Presenting myself appropriately in the studio
• Spacial awareness with fellow colleagues
• Taking care of property that belongs to the company (e.g. costumes, wigs, props, shoes, dvd's)
• Learning and remembering choreography

When looking at the three main contexts where ethics are considered (personal, social and organisational), I had a lot to write for personal ethics and where my own assumptions and beliefs regarding my inquiry come from. With my network marketing business venture, I help other dancers be there healthiest and most body confident with a programme they can follow. Many of those dancers are studying at vocational schools in the UK, and the majority have been told to change their body and lose weight. None of them have then been given further guidance or a programme to follow to ensure they lose the weight in a healthy way for their body, instead they've just been left to their own knowledge, which can easily be warped through social media and having to look in the mirror everyday. I've also been around many friends at vocational ballet school who have struggled with being healthy as they have wanted to please their teachers by having an almost skeletal figure, and ended up with severe injuries before even graduating into the professional world. 

I also wrote down what I believed was "true", "powerful" and "unimportant" and then looked back over my literature to see if anything I read challenged my assumptions. One thing I feel very strongly about is that ballet dancers should be strong and athletic to be able to perform their best. An article I read in The Guardian, an interview with Dame Gillian Lynne and Beryl Grey challenged my belief on this as Lynne stated "Most dancers want to be slim. Quite honestly, dancers have to diet. You have to be underweight.". As such a renowned ballet star, young dancers and also professionals will believe this is true and follow what Dame Gillian Lynne says. I understand being "slim", but personally don't agree with dieting in order to be underweight. I don't think dancers should have to damage their health and bodies for the art, in fact I think this actually damages the art as there is a higher risk of injuries. This could be a potential area of ethical concern in my inquiry, as I'm also commenting on dancer's "body image" and what I also believe is the "ideal body image". This is not really my place to do so, and realise I feel very passionately about this topic so don't want to focus on where to put the blame, but rather on how to help dancers be healthy. 

I asked myself why I want my assumptions and beliefs to be true, and it's simply because I want ballet dancers to be healthy in order to be able to perform their best, and present the 'ballet world' in a more positive light and show that the stereotype of being thin and underweight is not what it takes to be a professional artist. 

Please comment on your opinions regarding my beliefs and ethical considerations!

Here is the link for the article with Dame Gillian Lynne: 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/feb/12/ballet-grand-dames-gillian-lynne-bery-grey-push-dancers-limit