Studio safety check calls amid claims Sydney dance teacher groomed students

Sydney studio owners have called for stricter child safety requirements for dance teachers following allegations young performers have fallen victim to grooming, abuse, and inappropriate behaviour.

Industry leaders have called for stricter child safety requirements for dance teachers, following allegations young performers have fallen victim to incidents of grooming, abuse, and inappropriate behaviour at the hands of their role models.

Australian studio owners have called for an overhaul of the working with children’s check register and mandatory reporting requirements for dance teachers, after the Telegraph last week revealed a Sydney dance teacher was under police investigation following allegations she had groomed her students.

Currently, dance teachers are not considered “mandatory reporters” under NSW law, which requires teachers, childcare, law enforcement and health care workers to report suspected child abuse and neglect to government authorities.

Following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the NSW Child Safe Scheme was introduced, which now requires all recreation and sporting organisations to have plans for reporting and supporting children in place.

“The Child Safe Standards mean that workers have a positive obligation to report child safety concerns and deal appropriately with complaints,” a spokesman for the Department of Communities and Justice told the Telegraph.

Former dance studio director and instructor Grant Davies is unloaded from a Corrective Services van in 2014. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

However, one Sydney studio owner, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said some dance school owners still “turned a blind eye” to allegations of misconduct or inappropriate behaviour so as not to affect their reputation.

“Some of these schools charge a lot of money and promise the best pathways for young dancers,” they said.

“If someone is caught doing the wrong thing, it’s sometimes hushed up so the reputation of the dancer or the studio isn’t impacted.

“It’s horrific.”

The studio owner said after RG Dance instructor Grant Davies was jailed for 18 years over the abuse of several students in 2016, dance teachers should have been made mandatory reporters.

Allegations and complaints about Davies’ abuse had been made almost six years prior to his arrest in 2013, with victims telling a court they feared revealing the abuse would “send them to the back of performances” or negatively impact their budding careers.

“It’s exactly for that reason that these poor kids are put in these situations,” the studio owner said.

Leaders in the dance industry are calling for tougher child safety requirements for dance teachers.

“They are working with their role models and idols every day, they aren’t going to go against them when they hold all the power over their careers.

“We need legal enforcement for these directors and teachers who aren’t doing enough to protect these kids.”

Dance Arts Alliance vice-chair Mike Harrison-Lamond said a national approach to safety and transparency guidelines was essential to rehabilitating “toxic” aspects of the Australian dance industry’s culture.

“When it comes to legislation and framework that dance falls under, there are massive inconsistencies right across the board,” Mr Harrison-Lamond said.

Mr Harrison-Lamond called for a nationwide approach to working with children checks, noting the status of the checks was difficult to track between states.

“There is no way you will ever know that they have lost their (working with children’s check), if they’re interstate teaching a summer school, a holiday program or a master class at a studio they don’t have listed as an employer,” Mr Harrison-Lamond said.

“Our position is that if someone is deemed unsafe to be teaching children and young people, it should go across the board and also be notifiable.”

The federal government is currently working to improve the working with children check system, to ensure better information sharing across the country.

“Nothing is more important than protecting our children,” Australia’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said.

“The Albanese Government is working with all states and territories to ensure the Working With Children Check protects all Australian children no matter where they live.

“We want to ensure people who seek to abuse children can’t exploit loopholes and gaps in information sharing between states and territories.”