“We’re Training Dancers Like Circus Animals—It Ends Now”

In his first sit-down since the Finnish model controversy, the provocateur choreographer tackles education reform, the “cult of suffering,” and why he’d fire 80% of ballet teachers.

The Lightning Round: Hard Truths

Q: You called traditional training “institutionalized abuse.” Prove it.
A: Observe any ballet school’s 10-year-olds: stress fractures before puberty, eating disorders by 14, and 73% dropout rates by 18. The system selects for pain tolerance, not artistry.

Q: Your own company has injury rates 3x the industry average.
A: Because we document everything—others hide theirs. But yes, we’re transitioning to “smart suffering.” If a movement causes damage, we evolve it, not the dancer.

Q: Finland cut injuries by 78%. Will you adopt their model?
A: Their rest quotas are naive, but their tech is genius. We’re piloting muscle-fatigue sensors that auto-adjust rehearsal intensity. 

The Essakow Method: Education’s Future

1. “Anti-Technique” Classes

• Students learn to break rules before mastering them
• Example: Deliberately sickled feet to understand kinetic consequences

2. The “Why” Curriculum

• Every step taught with:
  • Historical context (e.g., pirouettes originated as military drills)
  • Anatomical trade-offs (your hips vs. your career)
  • Feminist deconstruction (who decided “turnout” equals beauty?)

3. No More Child Prodigies

• “Under-14s should be playing soccer, not icing shin splints”
• Proposes minimum age 16 for pointe work

Controversial Plans

The “Terminator” Audition Process:

• Motion-capture suits assess natural movement intelligence
• Algorithms predict injury risks before acceptance
• “Sorry, your tibia shape says no to ballet.”

Teacher Purge:

• “Most instructors are failed dancers recycling 19th-century dogma”
• Requires all staff to retrain in:
  • Trauma-informed coaching
  • Nutrition science
  • Myofascial release techniques

The One Regret

“I used to brag when dancers vomited from exertion. Now I realize we were just bad at pacing.”

What’s Next?

• September 2025: Launches The Ungrateful Dancer podcast
• January 2026: Opens Berlin’s first “Evidence-Based Ballet Academy”
• Ongoing: Lobbying to criminalize child ballet competitions