Photo by Nicola Giordano via Pixabay
Update: I’ve launched a resource site at NC Arts Asylum.
Original Post:
Since the story of sexual and psychological abuse of students at UNCSA is hitting the news, I wanted to share a PDF of my dissertation:
Power Relations in the Dance Classroom by Clyde F. Smith
Ohio State University, 2000
Though it does not identify UNCSA by name, opting for pseudonyms in a social science tradition, anyone familiar with the setting will recognize that it is focused on UNCSA, Richard Kuch, Richard Gain, and dance students at what was then called NC School of the Arts.
I should note that the interviews in this work focus on women who studied at NCSA, who did not have sexual relationships with faculty, yet who were profoundly affected in a negative manner by their study at School of the Arts.
I’ve intended to start a resource site on this topic and hopefully I’ll be able to create something soon.
While Kuch and Gain’s regime could be considered the biggest open secret in the dance world for many years, abusive behavior at NCSA/UNCSA appears to have occurred across departments and goes back to the early days of NCSA’s creation.
This is a very complex situation with many individuals trying to block exposure. I even caught flack from the UNCSA head librarian a few years back when I was gathering information from their records.
Feel free to give me some encouragement here or on Facebook!
-Clyde F. Smith