Confession time: I love browsing the Voy boards. These anonymous message boards from the 90s are such a dumpster fire of gossip and innuendo, and yet I can't break away from reading. Sometimes it is just wild to watch grown women snipe at each other across the internet about the stupidest, pettiest garbage (like crowns on dresses - give me a break).
However, beyond the petty gossip and name-calling, I have found some important information that isn't talked about publicly and openly. Last week was certainly the peak of this, with a number of posts discussing the sexual abuse cases currently ongoing in the Irish dance community.
The details, as far as I have been able to find from definitive sources (e.g. news sites and court filings). On December 2 in Bergen County, NJ, three lawsuits were filed alleging sexual abuse by Irish dance teachers in the Mid-Atlantic region. The suits were pulled later that day, but re-filed on December 4. The three plaintiffs are all anonymous (not unexpected in sexual abuse cases, especially those concerning minors); the Mid Atlantic Region, CLRG, IDTANA, a school named only as ABC School of Irish Dance and an individual identified only as DT are named in all three suits. The first suit also names the Southern Region as a defendant, the second suit names the New England Region, and the third suit includes the Mid America region, and a school identified as XYZ School of Irish Dance. IrishCentral reports that two of the victims are minors.
The specific schools are also not named, as any identifying information about which schools, or the identity of defendant DT, would make it easier to identify the plaintiffs. While some on the Voy boards believe they know the identities of DT and the schools, I will not name them here as protection of the victims is very important.
I am deeply disappointed that it took until December 7 for IDTANA or CLRG to make any sort of statement on this issue. It is even further concerning that the Mid-Atlantic Region, named in all three lawsuits, saw fit to send a message only to teachers in the region. However, I am honestly not surprised. CLRG's response to any sort of controversy within Irish dance has been to delay responding until the absolute last minute, and then to make a barebones statement with the note that they will not comment any further. Their comment that they are only replying in response to social media posts is disturbing - there have been a number of news articles on this issue since December 2; this is not just the rantings of anonymous individuals on message boards. At least IDTANA's statement has gone further and encouraged anyone aware of abuse to contact the appropriate government authorities.
CLRG's response |
IDTANA's response |
I am saddened to know that sexual abuse is happening in Irish dance, although I do not believe it is endemic to this activity in particular. Over the past few years in particular, we have seen a number of cases emerging in similar activities, such as other dance forms and particularly sports. However, I do think that the culture of CLRG globally is not beneficial to anyone.
This non-response issued is truly appalling, for a number of reasons. The first issue is very much the deflection of any sort of blame. In many organizations, especially involving an individual in any sort of 'teaching' capacity, those involved will be removed temporarily until an investigation is completed. While it is difficult to force a teacher, who may possibly own their own school, to step aside from one's own business, CLRG could at least temporarily revoke their TCRG status until the matter is resolved. For schools with multiple TCRGs on staff, this should theoretically not affect the school's operations in the meantime, while assuaging parents across the country (and world) that the matter is being taken seriously.
At least at a minimum CLRG has stated that their Ethics Committee (Coiste Faire) will be investigating. However, given the fact that the Chairperson seems to be located outside the US, I am not sure how effective this will actually be.
A bit about secrecy
I have been involved in this activity for 11 years; five years as a child (from grades 4-8), and now six years as an adult. Of course, things have changed greatly since the late 90s - the ubiquity of social media, for start, which has been a blessing and a curse. However, the one thing that has stayed relatively pervasive is the culture of secrecy throughout Irish dance in general, and CLRG in particular.
Hardly anything in Irish dance is communicated publicly - if you want information on any particular thing, you must go through your teacher, or hunt things down elsewhere (like, say, an anonymous message board). I can't simply go to the Mid Atlantic Region's website to find out, say, new rules on adult competitions for 2020 (to cite a very specific, relevant-to-me example), I have to ask my teacher. And God forbid he misses a single meeting; then we're both completely out of the loop. On top of that, there's differing information coming from IDTANA and NAFC (not a part of any of the above suits mentioned, but important in detailing the overall lack of transparency), which again, can be accessed only through teachers (or feis chairpersons in the case of NAFC). There is no source whereby one, whether a dancer or parent, can find information directly from the governing bodies.
CLRG as a governing body is even worse. The 'News' section of their website has no archives, and is almost entirely about specifically Worlds - no other news that may be considered relevant to Irish dancers around the world. I have also noticed a tendency of CLRG to delete comments on their social media pages, particularly Facebook. It does not bode well for open dialogue to delete comments, positive or otherwise, which is specifically the complaint. There is no open dialogue at all. The one thing CLRG and IDTANA have failed to realize is that if they do not provide access to information, people will seek it out elsewhere. Hence, the prevalence of the message boards, even today.
Now, back to the issue of secrecy in this tragic situation. As stated above, general policy within CLRG is that any issues are addressed to the registered TCRG in your school, which is then passed up the chain through the local region, national body, and ultimately CLRG in Dublin, if deemed necessary.
Thankfully, CLRG's website does contain what appears to be the most up-to-date files on pretty much any global rule, including music, costuming, and child protection. These are fairly easy to access, although if you are not aware that they are available and believe that they, like many other things, must come through the teachers (which seems to be the case, given the number of questions I see flying around the internet about costuming rules alone, which have been downloadable for some time), you may not even think to look for them.
According to the Child Protection policy (available here), any concerns regarding child safety must be reported to the regional Designated Liaison Persons. While the policy details definitions of various types of abuse, it focuses a great deal on spotting abuse occurring outside the dance classroom. This is not to disparage this type of observation; indeed, dance teachers can be seen as a valuable resource for children who may be suffering abuse at home or at school. However, there is not nearly enough focus on abuse that may occur within the confines of Irish dance.
Page 18 details responding to allegations of abuse by Employees or Volunteers of An Coimisiún. Page 1 outlines definitions of various roles with CLRG, as seen below:
As Teacher is listed as a separate role from either Employee or Volunteer, it is clear that the reporting procedures listed on page 18 are not applicable to TCRGs. A Code of Conduct for Teachers is laid out on pages 21-22;while it states that teachers should never "make sexually suggestive comments about or to a child or engage in sexually suggestive discussions, contact or behaviour", there are in fact no reporting procedures listed anywhere in this policy to address violations of this policy by teachers.
A form on page 34 (Appendix D: Child Protection Statement) says that it must be available at all classes; presumably this is applicable globally. I must say that the first time I have ever seen this statement was as I was researching this post. In 11 years and two schools, I have never seen nor heard of this form ever. Furthermore, I have never heard of it from any dancers at any other school anywhere in the world, so this is clearly not just a "failing" of either of the two schools I have danced for.
To summarize: nowhere in CLRG's official policy is there a mechanism for reporting teachers suspected of abuse, by either other teachers, parents, or dancers themselves. There is a list of Designated Liaison Persons on CLRG's website (here, for which I had to Google), but to even know that there is a designated person to report abuses to requires more information than is generally available to dancers and parents. This list is also lacking; it only covers England, Scotland, Ireland, and North America, and only the North American representatives have contact information listed. The rest of the world has no person to contact, other than the general Coiste Faire email address.
At least in the United States, school teachers and school employees are mandated reporters. Obviously, there is no way to require all TCRGs/ADCRGs to be legally mandated reporters in their home countries. However, CLRG could certainly institute an internal policy of mandated reporting, whereby if any teacher is found to have ignored or covered up signs of abuse, that they can be suspended or even kicked out entirely of the organization. CLRG has long had a lack of accountability in every aspect of Irish dance; this might be a good time to start finding some.
We, as dancers, parents, and other concerned members of the Irish dance community, must demand transparency and accountability from CLRG. This is certainly a tall order given the nature of how things have operated over the past 50+ years. However, it is also 2019, and it is very easy to organize people across the world online. And it can happen on the local level. Parents and dancers can lobby their own teachers for action; parents and dancers from across schools can band together and demand change from a collective group of teachers. For those teachers who are concerned and appalled, they have even more power to challenge their regional and national authorities to institute change. But change needs to happen, clearly, and it needs to happen now.