india thompson was 11 and living with herfamily in yorkshire when she was offered a place at the royal ballet schooln 2007. i was just like..."wow!" this is it now, like, this is my life. the junior section of the royal ballet school is for children aged 11 to 16, and it nestles in the heart of london's richmond park. king charles is its president. it's the top ballet school in britain, and widely regarded as one of the best in the world. it is an extraordinary place. it produces fabulous dancers. some of the best dancers of our time. for india, it was a dream come true. i couldn't wait to pack my parents off. i was like, "bye!" and they were probably like, "oh, god!" they probably felt awful, but i was like, "see ya!" india says, when she reached puberty, in her second year at the school, she had her first encounter with the unwritten ballet code. i, you know, started to get, like, boobs and a bum and things like that, and i wasjust like, "well, what is this?" "you need to lengthen out"...comments... ..which doesn't mean anything to anybody, really, really, unless you know what it eans, really, unl

she is. now taking legal action against the royal ballet school for the treatment she said she suffereders were unpredictable and cruel. , . , ., cruel. the 2.5 years i was at the ballet — cruel. the 2.5 years i was at the ballet school, _ cruel. the 2.5 years i was at the ballet school, i - cruel. the 2.5 years i was at the ballet school, i was i the ballet school, i was intimidated, humiliated and left feeling very scared. and, quite frankly, broken. you don't prepare _ quite frankly, broken. you don't prepare anyone i quite frankly, broken. you don't prepare anyone for anything by cruelty. i'm not saying _ anything by cruelty. i'm not saying that the teachers are bad people. they think they are doing _ bad people. they think they are doing the — bad people. they think they are doing the right thing. they are doing — doing the right thing. they are doing exactly what was done to them — doing exactly what was done to them. �* ., doing exactly what was done to them. 1, ,. , doing exactly what was done to them. ,. , ,, them. both schools dispute the accounts given _ them. both schools di

ellen is now taking legal action against the royal ballet school for the treatment she says she sufferedis teachers were unpredictable and cruel. for the two and a half years i was at the ballet school, i was intimidated, humiliated and left feeling very scared and, quite frankly, broken. you don't prepare anyone for anything by cruelty. . i'm not saying that the . teachers are bad people. they think they're . doing the right thing. they're doing exactly. what was done to them. both schools dispute the accounts given to the bbc and say their own records differ. the royal ballet school told the bbc... "nothing is more important to us" than the happiness and continued well—being of its students, and it is continuously improving and innovating in order to protect their health and welfare. elmhurst says it "promotes good physical, mental health and acts whenever issues are identified." while the ballet schools insist they're doing everything they can to improve the culture, these former students believe much still has to be done to ensure the safety and well—being of their successors. mark d

ellen is now taking legal action against the royal ballet school for the treatment she says she suffered and a half years i was at the ballet school, i was... intimidated, humiliated and left feeling very scared and, quite frankly, broken. you don't prepare anyone for anything by cruelty. i i'm not saying that the teachers i are bad people — they think they're doing the right thing. they're doing exactly. what was done to them. both schools dispute the accounts given to the bbc, and say their own records differ. in a statement, the royal ballet school says nothing is more important to us than the happiness and continued well—being of its students, and that it's continuously improving and innovating in order to protect their health and welfare. elmhurst says it promotes good physical and mental health, and acts whenever issues are identified. while the ballet schools insist they're doing everything they can to improve the culture, these former students believe much still has to be done to ensure the safety and well—being of their successors. mark daly, bbc news. the summit referred to as

the uk's most prestigious ballet schools. the bbc�*s panorama and file on a programmes have spoken to more than 50 ex—students of the royal ballet priority. panorama's mark daly reports. the ballet world is a brutal place, but telling people that you're too fat — i don't think that's preparing you for anything. these are the former dancers speaking out about what they say is a toxic culture of body shaming and bullying at two of britain's top ballet schools. i think it broke me a bit. i think it broke me, and i don't think i ever really got put back together. every year, hundreds of children audition for a coveted place at the royal ballet school in london and elmhurst ballet school in birmingham — widely regarded as among the best schools in the world. there, from age 11 up, they train like elite athletes. ellen elphick attended both schools, and says it was a single comment from a teacher during parents' evening at elmhurst that set her on a path to an eating disorder that lasted 15 years. she sat with my parents, basically said — to their faces, whilst i was sat there — that i was soft and i needed to tone up. i felt really a

the star at a smaller school, i was then the worst at a bigger school. but i did very well and started doing really well. there and went to the royal balletso learning, you know, with the dancers that were at the royal ballet school and then i've always been a bit of a squirrel with money. and so when it came that i was graduating and we'd all go off around europe to dance with european ballet companies and try and get a job, there was suddenly a notice in there was suddenly a notice in the stage newspaper paper that the stage newspaper paper that the iranian national ballet were going to be in london auditioning , and they were auditioning, and they were paying auditioning, and they were paying five times what the royal ballet were paying. so i auditioned and then my poor parents, because i was always independent and wanting to travel. and i said, right, that's it, i'm off to iran. you know, to this ballet company. i'll stay about three years. i'll stay about three years. i'll save lots of money. then i'll save lots of money. then i'll come back and buy some properties so that if i go into show business, it doesn't work . show business,