A dozen alums from the University of Utah's ballet program wrote letters to point out problems there. Here are their stories.

Tori Johnson, left, and Ellie Bresler, above, are alumnae of the University of Utah School of Dance’s ballet program, who talked about problems they encountered while enrolled there (Photos courtesy of Tori Johnson and Ellie Bresler.)

In July 2021, I got an email from an alumna of the University of Utah School of Dance’s ballet program. She and other alums had collected letters that detailed complaints against the program.

The complaints involved issues of authoritarian teaching practices, body shaming, intimidation, and microaggressions of racism and bias. The letter writers also said that when they tried to complain to higher-ups in the program, the complaints went nowhere.

Over several months (in between my regular daily assignments), I talked to several former ballet students about the problems in the program. Their stories, and the response from the department, are in this article for sltrib.com.