At the Academy of Theatre and Dance, we have taken note of the NPO 2 three-part documentary series 'Dansen voor je leven' by director Heleen Minderaa and the report by Verinorm 'Schaduwdansen' about transgressive behavior in the dance sector.

We endorse the importance of the Verinorm study and its results and that such transgressive behavior is never acceptable. Everything that contributes to insight into social safety and that gives us tools for tackling it is a valuable addition to the processes that we are engaged in to strengthen social safety within our study programmes.

Together with Verinorm, we are currently conducting our own research into social safety within the whole AHK. The fact that we did not participate in the research that resulted in the report 'Shadow Dancing' is because of this.  In consultation with Verinorm, we have decided not to question our students twice about the same subject.

We agree that higher dance education has not always been a safe place. Transgressive behavior comes in many forms and is not always clearly recognizable. This is relevant to professional dance education and the report confirms this.

We have taken action to create a socially safer environment within our academy. This is a continuous process This is a continuous process of learning and developing. It includes finetuning and communicating codes of conduct, building awareness of the confidential advisers and complaints procedures, and discussing social safety with teachers in the context of didactic training and performance reviews.

The academy stands for socially safe conditions in which students can develop into healthy, socially strong and competent dancers. Within our organization we are working on a culture in which abuses are prevented and there are clear procedures and systems for reporting and following up on unhoped-for incidents.