"In the first years of dance college it was like a test to see who was strong enough to get through. Teachers would push you and push you and push you, as if their aim was to get you to break." Lily* is one of several dancers and former dancers who have shared their experiences of training at some of the UK's top dance schools with Sky News following allegations of misconduct behind the scenes of Strictly Come Dancing .
The hit BBC show is set to return in the autumn for what should be a milestone celebratory series marking its twentieth anniversary - but with the programme currently in crisis , questions about dance culture and teaching methods have come sharply into focus. Dancers we spoke to told how teachers would scratch and pinch during lessons, throw things, and humiliate young students in front of their classmates, sometimes even encouraging them to criticise and turn on each other. Some claim they were encouraged to swallow tissues or pennies to keep their weight down.
One said "pictures of overweight people" were pinned up as inspiration not to snack. Behind closed doors, this is the reality for lots of dance students, says lawyer Dino Nocivelli, a partner at law firm Leigh Day who has been contacted by almost 200 dancers and former dancers who claim they suffered abuse. One woman felt she needed plastic surgery to correct her "fat elbows", he says, while another decided not to have a baby for fear of how her body would change.
A number say they will not have mirror.
