At age 10, one of my friends was told her skin tone was not ideal for a role in the Nutcracker. Three years later, I was told I needed to lose weight for the first time. Growing older, I saw a director mock one of his homosexual dancers. And now, at age 20, I have, first-hand, come in contact with the ridiculous pay inequality between male and female dancers. How often have I spoken up though? Guilty — not once.

It is the year 2017 and I live in a so-called civilized country, working in a profession that traditionally has pushed boundaries. Perhaps the best-known example comes from the early 20th century when Paris viewers were left shocked by Ballet Russes’ Sacre du Printemps — the Rite of Spring. Choreographed by world-renowned dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and set to one of Stravinsky’s intricate scores, Sacre broke ballet rules, as it called for a rebirth of both dance and society. At the time, the outraged audience protested the modern movement, but Rite of Spring is still one of the most performed productions to this day.

In 1998, Israeli dance troupe Batsheva sparked national debate when, in one of their pieces, dancers stripped down until almost nude while reciting religious song. The country’s president negotiated with Batsheva’s artistic director Ohad Naharin, and it was decided that the dancers would wear body stockings, as politicians were scared of offending religious viewers. But the dancers did not want to compromise the integrity of the dance and walked out on the performance.

Although dance in recent years has gotten more recognition in the mainstream media, the dance world itself has left a silence when it comes to addressing problematic current issues.

In dance, children are taught discipline from a young age. To a certain extent, I can applaud that, as dancers have been known to work hard and succeed in ventures they encounter outside of their art form. But with the very much so alive competition in the dance world, discipline can slowly evolve into fear. It is incredibly hard to find work as a dancer, so when you finally land a gig, chances are you do not want to sabotage it. Being seen as “difficult” is a death sentence, even if you do witness gross discrimination, sexism or racism. If you are too afraid to speak up in your personal environment, making public statements — let alone thought-provoking art — seems to be out of the picture. I would imagine these scenarios are also common in acting, music and other arts, but I am not the person to claim that on their behalf.

Many of my dance friends are incredibly intelligent, excelled academically, and are quite opinionated about politics and humanities. Their views and minds could impact others and provoke conversation, yet fear of being perceived badly in the tight-knit dance world is holding them back.

Arts are necessary to keep history relevant, as well as a means to fight for progression. So, the question is, do we need to break down the wall of discipline in order for the arts to tackle the tough problems this world is facing?

Milena Hartog studied at the Dutch National Ballet Academy and spent the past years dancing in New Jersey and California. She is currently based in Portland.