I’m not sure what to make of reports about ballet dancer Jeppe Hansen being asked to leave the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School because he has appeared in an online porn video. According to the CBC, “Hansen said he respects the ballet school’s decision, but he also accused the company of unfairly trying to define what constitutes art.”

Apparently, the CBC says, “The only reference in the school’s student information handbook to side projects, like the video Hansen appeared in, talks about outside performances related to dance.”

Media reports are playing up the “gay porn” angle in their headlines, though I’m not sure what difference it makes whether it was hetero porn or gay porn. Would the dancer have been asked to leave the school if it had been a hetero porn video?

The question of whether porn videos are an art form is ridculous — of course it’s art, just as any other filmmaking is art. Whether it is good art or not is another question.

I think the bigger issue here is the codes of ethics you will find in most educational institutions and workplaces, which encroach upon the private lives of students and employees. Basically, these businesses — and they are all businesses — don’t want their people to do things in their private lives that might reflect badly upon the institutions and negatively affect their bottom line. That’s ultimately what it is all about: the bottom line. Money . . .

So, how might Jeppe Hansen appearing in a porn video tarnish the reputation of and affect the bottom line at a ballet school? Would future potential students refuse to attend there if they knew that the school once had a porn actor as a student? Would ballet fans refuse to attend performances there — and pay for tickets — because one Jeppe Hansen appears in porn videos?

I can’t answer those questions, but I do know that most businesses would be concerned about cases like these. It’s the same reason why I will have to be cleared by my company before I can appear as a Playboy centrefold when Hugh Hefner comes calling (humour me).

Objectively speaking, of course . . .

It’s just the way it is in the business world.

C’est la vie.

Jillian