To be or not to be a bitchy ballerina?

There are many ballet urban legends that have been going around for centuries. The most common is the tale of the ballerina who put glass in the pointe shoe of her rival. The glass only to be discovered mid performance which left the glorious prima ballerina hobbling off stage with a pointe shoe filled with blood. However, nothing can compare to the very real act against the current director of the Bolshoi Ballet Friday.

Sergei Filin, current Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Ballet, was hit in the face with a bottle of acid. He was leaving a meeting with The Bolshoi Ballet's general director when a masked man called out his name and threw the bottle in his face. He suffered third degree burns and may possibly permanently loose his sight. Although there are many possible reasons for the assault, police believe that one possibility could be professional jealously.

This, along with the recent news of a certain cycling hero using performance enhancing drugs and destroying anyone who tried to leak his secret really makes you wonder...How far would you go to make your dream happen?

Now, of course competition is a natural part of dance and sports. Everyone has their rivals and of course we have all wished for something that someone else has had at one time in our lives. But, what defines someone as a "go getter" doing what ever it takes to get ahead, or a "bully" doing whatever it takes to get ahead?

I personally had one person in my life who has always stood out as being a "Ballet Bully". Lets call her Suzy. Growing up my teacher told me I needed to be more assertive like Suzy. Yes, Suzy was assertive, but she was also cruel to her fellow dancers and would have walked over anyone who got in her way. Suzy went on to be a very famous dancer using her "assertive" personality to get ahead. I strongly believe that what goes around comes around, and yet, what seems to come around for Suzy is success.

This has always been a hard pill for me to swallow. I have often wondered if my teacher was right. Should I be a bitchy ballerina in order to get what I want?

 Last season I had the pleasure of working with a guest artist who has had an amazingly successful career. The difference between this person and Suzy was this dancer was humble, sweet, professional, and had absolutely no ego anywhere in their personality. Oh... and they also happened to be ballet superstar. This proved to me that it was possible to be both a good person, and make it as a dancer at the same time.

Maybe it is a harder road but I personally would rather go to sleep at night knowing that I made it on my own physical talents and not my talents of intimidation.

What do you think? Is a little bit of intimidation necessary?