WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg woman says she was also photographed nude by Bruce Monk, a former teacher at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, just two years ago.
She came forward Friday to Global News after Maclean’s Magazine published allegations this week from four former dancers that the former instructor and photographer had taken nude photos of teenage dancers in the 1980s and ’90s.
The woman who spoke to Global News says something similar happened to her as recently as July 2013.
Global News is not identifying the woman who is 20 years old now.
“It started as a regular photo shoot and then he slowly asked me to undress,” she said, referring to a photo shoot in a basement studio in Osborne Village. “It felt normal, it felt OK, it was a slow progression.”
Monk is a renowned photographer and had been an instructor at the school for 28 years.
READ MORE: Former RWB dancer, instructor fired after nude photo allegations
Winnipeg Police confirmed Thursday they are investigating after several complaints; the RWB fired Monk this week.
The woman says she knew Monk since she joined the RWB at age 11; she left the company after an injury several years later.
Three months after her 18th birthday and no longer an RWB student, she says Monk emailed her asking to do a photo shoot in his studio, a request she says was difficult to refuse.
“He’s an uncle-like figure,” said the woman. “I really trusted him and I feel like almost grateful, I feel lucky that he thought I was worthy of this.”
“Everything he did made it feel very right…he sort of tries to prove that this is OK and he has his best intention in mind, we were trained to think that,” she said.
After the photo shoot, the woman says she sent Monk a Facebook message several days later asking him to destroy the photos and said she would not do any future shoots.
She says Monk responded by writing, “The memory card has been deleted and written over so hopefully we can both move on wiser, Bruce.’
The RWB said Thursday it was not aware of any such complaints until the revelations in Maclean’s Magazine.
“Very strange, it was a total surprise to us,” said executive director Jeff Herd. “We were really taken aback by this.”
But the woman says they did know about her case.
She says her boyfriend emailed the school in December 2013 telling them about her photo shoot, and despite not seeing a response was told Friday by the school they did respond to the email but didn’t hear back.
“I’m upset they didn’t look out for me,” she said.
Global News contacted the RWB and asked specifically whether they were aware of the December 2013 complaint against Monk.
The ballet issued a news release late Friday saying, “We have been made aware by the media regarding additional allegations towards Bruce Monk. We take these concerns seriously and as part of the ongoing investigation we encourage anyone with additional information to directly contact the Winnipeg Police Service.”
She has reported the incident to the Winnipeg Police.
“I always felt it was my fault until this week when I heard about these other women,” she said.
Monk has denied the allegations; none of the allegations have been proven in court.
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