Girl 'scared' by alleged actions of her tap-dance teacher
Teen testifies he performed sexual acts on her when she was just 12
Susan Lazaruk, The Province
Published: Thursday, August 16, 2007

A teen student of world-renowned tap dancer Van "The Man" Porter testified he sexually assaulted her when she was 12 and 13 under the pretense of helping her to stretch during lessons.

The girl, now 16, told B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver she felt privileged to train under Porter, a former Broadway, Riverdance and film performer, at the Vancouver Tap Dance Society.

But she said she felt confused, scared and uncomfortable when Porter, in one-on-one sessions, pressed his body behind her and rubbed his penis against her, hugged her, whispered in her ear and cupped her breasts while hugging her from behind.

"I was very, very uncomfortable, not quite sure what was going on, confused, scared," she said.

Porter, who sat in the defendant's box while his wife sat behind him in the gallery, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault of three former teen students and three of sexual exploitation by someone in a position of trust.

He has also pleaded not guilty to sexual interference involving a child under 14 in the case of the complainant on the stand yesterday.

Most of her allegations relate to 2004 and 2005, after the first two complainants went to police in 2003 and parents were warned to supervise the one-on-one sessions.

The complainant said one of the incidents happened when she was paid $30 to perform with Porter at a late-night blues festival, after he followed her into the woman's change room while her father was in the audience.

Another occurred at the society studios -- when her father had left the building to get coffee and her brother was in the hallway doing his math homework -- in the costume room with the door closed during a break in group lessons.

She told Crown prosecutor Allan Mandell she worried that if she told anyone, Porter would be asked to leave the school and other students would blame her "because he was so big -- as in famous -- internationally in the tap world."

slazaruk@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Province 2007