A long interview with Michael Clark, the enfant terrible of the UK modern dance world in the late 80s and the first half of the 90s. He was RB trained and one of his teachers said that he was the most gifted student he ever had. However, he turned his back on the ballet world and with his own Company his flame burnt very bright. Eventually heroin addiction meant that he withdrew from the dance scene in 1994, but is now working again and is on tour around the country in May.<P>Let's all cross our fingers that the tour is a success, for the benefit of Michael and the dance world. <P> <A HREF="http://www.observer.co.uk/life/story/0,6903,215665,00.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.observer.co.uk/life/story/0,6903,215665,00.html</A>

this is one long article, and a bit difficult to read with all its short little lines, but well worth the trouble.<P>clark's journey is movingly described...i was intrigued by his comments about his gift, and whether a responsibility came with that...and by his comments about children and ballet.<P>i also appreciated his description of his self-consciousness in sport, and indeed, the self-consciousness of his RBS school-life as described by the interviewer. <P>"One of his contemporaries at the school<BR> describes a life of constant dieting and partial anorexia, of fierce competition and<BR>paranoia, of the constant need to please<BR>and a relentless obsession with form and<BR>appearance."<P>The interviewer says:-<BR>"I wonder if he ever felt obscured as a<BR>person by his talent? Did he imagine<BR>people were drawn to him, or 'the gift'?<BR>Had they become rivals?" <P>- not a problem i'll ever have, but a recogniseable dilemma, which likely presents itself to all those who achieve fame..<BR><p>[This message has been edited by grace (edited April 30, 2000).]

I know what you men about the article's layout. smething to bear in mind with the Guardian and the Observer is that they have a text only version available over on the top left, which has more normal spacing.<P>With other difficult articles, remember that you can always copy and paste into a Word doc. and use the Format; then AutoFormat functions to get a more readable form.