Some contrasting points of view on The Scottish Ballet crisis:<P><BR><B>Modern dance guru backs classics</B> <P>by Nick Drainey in The Scotsman<P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>A FOUNDING father of modern dance in Britain has joined a growing chorus of disapproval at Scottish Ballet’s plans to ditch classical work. <P>Robert Cohan’s call for the company to retain classical dance has been described as being similar to "a Labour MP telling people to vote Conservative", by joyous campaigners wanting to keep the status quo. <P>In an open letter to people connected to the ballet, including the board, Mr Cohan said: "I have been a creator, supporter and defender of contemporary dance all of my life and I wish I could support this so-called repositioning of Scottish Ballet. <P>"But I fear it spells the end of a national Scottish dance company and the moneys it now receives will mostly be swallowed up by Scottish Opera."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/text_only.cfm?id=103939" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P>*********************************************<P><BR><B>Our ballet dances but to the wrong tune</B> <P><BR>by BRIAN MONTEITH in The Edinburgh News<P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I’VE nothing but admiration for ballet dancers - the females are graceful and romantic, and the males are superbly athletic whilst braving attacks on their sexuality. So it pains me to see the trouble Scottish Ballet is in - although I suspect too few of us care. <P>I first became interested in Scottish Ballet because I liked the music of Tchaikovsky and found that so much of his work, such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, was written for ballet. <P>I found their performances always good for a romantic date. The whole idea just seemed to throw girls enough for them to drop their guard and agree to go out with me. It probably surprised them they weren’t being asked to a Hammer Horror. <P>They were spellbound. The classical moves leapt way above my head, but even the Philistine that I once was could be charmed by the combination of grace and power and the emotion of the music and dance. <P>When I tried to move on to Ballet Rambert and its more contemporary dance it just didn’t work, not for me or my dates. I was left cold in more ways than one.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><A HREF="http://www.edinburghnews.com/text_only.cfm?id=EN01149027" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P>******************************************<P><B>Wanted: rising star with big ideas</B> <P>What is to be done about dance in Scotland now that Scottish Ballet has been killed off? Do what European cities do, suggests Ismene Brown in TheTelegraph - hand control of a new company to a dynamic young choreographer<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>SCOTLAND the brave has declared that ballet is dead - north of the border at least. The joint board of Scottish Opera and Ballet has announced that from 2002 their nation's 30-year-old classical ballet company will be replaced by a new national contemporary dance outfit.<P>Why? Money is suspected to be the motive. No-frills contemporary dance, with its smaller forces and taped music, costs less to do than ballet, with its spectacle, corps de ballet and orchestra. Plus, I fancy, there is a vague feeling that Scotland is a culturally go-ahead place (as the Edinburgh Festival annually reinforcess) and certain influential people chafe against ballet's old-fashioned values and senior audiences.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR><A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=005760794236107&rtmo=3HmKHmuM&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/01/9/1/btib01.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited September 01, 2001).]
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