As i said earlier I always took the 3,500 to be for indigenous contemporary dance, but probably an underestimate. I am shocked that Tessa Jackson has confirmed that this is the actual figure. There is clearly no evidence to suggest that the Scots want to see indigenous contemporary dance or contemporary ballet. Especially as I understand that Scottish Dance Theatre are a well regarded company.<P>The fact that 5,000 people went to see the Mark Morris Dance Company is neither here nor there. Firstly because he is one of the two or three greatest choreographers working in any Western dance form today. Secondly, because much of his work is accessible to ballet audiences. <P>I await the publication of the report by the MSPs on this appallingly badly handled initiative by Barron with the approval of Jackson. <p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited November 10, 2001).]

Tessa Jackson rumoured to stand down this week in The Scotsman<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>THE director of the Scottish Arts Council is expected to stand down from the position this week after just two years in the job, it was revealed yesterday. <P>It is believed Tessa Jackson has lost the confidence of James Boyle, the chairman of the council and a former controller of BBC Radio 4, and several of the 13-member council who disagree with her softer management style. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=122436&rware=KDVAHODIRCJV&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=2" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A>

<B>Jackson quits arts council position</B><BR>By Mike Wade for The Scotsman<P><BR>TESSA Jackson, the director of the Scottish Arts Council, has confirmed she is to quit, ending weeks of legal wrangling over her future..... <P>This year the director has been at odds with Mr Boyle over the direction of Scottish Ballet with Ms Jackson favouring plans for a switch to contemporary dance. That proposal drew heavy public criticism. The arts council has also been attacked for a lack of transparency in the fixed-term funding of theatre companies. <P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=124933&rware=LCUUITAMSDJV&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=2" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

A parliamentary report criticises the Board of Scottish Ballet....<P><B>D-Day for ballet board<P>Mike Wade<BR>The Scotsman</B><P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>A parliamentary report published today will be critical of the board of Scottish Ballet, following a long and bitter argument over its future. <P>Controversy has dogged the Glasgow-based company since the merger of the boards of Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet in 1999. That initiative was widely seen as a cost-cutting measure and speculation mounted yesterday that the management structure could be dissolved. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=125795&keyword=dance" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P>

The papers are laden with the debate today:<P>Scottish Ballet: A complete failure<P><B>Mike Wade Arts Correspondent </B><P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>THE board of troubled Scottish Ballet was savaged yesterday as a parliamentary committee lambasted directors over mismanagement of funds and a switch in artistic strategy. <P>The Scottish parliament’s education, culture and sport committee criticised the board for a financial strategy based on "hopes, wishes and false expectations". <P>Directors of Scottish Ballet were accused of erecting a "necessary smokescreen" in their declaration three months ago to move away from ballet towards contemporary dance as cover for the board’s determination not to renew its artistic director Robert North’s three-year contract.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=126059" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P><B>Scottish Ballet management 'truly appalling' </B><BR>The Times <P> <BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>SCOTTISH Ballet’s handling of its transition to become a contemporary dance company was “truly appalling”, according to a report yesterday. <BR>This caused unnecessary suffering and worry for many people, the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Culture and Sport Committee found. It was also critical of Scottish Ballet’s board and its chief executive, Christopher Barron, over its financial survival strategy. <P>The committee announced plans to hold the inquiry after the board’s announcement in August that it planned to place greater emphasis on contemporary dance, a move that prompted dancers to set up a website in protest over fears for their jobs and the future of the dance company. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P> <BR><A HREF="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001553622,00.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P><BR><B>Dance director's turning point offer </B><BR>JIM McLEAN The Scottish Herald<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>SCOTTISH Ballet's sacked artistic director Robert North last night offered to stay at the dance company if its boardroom crisis can be resolved.<P>His offer came as the board of Scottish Ballet considered its position after being urged to resign "en masse" following a damning Scottish Parliament report into its controversial plans to change the direction of the company and dismiss Mr North. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><A HREF="http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/30-11-19101-0-29-6.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited November 30, 2001).]

The latest articles from The Scotsman on the Parliamentary Committee Report:<P><B>First Minister’s wife caught up in ballet row</B><BR>By Mike Wade Arts Correspondent in The Scotsman<P><BR>BRIDGET McConnell, the wife of the first minister, was among the key supporters of Scottish Ballet at parliamentary committee inquiry into the troubled organisation. <P>Mrs McConnell, the director of culture and leisure services for Glasgow City Council, told the committee the ballet’s proposals to change artistic strategy complemented her department’s own objectives, and compared plans for future productions favourably with the work of other leading contemporary dance companies. <P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/scotland.cfm?id=126386&keyword=ballet" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><P><BR><B>Backing emerges from wings</B><BR>Mike Wade Arts Correspondent of The Scotsman<P><BR>DERIDED by a parliamentary committee for its "truly appalling" handling of change, it became clear yesterday that the management of Scottish Ballet received some encouragement for its proposal to become a contemporary dance theatre. <P>Since the board announced its decision to change direction in August, it has faced criticism from within the company and the public. <P>But with the publication of the report, from the education, culture and sport committee, voices in favour of the organisation’s new direction have been heard. <P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/scotland.cfm?id=126387&keyword=ballet" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><P><BR><B>Why this arts dispute is more than a storm in a tutu</B><BR>Leading article from The Scotsman<P><BR>IN the normal course of events, a dispute at Scotland’s national ballet company would have little resonance beyond the theatre doors. But this is more than a storm in a tutu. <P>Nothing about the state of Scottish arts could be described as normal. It is not just that this row, culminating this week in a savage report by the Scottish parliament’s education, culture and sport committee, begs searching questions about the stewardship of the company. It is also because it raises issues that reach across the whole of the arts world. Bigger issues are bursting to get out than the circumstances of the removal of the company’s artistic director. <P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/searchresults.cfm?id=126434&keyword=ballet" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

Article in Scotland on Sunday on the new arts minister Mike Watson.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I HAVE no inside information about our new arts minister, Mike Watson. I know nothing about his likes or dislikes, whether he prefers folk music to the classics, modern dance to ballet, conceptual art to figurative painting. But I am delighted that, at last, we have an arts minister in the cabinet. What is desperately needed is an enthusiastic voice speaking up for the cause of the arts at the highest level, someone who understands the huge contribution they make to our national life, and who can appreciate how and where they can be effective. <P><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/index.cfm?id=SS01046832&rware=OXZAOMCLOEJV&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=1" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A>

<B>New minister inflames ballet row</B><BR>By Juliette Garside in The Sunday Herald<P><BR>Members of the Scottish parliament's education, culture and sport committee reacted with anger and surprise yesterday at newly installed arts minister Mike Watson's support of the Scottish Ballet board.<BR>Watson, named culture minister by Jack McConnell on Tuesday , released a statement on Friday supporting the ballet's chairman Duncan McGhie, and his administration. His comments followed the publication of a report by the committee, that called into question the current leadership of the national company by suggesting a dramatic restructuring of its board and a public consultation on the ballet's future.<P><A HREF="http://www.sundayherald.com/20597" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

Another view in the row over Scottish ballet. From the Scotsman.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>There is also scope for different interpretations within the specific structures of a work. What I don’t like are those who steep themselves in music of the past like musical archaeologists and don’t give a toss about the music of our times. And yet I find the proposal by the board of Scottish Ballet to abandon classical ballet in favour of modern dance to be wrong and illogical. <BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=126824&rware=KDVZMTXKPEJV&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=1" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A>

The plot thickens:<P><B>Ballet board stands firm against damning report</B><P>Mike Wade Arts Correspondent <BR>The Scotsman<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>THE board of Scottish Ballet has refused to resign over a damning parliamentary report which criticised its management skills. <P>Members of the board will today issue a comprehensive rebuttal of the committee report, which said its financial strategy was based on "hopes, wishes and false expectations". <P>Chris Barron, chief executive of Scottish Ballet, described the report of the education, culture and sport committee as "a classic of inaccuracy" and said there were no grounds for any resignations by board members. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/scotland.cfm?id=127354&keyword=DANCE" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P><B>Ballet chiefs willing to split board from opera to help crisis</B><P>RITH WISHART and JIM McLEAN <BR>The Herald<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>THE chairman and chief executive of Scottish Ballet have signalled they are prepared to create a separate board from Scottish Opera to help solve the ongoing crisis - but only if it is recommended by an independent inquiry.<P>Duncan McGhie, chairman of the joint boards, has previously opposed any demerger. His position would be jeopardised by any split.<P>On the eve of today's joint board meeting in Glasgow, The Herald can reveal a single tier structure may be considered - a major recommendation made last week by MSPs on the cross parliamentary education, culture and sport committee.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/5-12-19101-0-8-54.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A>

A whole cluster of articles in The Scotsman today.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><BR>How often do the critics watch ballet? <BR>THE SCOTSMAN contacted the seven members of the parliament’s education, culture and sport committee about their credentials for criticising Scottish Ballet. <P>We asked them: 1. Do you like ballet? 2. Do you have a favourite ballet? 3. When was the last time you went to the ballet? They answered:<BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=127609&rware=PWTZMOBGSEJV&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=1" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A><P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Tap-dancing to the tune of philistines <BR>"NOT wicked, but inept." That charge was levelled at the board of Scottish Ballet a week ago by one member of a committee of MSPs. Now the insult has been returned with interest to Holyrood from the Theatre Royal. <BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=127386&rware=PWTZMOBGSEJV&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=4" TARGET=_blank> <B> mORE </B> </A><P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Ballet battle - round three <BR>THOSE who thought the row over Scottish Ballet was just a storm in a teacup now discover this extraordinary affair is more akin to going 15 rounds with Mike Tyson. In the words of one combatant, it has become "a hell of a stooshie". <P><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=127427&rware=PWTZMOBGSEJV&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=5" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A><P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Problems faced by Scottish Ballet<P><BR>The report on Scottish Ballet by the Scottish parliament’s education, culture and sport committee would have done the committee more credit if it had been less free with its criticisms of the board ("truly appalling, arrogant and secretive") and of the Scottish Arts Council. <BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=127497&rware=PWTZMOBGSEJV&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=6" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A>

"a hell of a stooshie". <P>Why is Scots so much more expressive than English?

It is one of those phrases that when you read it you hear it instantly in a lovely Scottish accent!

And it keeps coming:<P><B>Boyle’s broadside at ballet critics</B><P>Mike Wade<BR>The Scotsman<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>JAMES Boyle, the chairman of the Scottish Arts Council, has launched a savage attack of the Scottish parliamentary committee which reported a week ago on the future of Scottish Ballet. <P>Offering almost unqualified support for the Scottish Ballet board, Mr Boyle said he had been "scunnered" when he read the document produced by the education, culture and sport committee. <P>He went on: "It took nine weeks to produce, but after all that time, I read a report which simply used intemperate language. It didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know, except that it insulted the people who ran Scottish Ballet. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/scotland.cfm?id=127824&keyword=dance" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A>

The beleagured Scottish Ballet Board have found a Knight in shining armour in James Boyle. A long time ago I stated the obvious point that this story would run and run. It's clearly still got a long way to go.<P>I hope there is something left of Scottish Ballet when the squabbling dies down. <P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited December 07, 2001).]