Russian ballerina criticises extreme training

[Melody]

"A world-renowned Russian prima ballerina has become the latest star to condemn ballet companies worldwide for putting their dancers through unnecessarily brutal regimes.

Irina Kolesnikova, 35, doyenne of the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, is calling for companies to nurture dancers, rather than pressing them to remain thin while pushing themselves to physically dangerous levels."

 

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/apr/30/irina-kolesnikova-ballet-companies-wrecking-dancers-bodies-physical-limits

 

I'm glad to see dancers speaking out. Between this sort of drilling and the demands for ever more flexible and extreme physicality, we're going to be in danger of losing sight of the fact that ballet is an art form, not a competitive sport. And this sort of thing must be making the dancers wear out physically and mentally at younger and younger ages. It's such a shame to think of people training for 15 years in order to spend maybe half that time in a company before retiring with chronic injuries and thoroughly disillusioned.

Edited May 1, 2016 by Melody