At the ballet

At the recent 'Chorus Line' auditions, Baayork commented on the what appeared to be a lack of ballet technique among the auditioning performers. It was pointed out to her that many dancers simply cannot afford to go to class between jobs. Or even when they are working: the basic salary for the performers in 'Chicago' at the Garrick (one of the smaller West End houses) was £450 per week for 8 performances, out of which they have to pay their agent's commission, their national insurance, their tax, their transport, acting, singing and performance classes, shoes, etc etc. After that, an extra 8 or 10 quid for a ballet class can take very careful consideration. With Rebecca Giacopazzi, BML is exploring the possibility of finding a room to set up a regular scratch class, which they could lead themselves to keep up their technique.