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To start with, the parents want “the child”, likely to be a girl, to “develop deportment”. “To learn to walk straight, to not stoop, to remain slender and elegant, to have thin ankles,to move gracefully, in a coquettish and saucy manner”, in other words to take ballet classes…The ballet school, therefore, took the function of a –metamorphosed- low class finishing school in which to learn the basics in the conduct of a future “bride, wife and mother”. Thus, condensing a long tradition into the rationale of the “corset”, squeezing the child’s body within the rigid frame of the typical ballet movements, that of pliés, arabesques, pirouettes and so on. This is the principle that many, but luckily not all, amateur dance or rather ballet schools operate under, though at times implicitly! However, this underlying notion, determines the style of instruction and the aesthetics imparted by the school and which, the students will carry with them whether they abandon dance or continue in it in a professional capacity later on.

"The professional dance school which concern us here, typically offer tuition in practical and theoretical subjects as they are obliged to do by the Ministry of Culture. Their function is governed by relevant legislation. All but one existing dance schools today are run as private organisations. However, the State School of Dance, formerly known as School of Dance and Gymnastics of Koula Pratsika, was bequeathed to the State in 1973/74 and operates under the presidential decree 598/85. Its administrative structure and educational programme differ somewhat from those of the privately run schools. All schools in common, admit students aged 18 years by audition in order to train mainly ballet/dance teachers but also dancers and choreographers. The course duration is 3 years which means that the dance studies do not have university course status. This is in contrast to a similar course run by the School of Fine Arts. Legislation (section 1158/81) established the operational criteria and conditions of study of the schools and is opposed by all owners. In particular, the owners, despite their disparate theoretical or other perspectives, are mostly against the current admission procedures (as the profit margins are too small, there is ground for fierce competition). The recommendation by the school owners is that each school should have its own audition panel which will stipulate the number and specifications of the candidates. Up to now, each school has been preparing a certain number of candidates who compete on specified subjects in front of a panel put together by the Ministry of Culture. Basically, they would welcome a change that would bring them in line with the operation of the State School. As the owners committee put it “the new system will improve the selection process as each school knows the potential of each student, whilst an external panel will have to judge too many students in a short time, therefore not always being able to select the best candidates”. Is it true then that unsuitable candidates may be admitted following selection in this generic manner? The answer seems to be that “yes, it happens that unsuitable candidates are admitted, because otherwise most schools would have closed”. Which point is interesting but perhaps unfair…

After the auditions:

What then after admission? Obviously, those successful continue with their studies. Those unsuccessful may choose to re-sit the examinations choosing another school, to go abroad, or to change vocational direction altogether. However, change of school is the one to be avoided as it can be very costly, both artistically-losing talent- and financially. Therefore, the reputation of each school is an important factor in determining how many candidates will choose it. There are of course other issues as well; for example, whether it teaches classical ballet or contemporary dance. Whether it is run properly with a good complement of teachers, known in their field. It is important to have a variety of teaching aids. The flip side of course is that the video presentations of work by significant or pioneering artists becomes an end in itself. Thus, students learn of the videotaped work by Pina Bausch, Twyla Tharp, Hans van Manen, Claude Brumachon, Angelin Preljokaj and so on as the main output by these artists and choreographers, without a deeper understanding of the cultural shifts that may have influenced such performances. In the worst case scenario, endless watching of video-dances becomes an informal type of self-teaching in the art of choreography. We are reminded that there are multiple gaps in the education provided by the Greek professional dance schools. Repertory, pas de deux, choreography, traditional dances, improvisation are completely lacking from the curriculum or are only taught in a few of the schools.The picture that comes across from other parts of the curriculum, that is the “secondary” or theoretical instruction is even of poorer quality. In the main they are taught in an old fashioned way, imparting opinions rather than knowledge. There are many reasons which account for this problem, among them historical issues, lack of skilled and able teachers, lack of good quality bibliography in Greek (currently in a state of disrepair with editions of unattributed works, poor translations) and financial exploitation of those subjects by the school owners, i.e. in not employing qualified teachers or paying small fees.

In search of funding:

Keeping a dance school is an expensive business. Usually, the many more amateur classes is a significant income source outside the fee paying students. The amateurs’ sessions function in parallel with the professional and cater for “talent” who try their hand in the art of Terpsichore. …Occasionally, the private schools may submit a claim for small state grants in order to improve their facilities and the quality of education they provide. Such grants are very small compared with the amount allocated to the State School of Dance. Whether the existing status quo is justified, is open to interpretation and not dissimilar to the tiered system in education where the private and public (that is state) sectors co-exist on different financial footing.Many graduates working as professionals today claim that another problem adding to the woes of dance education and training in Greece is the temperament of those responsible for it. It would appear that part of the chronic malaise is the destructive perception that the schools should produce the next generation of teachers and owners instead of dancers. This was, unfortunately, the case some years back when firstly the possibility of a dance career was non existent and second many who were deemed unsuitable for a professional dancing career ended up using their qualifications to open their own schools (local “corner shops” for young girls to develop a better posture). Other graduates speak out of the bad taste of school owners/business men and of the poor environment in which the training is taking place. They condemned the level of teaching and the fact that only very few schools offer students the opportunity to actually dance. The competition between schools is all encompassing leading to a climate of suspiciousness and isolation. All these concerns notwithstanding, many agree that it is unbelievable to think that the education in dance should start at 18 years of age!

Opinions are divided about the ideal solution. The creation of an Academy of Dance is a favoured view. It will admit children from a young age, will run the national curriculum and at 16 or 18 they will graduate fully-fledged dancers. Many dancers and teachers over the years have spoken for this development expressing the traditional/conservative direction. This model is criticised as backward looking as it is seen to want to subsume the art of dance within a formalised framework of an Academy. Those opposing it, although want the academy, nevertheless feel that it should announce its objectives from the outset and it should be named Academy of Ballet rather than dance, so that the classical art can maintain its diversity of styles without constraints and without the “threat of a return to the 19th century”. On the one hand no one would like any interference in the free expression of the Academy, asking for artificial criteria of quality assurance”. On the other, the State School of dance, based in a historic building in Omirou Street, continues with its efforts for improvement and rationalised organisational structure of the dance educational curriculum. It tries not to stifle artistic expression and aims at upgrading the study course.

"The problems in the rest of Greece:

If such is the picture of the dance studies in Athens, the capital of Greece, it is understandable that even more gaps and omissions will be evident elsewhere in Greece. For instance, in Thessaloniki, there are three state schools of dance where the students do not gain any experience in techniques of contemporary dance, have no theoretical background teaching and are not given the opportunity to see performances of Greek Dance Groups due to lack of subsidies or lack of communication between dance groups. The latter makes touring of professional companies extremely difficult to achieve. Those in the profession in Thessaloniki, partly because of a narrow local focus, partly because of the objectively poor conditions and under-funding feel that they do not have equal opportunities and that many talented students are simply “lost”. Despite the initiatives of the Dancetheatre of the State Theatre of Northern Greece, the dance company of the National Theatre of Northern Greece (NTNG), which brought in choreographers and staged performances which were very well received and showcased the potential of many dancers, the feeling remains that collaboration is limited to what is essential for those coming in who will desert Thessaloniki as soon as they have got what’s required. We still know very little about the situation which exists in the “state-within-state” professional Dance School, which is run by the Municipal Organisation of Tourism and Culture of Larissa.

It is recognised that the nature of dance education in Greece moved between the two poles of on the one hand, the strong wish to train high quality ballet dancers and stage great works of the romantic era and on the other, to support the development of a modern dance system which would be more attuned to the Greek modus operandi. However, the how or why as well as the social groups which generated each of these viewpoints is beyond the scope of the present article. The fact though remains that the dance education in Greece, despite some progress, still presents with multiple deficits in its old-fashioned training, lack of ambition, archaic laws, poor facilities, state indifference in the revitalising of this art. It is in this background that the enthusiasm and tenacity of some teachers and administrators and the will of the young students to overcome adversity should be applauded. The Greek audience has become more supportive and appreciative of the performers and companies who gave lustre and glamour for the past ten years in an art form that was badly marginalized. The topic of dance education in Greece has all the ingredients of a great ballet; badmouthing, intrigue, backstabbing, rumours, smiles, dignity. In practical terms, it brings in little money compared to other forms of art, is disorganised, perennial suspicion that talented youth can not make it past the examining panel, parents who feel that their offspring were discriminated and gossip. The dance education is marred by suspicions of bribing, undue favouritism, assertive relatives who claim that they can revert decisions, chairmen and managers of organisations, MPs from the areas of unsuccessful candidates who would do anything to get a place in. Perhaps the rot has started from the amateur schools; at the time when the parents fell under the spell of the smiling propriatress and their young daughter thought that the future of the art of dance was thrust upon her.