IAin Mackay, the new boss of the Royal Ballet School, says that the public “wants dancers with whom they can identify”. He does not remove any evidence of this, and I am not sure that it is true. I think that the public wants dancers whose elegance and athletics allow them to create a breathtaking spectacle and an exciting physical aesthetic far beyond the capacities of almost everyone on the planet. In addition, I think that the public understands that this elegance and athletics are only obtained by training, conditioning and a rigorous diet, in order to maintain a lean physique and build phenomenal endurance. As a precondition of absolute entry level for excellence in the ballet, a dancer cannot be overweight.
Even, in his enthusiasm for relatibility, Mackay wants to encourage more ballerinas of more size “on stage.
