Dance chief quits in row over quality of UK training

[kport]

From the Beeb:

Farooq Chaudhry has stepped down as chairman of industry body Dance UK after he derided the "declining standards" of UK dance training.
Chaudhry's remarks were included in last week's statement from leading choreographers Akram Khan, Hofesh Schechter and DV8's Lloyd Newson.
They said UK students "lack rigour and technique" and were often "outclassed", forcing them to recruit from abroad.
Chaudhry questioned whether UK dance schools were "serving their students".

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32302347

[ERinVA]

Here is a response from Matthew Bourne and Assistant Artistic Director of New Adventures, Etta Murfitt:

http://new-adventures.net/news/our-thou ... e-training

We welcome the current debate on dance training and would enjoy a dialogue with schools and colleges about the particular needs of a large company such as ours. Over the last few days we have collated all the institutions where our dancers have trained and analysed that data. Interestingly, whilst we identify ourselves as a contemporary dance theatre company, the overwhelming majority of our dancers have trained at the leading ballet schools and music theatre conservatoires. Whilst the debate continues we feel passionately that it must not detract, or undermine, the exceptional, world-class British trained talent on our stages. We are very proud of each and every one of our dancers who have fought hard for their place in the company.