WITH ballet it's a bit like piano lessons.

Your mum makes you go when you're little - and when you get older you give it up.

Victoria Kay, a 15-year-old Canon Slade School pupil from Crompton Way who has studied ballet, tap and jazz for seven years, agrees that there is an image problem.

"Why is it, when you mention ballet, that some people seem to raise an eyebrow in amazement and think: 'Poor girl - what a sad life she must lead?'" she said.

Victoria believes most people think only little girls take up ballet "because their mothers insist on them having good deportment and balance".

But she could never understand why anyone should have to give up their pleasure and throw away the hard work they'd put in due to peer pressure at school.

She for one has never given up her hobby and practises twice a week - receiving distinctions and putting on several displays at the Glenda Ann School of Dancing in Ainsworth and Middleton (there's also a school in Prestwich).

Ballet can give an enormous amount of enjoyment, she said, and it's not about dancing around "like the Sugar Plum Fairy".

"Dancing is hard work. It involves acting and interpreting the music and story with hand gestures or mime, rather than speech. One of the many benefits of ballet is the strength and muscle that is built up in the body - especially the legs.

"The movements of a ballerina's limbs must flow from the body's vertical axis, with all the dancer's parts correctly centred and aligned to allow maximum stability and ease of movement.

"A ballerina must appear to resist gravity and execute perfect steps of elevation, such as jumps and leaps, and is required - while in mid-air - to turn, beat her legs or feet together, or change her leg position."

Graceful

Watching a prima ballerina perform on stage gives the illusion of complete ease and gracefulness, said Victoria.

But she added that behind the scenes the dancer has had to work at getting enough experience and strength to put on such a fantastic show.

"Dancers never stop studying," she said.

"Hopefully, one day I may teach other dancers my knowledge and prove that it is enjoyable as well as a great form of exercise.

"Why go to a gym to stay fit when you could have dance lessons and stay equally as fit, trim, healthy and at the same time have great fun?"

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