Why is British dance training so poor? ‘Diversity’ is trumping quality

A very British thing happened at the dance industry conference last weekend. Three of the UK’s most celebrated contemporary choreographers said British contemporary dance training is not up to snuff. Foreign dancers were better trained from a younger age, they said, were fitter, readier, worked harder. That’s why they got more jobs in British companies than UK-trained graduates.

The two instant results were (a) a chorus of outraged denial from the dance establishment and (b) the resignation of the chairman of Dance UK, the umbrella body and ‘voice of dance’, which staged the conference.

Now, its chairman, Farooq Chaudhry, was certainly playing some fairly brutal politics. He is the producer for Akram Khan, one of the dissident trio of celebrated dancemakers, alongside Lloyd Newson of DV8 and Hofesh Shechter (whose Royal Ballet debut creation I reviewed last month), and Chaudhry has been all over the papers and airwaves this week describing UK dance students as ‘mollycoddled’.