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Where a word can be a blow; teachers are learning when tough is too tough. (Coping With Criticism).

Article Excerpt
San Francisco Ballet principal dancer Muriel Maffre remembers the day her teacher at the Paris Opera Ballet School told her parents, "Muriel is a beautiful plant, but she can't dance." Only 14 at the time, Maffre went on to prove herself as a ballerina of international stature, but it took determination and mental toughness to get past that one dismissive comment.

Dancers--particularly the most motivated and talented--are a paradox. On the one hand, they are almost always ruthlessly self-critical, but they can also be just as easily crushed by adverse criticism, especially from a teacher. Nevertheless, young students with dreams of stardom often willingly pay a high emotional, as well as physical, price in the pursuit of excellence.

In 2002, when French government inspectors examined the inner workings of the Paris Opera's highly prestigious school, they reported on a system of Dickensian severity that many knew of, but few spoke about. Claude Bessy, who headed the school for over three decades and shaped the early training of some of the finest dancers in the world, came under fire for what the inspectors called "moral harassment" and even neglect on the part of the school's faculty [July, 2003, "Dance Matters"].

Interviewed in Marie Claire, Paris Opera etoile Aurelie Dupont recalled her six years at the school: "What upset me more than the pain of exercising was the nastiness. The adults were so cold. A little kindness and sweetness wouldn't have made us worse dancers."

Bessy's spirited defense of her disciplined approach sparked some debate. Dance of the highest caliber demands extreme rigor, extraordinary motivation and perseverance, but is it worth destroying a young dancer's self-confidence to attain it? Can there be...

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