h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Having danced as a child - (picture a slightly better looking Billy Elliot ok) I can garauntee that the levels of fitness associated with ballet dancing are staggering - and gained through nothing but sheer hard work (2-3 hour classes) each and every day over a period of years...

Forget your olympic athletes - if you want to know about maintaining physical perfection I'd side with your average professional dancer everytime - and all because they love it...

I take my hat off to them...

Yep!

I only dance as a hobby and I do 2 hours a week of ballet and an hour at the gym to help. Most of the really dedicated amature dancers I know will often do as many classes as they can, 7,8,9 hours a week.

And the professionals just make it look easy

i saw a programme on dame markova at 93 she looked at lrast 30 years younger she is a russian born balletr dancer and a citizen of england . just from where do they get all that grace?

> all that grace?

Lots and lots of hard disciplined graft...but you'd never guess....that's the beauty of it...

Alica Mark (aka Markova) was British but in that era all the best dancers were from Russia so the company she was dancing with (or someone, I forget exactly who) made her change her name to sound Russian.

Yes mrscloud, like Anna Pavlova

I think it may have been the Ballet Russes