Quiz

D.Education
First Certificate Passages 1

Dimitris Sclias

You are going to read a newspaper article about ballet dancing. Choose the most suitable headings from the list A-I for each part (1-7) of the article. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning (0).

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question 1

Headings
A. How has this happened?
B. Realistic expectations
C. A complete change
D. Desperate for talent
E. A dream come true
F. Mixed reactions
G. Home support needed
H. A chance to dance
I. A star of the future?

Step Forward for ballet boys.

As the number of male recruits falls, Ismene Brown finds British ballet companies fearful for the future.
(0).................the answer is I
Among the mixture of boys on the stage, Gregory stood out. The blond 10-year-old, in dancer's dress, was pointing his toes and moving across the floor with the style of someone who has already decided what he wants to become. He started ballet lessons at six years old, and it showed.
(1)...
As his mother admitted, Gregory makes her friends nervous when they come to visit. 'He dances round the garden, in his own world. You just can't stop him. I don't know where it comes from,' she said with a combination of pride and worry.
(2)...
At English National Ballet's (ENB) open day for boys last week, Gregory had a brand new experience - being with other males. 'I've always been the only boy, and my teachers are women. It's really nice to have a man in charge,' he smiled.
(3)…
The atmosphere at the open day, called 'Striking a Balance' (between girls and boys), was fun, with open sessions for the public to bring their boys to try out dance for the first time, alongside performances by youngsters prepared over the previous weeks.
(4)...
Under the fun, though, is an obvious anxiety about the lack of boys in dance. Derek Deane, the director of ENB, says it threatens the future of British ballet itself. 'We are so short of interested boys that we are not going to produce the level of dancers that Great Britain was famous for.
I don't see any dancers of that quality even now.'
(5)...
The most damaging problem is a frightening attitude of laziness among youngsters towards physical exercise, and poor dance training around the country. Deane says, 'We don't take training seriously here, for boys or girls, from an early enough age. Our methods and standards of training
are not good enough. There are all these inadequate dance schools around the country, all teaching different styles, and getting children into bad habits.'
(6)...
Parents, too, are a vital factor because they pay all the fees, encourage their kids to practise and take them to classes. Not even the keenest child can carry on without that help. And even the exceptional Gregory had not yet removed doubts from his father's mind about a career as a dancer
(7)...
When I spoke to Derek Deane at the start of the 'Striking a Balance' day, he didn't think it was likely to provide new material for his dance school. 'But if we get fifteen boys here and four of them think it's interesting and want to try ballet seriously, we will have succeeded.'

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