What are your opinions on amateur ballet**?

All ballet I ever see (not much, alas!) is performed by very competent and experienced paid dancers. Is there room for those performing just because they like to? I believe a Washington Post critic famously likened it to "amateur brain surgery". Considering how many people go through basic dance schools I wonder whether there should be more of a "popular front" in ballet, even if it offends critics. Resisting the urge to say especially if it offends criitcs...

** not to be confused with the annual shows of local dance schools featuring three-year olds in fluffy pink tutus!

What you're talking about is "civic ballet".

And there have been and are some civic ballet companies which were and are better than some paid companies.

Thanks for that, a web search has produced lots of US examples. I can't think of anything like it here in the UK.