China churns out very capable and disciplined dancers, many of whom win prizes in international dance competitions and are recruited by ballet companies abroad, such as the Tan Yuanyuan, believed by many to be the best Chinese ballerina today. Tan has been the principal dancer for the San Francisco Ballet since 1997 and will this fall tour China with the SFB for the first time. Where China lags behind is in creating breakthrough opportunities for their dancers at home.

"Creatively speaking, they have done far from enough. Fifty years and all you have to show for it is 'Red Detachment' and 'Raise the Red Lantern?'" said Beijing dance critic Ou Jianping. "No, they really need to have a major breakthrough, to innovate and try harder."

The new £11m purpose-built building in Glasgow's south side is attached to the Tramway Theatre. It includes storage space for costumes and sets, a room for the 40 pairs of pointe shoes each dancer requires and Europe's largest dance rehearsal space.

The room, measuring 20m by 20m, is named after Peter Darrell, the man who founded the company.

This year's recent competition was the first time in its 78-year history that the Genee was held in Southeast Asia. The competition is open to those who have passed the RAD Advance 2 examination in classical ballet, or those who have been awarded the Solo Seal award, the final and top examination in the academy.

On-stage, fear and anxiety are masked by the deep smile and confident postures of the young performers who began dancing when they learned how to walk. Only 12 of the 53 semifinalists are chosen to move on to the finals and compete for a medal. Three dancers had to drop out after being injured.

The 1942 dance masterpiece served as the centerpiece of the Colorado Ballet's opening program of its 2009-10 season, a mixed bill that the company is taking on the road to Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Pueblo, beginning Saturday.

To create the now-revered piece, a coming-of-age story of a tomboyish cowgirl, de Mille set aside tutus and toe shoes and defied many of the form's conventions, such as turnout and the illusion of weightlessness.

"The guy in the other car is out. He's a doctor," the caller said.

That doctor is Raymond Cook, an assistant professor at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill and a doctor at WakeMed Hospital. Cook relinquished his medical license and resigned from his position at WakeMed after being charged with second-degree murder in Shapiro's death.

Promoted were dancers Kathleen Breen Combes, James Whiteside, Pavel Gurevich, Melissa Hough and Misa Kuranaga. They’re all five-year veterans of the Boston Ballet. Unlike so many of the leading dancers of other ballet troupes that depend on foreign born and trained performers to front the companies, Combes, Hough and Whiteside are American while Gurevich was born in Minsk, the Republic of Belarus, and Kuranaga in Osaka, Japan.

In the past, the Boston Ballet often imported dancers from New York, San Francisco or Europe to lead the company. However, this time the promotions were made from within to members who had already appeared in many of the important roles of the repertory.

Rankin has 30 years of experience in arts administration and built TDT's capital reserve during his eight years at the company, the Ballet BC board said in a statement Thursday.

The Vancouver dance company has just undergone a painful restructuring and needs to raise money if it is to continue.

Rankin said he’s looking forward to coming out west from the Toronto Dance Theatre, where he has served as managing director since 2000. He will join interim artistic director Emily Molnar and all the Ballet BC dancers for the gala IGNITE on Sept. 30 at The Playhouse.

One of Rankin’s goals as executive director, he said, will be to make sure everyone in the company — from the artists and support staff to the management and board — understands and fully buys into the company’s artistic vision.

The infamous ‘Girl in the Yellow Dress' will be played by the stunning Shannon Lewis, who played ‘The Wife' in Contact on Broadway and received national attention for her performance of "I Gotcha" in Foss E. Lewis is joined by Nadine Isenegger (The Wife/Quirky Girl), Fletcher McTaggart (Michael Wiley), Sean Ewing (Servant/Uncle Vinnie/Johnny), Ariel Shepley (Girl on a Swing/Stephanie), Matt Baker (Aristocrat/Waiter/Scott), Steven Sofia (Waterboy/Joe), Wilson Mendieta (Married Husband/Peter) and James Clarke (Husband/Bartender); and The Sarasota Ballet dancers Octavio Martin (Head Waiter/Jack), Kate Honea (Photo Girl/Pascale), Logan Learned (Busboy/Rocker), Tracey Tucci (Pregnant Woman/Shannon), Ricardo Rhodes (Engaged Man/Tome'), Rita Duclos (Engaged Woman/Dana) and Rania Charalambidou (Cigarette Girl/ Mayumi).