I’m in a room with more than 50 children. But you wouldn’t know: there are no shrieks, no playing chase, no hair pulling. The girls aged between three and 10, are all busy plie-ing, pirouette-ing or chatting away quietly while they wait their turn at having their costume touched up.
These are little ballerinas in-the-making at the Russian School of Ballet in Naxxar. And the secret to this serene discipline, according to Olivia Dow, the school principal, is to never shout at all.
“On rare occasions, I just raise my voice ever so slightly. It works immediately. Most of the time, I just come in, say ‘Girls’, give them a look and that’s it: they know that there’s no nonsense whatsoever with me,” says Ms Dow, who’s been at the helm of her school for more than 20 years.
In fact she doesn’t mind mischievous children at all: “You always know where you stand with those,” she laughs. She points at a couple of eight year olds, in red leotards giggling on the bench. “Look at those two – they’re always up to something. But I don’t mind – as long as they are disciplined in dance – because then, their joy comes out in the dancing,” she says.
More than 100 ballet students for the past month have been practicing hard for Kitchen Royale this year’s annual summer show. The story is set in the busy kitchen and banquet hall of a Duchess’s palace, where preparations are under way for an international feast to be attended by dignitaries from all over the world. As the celebrations kick off, food makes way for love, and the Duchess’s son, the Grand Prince, sets his eyes on a noble lady. The audiences can be sure of a they-live-happily- ever-after ending.
The teen students and the older girls will be playing the “royal entourage” while the younger ones, the dancers milling around me, are to be the cupcakes, gingerbread girls, chickens, and little chefs. I notice there’s a boy among the bevy of girls – a rare sight indeed in ballet schools, even though lessons are free of charge for them.
He’s a nine-year-old and his ballerina sister convinced him to join. “He’s very keen. And that’s it really with boys – they have to want to do it.” Boys might have a talent for dancing but parents tend to shy away from sending them for lessons: “So I just encourage parents to send them to gymnastics and other such activities that keep their bodies supple if they want to take it up when they’re older,” says Ms Dow.
For a body which is supple enough for dancing, the earlier children start ballet, the better. “I’ve always encouraged parents to bring them young. As there are no full-time dancing schools here, it’s better if they start when they’re three years old with fresh minds and supple bodies,” says Ms Dow.
Sometimes she gets 11-year-olds who want to join the ballet school after they would have seen a show: they think that it will all be very easy but the older they are, the more the commitment required because they have a lot to catch up on. “Ballet is very physical,” she says, saying that sometimes parents and people in the medical sphere think that it’s just a matter of floating about: “There’s a lot of hard work to look like that,” says Ms Dow.
There’s a lot more to ballet than dancing. When kids put on a costume, they create their own fantasy and are encouraged to be self-creative. “The miming brings out their individual personalities and more often, here children simply forget the pressures of the outside world,” she says.
Then there’s poise and coordination: “Getting children to be coordinated helps them a lot in life. I find that girls who are good at ballet are also good academically. You can tell from the way they move how bright they are,” says Ms Dow, joking that the old adage, dancers have brains in their feet, can’t possibly be true.
Of course the major benefits are posture for the body and discipline for the mind: “Those will always stay. You can always tell when someone would have done ballet as a little kid. It’s for life,” says Ms Dow.
Most of all, however, she believes that her ballet students – even if they quit after a few years – will be the art audiences of the future. “By actually learning ballet even if for a short time, they will they understand the art of the dance, they’ll never lose their love of arts,” she said, explaining that ballet is a basic which comes in handy for any kind of activity.
To be sure, if you send them to ballet, they’ll thank you when they’re teenagers: “It will come in handy at that age – they’ll shine on the dancefloor,” she laughs.
• Kitchen Royale is being held on July 31, at Sir Temi Zammit Theatre, University of Malta at 7 p.m. Tickets may be obtained by phone on 2158 3368/9947 4127 or online: www.oliviadow.com.