`I'd be very happy if we weren't Scottish Ballet but Celtic Ballet, funded by and representing Scotland and Ireland. The company has a lot of close ties with Ireland already . . ." Robert North's words trail off, aware that his suggestion is perhaps too bold for his political masters. North, the artistic director of Scotland's national ballet company, is contributing to an impassioned debate about what arts institutions a small European country needs.
Ireland doesn't have a national dance company. Scotland does, but then it has no national theatre company. Scots are now arguing for a national theatre, while some in the dance world suggest Scottish Ballet should be ditched. At its core is the question of what small nations doing well in the world should fund in their quest to become global players in the arts.
"Since devolution, people who normally didn't care about the arts are beginning to see that it's a form of easy diplomacy on the world stage as well as a reflection of how we see ourselves. It's like a national badge of pride," says Scotland's leading dance critic Mary Brennan.
It is one of the more fascinating effects of devolution that artists in all disciplines have found a new confidence and a new audience of people proud of their homegrown talent. "Political change has certainly fed the new enthusiasm for dance," says Tricia Eckersley, the dance officer for the Scottish Arts Council. "Somehow it's given us more stability, which in turn has given a new energy," she adds.
And currently dance is thriving in Scotland. Courses in dance are offered at three colleges, while a faculty of dance has opened in Dundee. The Scottish Arts Council's dance budget is at a historic high. Dance artists in residence are scattered across the country, enthusing and educating others. A national centre called Dance Base, the first purpose-built dance resource in Scotland, is about to be opened in Edinburgh, with two others planned for Glasgow and Aberdeen.
"It's a question of timing. Things may have appeared quiet a few years ago, but like the swans in Swan Lake, there was a hell of a lot of paddling going on underneath," says Brennan. One of the recent success stories is the company Scottish Dance Theatre, due to tour Northern Ireland in November. SDT's artistic director Janet Smith agrees that it all comes down to strong voices: "People who work in dance are like missionaries, lonely voices spreading the good word."
These missionaries were not working in the total wilderness. Fed by the Edinburgh Festival, Scottish audiences had seen the world's best and knew what they wanted. Self-confessed "loudmouth" Morag Deyes of Dance Base, the new national centre, says, "The festival has educated the audience." Dance Base was the proof of this; demand for its dance courses was so high the Lottery fund was persuaded to donate £4.9 million for a purpose-built dance space. Over a thousand people attend classes at Dance Base each week, in everything ranging from classical ballet to special needs workshops. "It helps unite the fractured audience and gives a focus you'd find anyway in London or New York, but not where the audience and dancers are spread across a large area, as in Scotland," says Brennan.
This all suggests that Scotland has benefited from having the setting up of Scottish Ballet in the late 1950s. However, even today many in the dance world have a low opinion of the company and resent the funding it receives.
"Lots of people feel a different kind of company would be more appropriate," says Smith of SDT, "but I would say that there should be funding for the art form and the artists." Part of the problem is that Scottish Ballet soaks up 83 per cent of the total dance budget from the arts council, or £2.6 million sterling. The next biggest grant goes to SDT, a mere £210,000.
The other argument, largely implied and never stated in a sensitive and small arts community such as Scotland's, is that Scottish Ballet doesn't deliver a world standard of performance. "Look, you need a national company to take ballet to the masses. Scottish Ballet offers a certain fare," says Deyes of Dance Base.
NORTH has only recently taken over as Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet after a period of upheaval when a merger with Scottish Opera was on the cards. Critics have enjoyed his first productions, and there is a sense that the company might finally be recovering. Yet it has led many to suggest that big institutions, good as they may be for national pride, are not the best for supporting an art form.
"There's this hang up with talismanic institutions," says Brennan. "It's this idea that if you build the mansion, then the bride will come." Smith urges caution against Ireland founding a national ballet company: "You wouldn't want to create a potential museum piece by creating an institution when it's really about the people and the ideas."
"It's a strong statement that the arts are important," says North in defence. "The thing is we should have better funding, so that there is more than one national company. The more dance, and the more theatre there is, the better for society."
North believes the fundamental problem is that you need a larger audience base. London and New York both have bigger populations than Scotland or Ireland put together. That's why he suggests a Celtic ballet. His message that there is strength in diversity is one echoed across the board. "It is important to have companies, plural, that go abroad and do you proud," says Brennan, before leaving the crowded foyer of an Edinburgh theatre for the matinee of Romeo and Juliet. The notices were great and the ticket sales high.
Scottish Dance Theatre performs at BT Studio on Monday, November 6th at 8 p.m.
