“The audience for ballet – between the wars, and during them too, in blacked-out studios – understood the virtue of escaping from everyday things, of vaulting over the grimy clichés of life. British ballet’s first audience knew that an hour or two in front of a blaze of talent might begin to fortify one for the blaze outside, or kindle a fire in one’s heart. It is a basic demand, but one that ballet may no longer be required to meet or even address.”