World's ballet directors meet amid fears over 'homogenised' art form

Artistic directors from the world's leading ballet companies will gather this weekend in an attempt to stop the dance repertoire becoming too homogenised.

Figures from the Bolshoi, the Royal Ballet and companies from Chile to Portugal are taking part in the think-tank to address how to develop new "classics" alongside the tried and tested favourites audiences always want to see.

The three-day symposium will ask whether the companies are losing their individuality as they all perform the same Swan Lakes, Nutcrackers and Coppelias.

The event has been organised by Assis Carreiro, a former dance programmer who is now director of DanceEast, amid some fears in the ballet world that the art form is stuck in the past. Ms Carreiro said: "We live in the 21st century but ballet is very much a phenomenon of the late 19th century and the repertoire is very limited.

"There are only about five big full-length ballets. It's not about getting rid of these works but making a bigger repertoire ­ and educating our audiences and our artists."

Wayne Eagling, of the Dutch National Ballet, told the Ballet.co online magazine that globalisation was a big problem. "We all do the same repertory. Is it a good thing to see Manon everywhere in the world, or is it better for directors to keep a degree of exclusivity for their own companies?"

Eagling is among the 25 directors who will be attending the symposium at Aldeburgh in Suffolk. There will be representatives from countries including Finland, France, Norway, Germany and Australia. "They were hungry to come," Ms Carreiro said. "This will be a chance to talk about the problems and finding solutions."

Charles Handy, a management expert who specialises in organisational behaviour and creativity, has been invited to the discussions with David Lan, the innovative artistic director of the Young Vic in London.

Anu Giri, senior dance adviser at the Arts Council of England, which is supporting the event, said some of the problems facing ballet in Britain were also being faced in other parts of the world. Audiences were often wary of new work. David Bintley had a strong record at the Birmingham Royal Ballet of presenting new works, which its home audience now loyally turned out to see. But those same works failed to attract audiences outside Birmingham.

Ms Giri said there were many questions to be asked, for example about the balance between artistic creativity and the economic necessity of performing the bankable classics. "That all these people have made time to come suggests these are issues they want to talk about," she said.

All the leading British artistic directors are taking part, including Bintley, Christopher Bruce of the Rambert, Monica Mason, newly appointed at the Royal Ballet, and Ashley Page of the Scottish Ballet.