Reading 9th form Focus 2

Read the text. Match questions 1-6 with paragraphs A-E that answer the questions. There is one extra question

Ballet Black

A

Ballet Black is a professional ballet dance company based in London. It was started by a young woman called Cassa Pancho in 2001 when she discovered that there were no professional black ballerinas in the UK. Pancho’s father is from Trinidad, and Pancho was disappointed that there were no role models for young black or Asian dancers. Since then, she has dedicated her life to changing this. The company started off very small. Pancho had a job as a receptionist to earn money to buy shoes and train tickets for the dancers, and her grandmother gave her £2000 for their first show. When they first started, there were only eight dancers, four men and four women. Pancho was one of the dancers.

B

In the beginning, Ballet Black performed at a small theatre in London, but later they were asked to move to a big theatre in Covent Garden. They also started to get money from the government and charities, although everyone who worked for Ballet Black had another job as well as dancing. They were only dancing two or three days a week, as their shows didn’t make much money at the box office.

C

When people go to the theatre to see ballet, they usually expect to see beautiful costumes, expensive scenery and even special effects, but Pancho is less interested in this. For her, the most important element of any performance is the dancing. She wants the audience to only focus on this, so works on creating shows that are both gripping and imaginative with complex characters. She asks her designers to make simple costumes. They use old material and clothes from second hand shops. Everything that you see on stage can usually fit into a suitcase.

D

Since the company started, many things have changed in the world of ballet. There are more and more black and Asian dancers in all dance companies, and you can now buy ballet shoes in brown as well as pink. Ballet Black is also special as they visit both big and small cities. This means that people who can’t travel or who don’t have a lot of money can also experience great quality dance performances. There are still things that Pancho would like to change, though. At the moment, they do not have live music at their shows. They use a recording instead. In the future she’d like to have her own musicians.

E

As well as Ballet Black, Pancho has started a dance school for three- to eighteen-year-olds. The classes are open to anyone, from any cultural background and they are very popular. She also runs workshops for people of any age. There are no limits, anyone can join and anyone can become a dancer. Pancho’s biggest hope for the future is that one day, Ballet Black won’t have to exist anymore. She hopes that there will be the same opportunities for dancers from any background. What’s certain is that she is inspiring a new generation of dancers.

Read the texts. Match the people Christopher (C), Anita (A) and George (G) to the questions 1-5.

Optimist, Pessimist or Realist?

Christopher

I’m definitely an optimist. Optimists always see the positive side of a situation, even when things go wrong. For example, last year I went on holiday with my friends. I was so excited and imagined all the fun we’d have. When we finally went, it rained every day, our hotel was very uncomfortable and my friend lost his wallet and mobile phone. While my friends were complaining, I was still cheerful. I was saying things like ‘at least we’ve got somewhere to sleep’, and ‘it’s lucky there wasn’t much money in your wallet’. They got quite annoyed with me. Most people want to be optimistic, but it’s not always best. Sometimes my teachers get angry with me because I don’t think about how to improve. When I get a bad mark, I don’t worry about it and just keep smiling. Perhaps if I thought more like a pessimist, I’d be more hard-working and get better results. But I’m happy with the way I am so I don’t think I’ll change just yet.

Who...

Anita

I think I’m a realist. Realists look at facts and are generally very sensible people. I don’t worry too much about the future because I don’t imagine that it will be amazing or terrible. I know that everything will be OK and that some days will be better than others, but overall things will be fine, and if not I’ll find a way to deal with them. I think I’m quite different to my friends. Last year, Claudia, Jessica and me organised a party. Claudia wanted to buy more and more food because she was expecting the whole school to come. Jessica, on the other hand, was very stressed because she thought nobody was going to come. They kept arguing about it and almost drove me mad! I just sent an email to all our friends asking who was coming, and did the shopping myself. It was a great party in the end. Some people couldn’t make it, but I think most of us had fun.

Who...

George

I’ve always been a bit of a pessimist. Pessimists think bad things are going to happen, but that doesn’t mean they are miserable all the time. I don’t know why people are so negative about pessimists. When you think the worst is going to happen, it’s a nice feeling when things don’t go wrong. I always think I will fail exams, but when I get results I usually do very well, and this makes me feel really happy. I think pessimists are usually very successful people. We focus on the things that go wrong, and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes in the future. I am trying to be more positive though. Sometimes people don’t want to work with me because they think I look for problems. They’d rather connect with someone more positive. I don’t want people to think I’m too serious.

Who...