Report card: Paris Opera Ballet School's newest showing.

On a crisp December Sunday, Palais Gamier is packed for the annual Paris Opera Ballet School demonstration. Nervous parents, professional dancers, teachers, and choreographers have all come to see the newest achievements of the world's oldest ballet academy under its new director, Elisabeth Platel, who assumed her post last September. Many have made a special trip to Paris; some have crossed the Atlantic. The Parisian cognoscenti are curious to catch a whiff of change, to spot an emerging young star, and to glimpse the process of training the famed French dancers.

The opportunity to see this detailed succession of classes is unique--it simply does not exist at any other school. The Kirov School occasionally offers a brief class concert, The Royal Ballet School has "teachers welcome days" for a limited number of guests, and School of American Ballet allows parents to watch a class a few times a year. The POBS demos (Les Portes Ouvert) were started in the '70s by previous director Claude Bessy, who, during the 30 years of her tenure, is credited with raising the level of training to one of the best in the world (see "Dance Matters," July 2003).

One cannot think of a better venue for this event than the opulent Palais Gamier--a revered temple of art that is haunted by ballet history. The students, who normally study dance and academics in a modern facility in Nanterre outside of Paris, must be overwhelmed to be on the same stage where their idols, POB etoiles like Manuel Legris, Aurelie Dupont, Agnes Letestu, and Jose Martinez perform.

At 10:30, Elisabeth Platel, herself a much-admired former etoile, dressed in high heels and an elegant black suit, comes onstage to welcome the audience and to announce that Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty has been chosen as this year's musical theme.

The program is not a concert but a two-part demonstration of classroom practice: ages 12 to 14 in the morning, ages 15 to 18 in the afternoon, each about two and a half hours long.

The youngest boys begin. Diligently pointing their feet, they march onstage and take their places at the barre. It is hard to believe how much they have achieved in just three months. The level of concentration and discipline is most impressive: "We teach them to love this self-discipline," says Platel backstage during the break.

The junior classes also impress with their secure landings after basic sautes and echappes, and with the poise and elegance of their distinctively French epaulement. Some steps look challenging for beginners, but Platel says the kids are encouraged to be adventurous. After all, it is Nureyev's legacy to be fearless. "We'll take care of the proper form later on," she says.

The demonstration confirms that Platel is adamant about preserving the distinctive features of French schooling like epaulement and deportment, harking back to ballet's aristocratic origins. Equally important are petites batteries, eloquence and precision of footwork, and the irrefutability of the fifth position.

Of the elements to be developed, she admits that the French school "lost suppleness of port de bras, especially of fingers, and tended to understate the weight and power in the arms. Now we work more on it. For this reason, Platel says, "I would like the students to have more character classes since they are so important for training arms and upper body."

Throughout the course of the day, technical and artistic tasks become increasingly demanding--even the bows got more complex. The professeurs, in elegant practice attire, are present onstage with their pupils. First they explain to the audience the task and the reason for the exercise, then, as in a real class, they give corrections and offer encouragement, like "Tres celebre!" "Allure! "Belle cinqiueme," and "Ataquer!" If a turn or a lift doesn't work out, the unlucky student is asked to repeat it, with an invariably successful outcome and enthusiastic audience applause.

Dancing is acting, and the school works on unleashing artistry, creativity, and imagination from day one. It's fun to watch how younger students enjoy "chorale" (musical expression) classes. They make a little play out of a song, pronounce their names in four different ways or moods, make letters out of their bodies, and pretend they are orchestra conductors, cars, or magicians.

In mime class they work on weight transfer, on feeling light or heavy, and on seeing, smelling, hearing, and touching imaginary objects. In the final etude they pretend--hilariously--to be burglars who break into a kitchen, taste some (apparently magic) food, and as a result gradually turn into cats!

As a coda in divertissement, the show accelerates to the end when the senior divisions show challenging excerpts from classical repertoire: the male pirouettes variation from Etudes and Brise Telemaque, followed by intricate female point combinations of the recently retired teacher, Mme. Vaussard, who brought up many generations of POB dancers including Platel.

For the audience the demos make a fascinating and enjoyable show, with viewers becoming emotionally involved, as if at a competition. For POBS students, the yearly participation is a fantastic experience, and like an exam, it serves a valuable lesson they are likely to carry throughout their dance careers.