What’s the point of ballet? The Guardian begins a series on “difficult” art forms.

“…(D)ance seemed to demand an off-putting level of technical knowledge from the viewer. Unless the performer actually fell over, it was hard to know whether they were dancing moderately or spectacularly. The same is true of classical music and art – where only an expert can really detect a wrong note or incompetent brush stroke – but with those forms the spectator has the compensations of emotion, colour, story.”