[1] The use of the word “classical” to denote that class of dancing which claims kinship with Greek art is somewhat confusing. Before the recent revival, “classical” was the term applied to the traditional style of the ballet as distinguished from skirt-dancing, step-dancing and the various eccentric styles. To avoid confusion I have in general used the word “academic” instead of “classical” when speaking of the older school of the ballet. [2] The late Sutherland Edwards proved himself a singularly accurate prophet when in 1881 he wrote: “We shall probably have to go as far as St Petersburg to discover a _première danseuse_ worthy in some manner to be compared with those of twenty and twenty-five years ago.”