The system of training he instituted then is still much the same in present-day opera-houses, from which most of the famous dancers are drawn. Pupils entered the Milan Academy at an early age. No one was admitted before the age of eight years, nor after twelve, if a girl, or fourteen, if a boy. They were to be medically examined, and be proved to have a robust constitution and to be in good health. They had to be children of respectable parents; and, when admitted, were to remain in the school, devoted to its service and to the service of the theatre for eight years. For the first three years they were to be considered as apprentices and receive no salary; those who were qualified for performance in the theatre came to receive progressive salaries. Their daily practice in the school was for three hours in the morning, from nine to twelve, at dancing; after which they were to be exercised in the art of pantomime for one hour. To-day the training is just as severe and much the same. For the Russian ballet pupils enter the Academy at Petrograd at the age of nine and remain till eighteen. Madame Karsavina, one of the most finished dancers in the world, has told us how, even now, she continues to practise a couple of hours or more every day. A well-known Italian _maître de ballet_ at a famous West End theatre once told me that he always practised dancing from two to three hours a day, and “pantomime” or “mime,” as it is usually called, from one to two hours. Mlle. Génée, too, has stated that she practises from two to three hours daily. Such practice is necessary, not merely to a pupil, but to a finished and successful dancer to keep the limbs absolutely supple and enable the artist to give that impression of consummate ease in performing the most difficult steps, which is the true test of the really great dancer; while the study of “miming” is equally necessary, since it is the art which gives life and expression to the dance. Before a dancer has achieved the distinction of becoming a “star,” it may be safely reckoned that she has had from eight to ten years daily drudgery, and that her earlier years have been without financial reward, and may even have involved her parents or relatives in considerable expense for her training or apprenticeship. Given the physique, the instinct for dancing, and the intelligence, what then must the prospective “star” expect before she can become a _première danseuse_, or even a “seconde”?