Ballet West

This afternoon I visited the dance school Ballet West which is based just outside Taynuilt in my constituency. I was last there over ten years ago when I was Shadow Culture Minister but it has grown enormously in that time and now accommodates over 60 full time students aged between 16 & 20 as well as serving several hundred part timers.

I have been involved with the school as the Constituency MSP on several issues over the past two years and it was therefore great to see in person the people and place i had been working with and for.

The students have just put on a wonderful show in the Corran Halls in Oban ( which features on the front of this week's Oban Times) and they tour regularly, including overseas. They kindly performed some items from that show in the studio for me today and I was thrilled with the expertise, the energy, the commitment , the variety and the sheer talent. A great visit that just had to be a blip.