The Paris Opera Ballet is addressing questions of race and racism in its ranks and repertoire. Stefano Giannetti resigned as the head of the Northern Ballet Theatre in 2000, less than a year after taking over the job.The world's oldest ballet company is doing some soul searching.Ashley Page, artistic director of Scottish Ballet, quit his post in 2010 after failing agree a new contract with its board.Dancers at the company had threatened to go on strike in protest at his management style and casting decisions. In 2002, the Australian Ross Stretton resigned as artistic director of the Royal Ballet after just 13 months in the job.Dmitrichenko is thought to have become upset when Sergei Filin failed to cast his girlfriend in a Bolshoi production of Swan Lake. Bolshoi Ballet soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko was jailed for six years in 2013 for organising an acid attack on the company's artistic director.Durante left the company two years later. The row escalated into a bitter war of words and led to her being dropped from a Far East tour. In 1999, Italian dancer Viviana Durante had a falling-out with British dancer Bruce Sansom after he allegedly dropped her during rehearsal.She also had clashes with choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan, one of which was accidentally broadcast over Covent Garden's loudspeaker system.

Sylvie Guillem's habit of turning down roles at the Royal Ballet saw its director Anthony Dowell dub her 'Mademoiselle Non'.The following year he abruptly left the cast of a ballet version of Midnight Express, days before its UK premiere at the London Coliseum. In 2012, Ukrainian dancer Sergei Polunin surprised his bosses at the Royal Ballet by resigning from his post as principal dancer.

Paris opera ballet