Not Another Don Quixote!

This chapter discusses international ballet competitions through exploring their contributions to ballet as a transnational practice. It provides an ethnographic account, specifically focused on the multilayered significance of competing for aspiring dancers in the People’s Republic of China, in addition to assessing the role of competitions in the broader institution of ballet in China. The chapter investigates the value found in engaging with ballet competitions in terms of physical, social, economic, and political capital. It explores how value operates differently for individual competitors, dance teachers, training institutions, and even nations, both within China and in the rest of the world, to indicate the significance of competitions as a contributing factor to China’s increasing status in ballet more widely.