Tutu-clad little darlings around the world are adding a sinister edge to their tantrums after seeing Oscar-tipped ballet movie, Black Swan.
In the film, Natalie Portman plays a ballerina who becomes obsessed with perfection and dancing the Black Swan in Swan Lake. She becomes paranoid and insecure and her behaviour is increasingly erratic.
Now, apparently, little girls as young as six years old are emulating Portman's portrayal.
Said Mrs Simone Lambrusco, of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England: "After her Saturday ballet class last week, my little Petronella - she's six - came home, closed the lounge curtains and turned the lights off.
"She demanded a bottle of wine and a packet of cigarettes and put on her favourite record - Delibes's Coppelia - at full volume.
"The neighbours complained. But what could I do?
"When she'd finished the bottle and cigarettes, she threw up horribly and passed out."
Similar stories are emerging from around the world. Seven-year-old Mindy Chekhov, waved a gun around at her ballet class in Boston, Massachusetts, when she was denied the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker.
In Paris, Marie-Claude Montparnasse poisoned her class's orange juice, claiming that her classmates were "merde" as a corps de ballet behind her Giselle.
"This is a very disturbing development," said an Association of Top Ballet Dancers and Amalgamated Hoofers spokesman. "But what can you do?"
EIF News & Features tried to speak to choreographer Twyla Tharp but gave up because of the time difference. And we just wanted to be able to use her name in the story - it's great, innit?
