Well, Beata wasn't necessarily saying a nice costume trumps a good performance/training etc...I hope I didn't give that impression...but she certainly acknowledged that dance was a visual medium and that all aspects needed to be considered.
On another thread I posted a link to Gilded Serpeant article written by an attendee at a recent Suhaila Salimpour workshop...Suhaila suggested that they all draw 2 columns and write down on 1 side what they spend on training and on the other what they spend on cosumes - she then suggested that training costs should be 5 times the amount of costuming costs. The link is here
http://www.gildedserpent.com/art39/E...laWorkshop.htm I don't know that you can put a figure on things like this (ie 5 times the amount) but I do agree that I've seen students get carried away on the glitter rather than substance - ie buy a hip scarf instead of taking a workshop in something they need to work on. I went to a class last year that was all about the vending and very little substance being taught.