A potential dance disaster was averted at the last moment but organisers are fuming at the money they?ve lost.

Bermuda Civic Ballet organiser Patricia Deane-Gray said the charity lost over $6,000 when American Airlines refused to honour tickets bought for five dancers from Swansea?s Ballet Russe.

Ms Deane-Gray said the tickets for dancers to come to Bermuda for this weekend?s performance were bought ?way back in December?.

The dancers ? four Russians and one Japanese ? are residents of Wales, the home of the company.

Ms Deane-Gray said American Airlines neglected to advise the group that they needed US visas although they were only going to be in transit through the States. She said the tickets were booked through American Express who thought no visas were needed.

Dancer Chika Temma said it was only when she insisted that American Express double check with American Airlines on the arrangements that news of a visa requirement emerged.

?I called American Express in Boston to double check the flight schedule,? she said. ?I said ?are you sure that the Russians do not need a visa because they said anytime they have been to the US they have needed one???

At her insistence, the agent agreed to double check with the airline and was informed that post 9/11, transit visas are required.

Ms Deane-Gray said the news was a blow as it came too late for visa arrangements to be made.

?When I contacted the US embassy in London they said that transit visa interviews would have to be conducted and that the earliest vacancy was at the end of June,? said Ms Temma.

?And then it would take between five and seven days to process the actual visas.?

But that time frame meant the Bermuda performance could not go ahead as planned.

Ms Deane Gray said she was at her wit?s end calling the airlines and US embassies in Bermuda and London. ?This all could have been avoided if they told us from the beginning,? she said. ?We had plenty time to organise visas but we didn?t know until it was too late.

?And now I have these tickets which they tell me are useless.?

In the end, British Airways came to the rescue giving the charity a special rate and getting the dancers here in good time to rest and rehearse before their performances tonight and tomorrow night.

But even then it wasn?t quite smooth sailing. ?They stopped us at the ticket counter in London and said that only I, as Japanese would be allowed through as the Russians needed visas to enter Bermuda,? Ms Temma said.

?I had to call Patricia and she explained that they had been given Immigration clearance in Bermuda.?