Several leading lights in the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda have resigned amid concerns over financial and budgetary practices.

But last night other board members of the foundation stood behind the charity's administrators.

NDFB chairman Donald Kramer said: "The board is fully committed to the foundation's mission and its business plan and is looking forward to executing outstanding programmes that we have scheduled over the next few months."

An NDFB spokeswoman said critics of the organisation were using inaccurate data and misrepresenting facts.

The NDFB is a charity that aims to promote excellence in dance and partners with the American Ballet Theatre to hold intensive summer programmes and master classes throughout the year. Among those who resigned were Louise Jackson, Barbara Frith and Conchita Ming — founders of the NDFB's predecessor, the National Dance Theatre.

Dance school owners Jeanne Legere and Liz Pimentel also quit. The group claimed that only a small percentage of the funds raised were reaching students while administrators were taking large salaries.

It also argued that international workshops were previously provided free of charge.

In a statement released yesterday the group claimed that $300,000 was being spent on salaries for three administrators and questioned why so little of the money raised was given to students as scholarships.

The group also said it had tried to raise concerns about the charity's direction. But the protesters were labelled "trouble makers".

In a statement the group said: "It became obvious to the departing board members that the NDFB did not view themselves as part of the dance community, but as an organisation which could exist without the support of the dance schools.

"Instead of embracing and acknowledging the many contributions the schools had made to the success of the summer dance institute and master classes, they had been alienated.

"These members were left with little other choice but resignation, as there had not been open dialogue about concerns voiced over the course of the year."

NDFB chairman, Donald Kramer, however, said the group's figures were wrong — something that was pointed out to them at several closed door meetings over previous the weeks.

Mr. Kramer said the group was basing its figures on the charity's first audit, which spanned an 18-month period, but portraying it as if the figures were an annual budget.

He also disputed the salary figures and said the three administrators were paid $190,000 collectively in the last year. He added that two of the administrators had waived their benefits for a flat fee instead.

Mr. Kramer disagreed with the statement that only a small portion of funds reach the students. Since the charity began two years ago it had awarded $150,000 in scholarships.

He said: "As a non-profit organisation, we follow best practices and some of the allegations reflect a misunderstanding of the foundation's publicly available audited financial statements.

"The board is fully committed to the foundation's mission and its business plan and is looking forward to executing outstanding programmes that we have scheduled over the next few months."

A spokeswoman said the group was also misrepresenting the facts when it said in the past students had attended classes with international dance companies for free.

She said: "The National Dance Theatre, the predecessor to the NDFB, never brought in a dance company. Over the years they did bring in individuals from dance companies but they never had representatives from a company come with an approved curriculum and put on three weeks worth of work shops with five classes a day."

She said the summer programme provides students the opportunity to work with an array of international instructors, live musicians who accompany them and dancers from around the world — something that most students would never have the opportunity to do without the charity.

Mr. Kramer said time would tell if the schism would end but assured parents on the Island that no matter what school a dancers attended everyone would be eligible for the 2007 Summer Dance Bermuda programme with the ABT, the additions for the programme are in March.

He said: "The whole goal is to give children a once in a lifetime opportunity they would never have been offered before. This is the only international programme that ABT does in the world and every single dance school is welcome to audition.

" The board decided tonight that this programme is too important to stop."