Category: Teaching Analysis

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Back in the Classroom

Teacher demonstrating ballet steps

I spoke to a Teaching Methods class this week. They’re all young college students preparing for a career teaching dance, and the professor invited me to talk and answer questions about my teaching career. She especially wanted them to hear about how my dance career detoured to 23 years of working at a bank before getting back on track. It was wonderful!

It’s been YEARS since I’ve posted on this website. I’ve felt like an imposter because I hadn’t been in the classroom or on the stage in such a long time. When I could leave the corporate world in 2024, I returned to teaching. Now I’m an instructor at the Charlotte Ballet Academy in North Carolina. I’m teaching 9-12-year-olds in the lower school. During The Nutcracker, I worked backstage getting kids in costumes and leading them to and from the stage for several shows.

The important thing to note is that even though I’d been away for a very long time, I remember everything. I told the directors of the school how out of shape I was, that I was worried I couldn’t demonstrate because when I pointed my foot, it immediately cramped. I felt overweight. They sent emails back, allaying my concerns, saying that my resume made me more than qualified.

I needed six months, but I returned to teaching within two weeks of the interview. It wasn’t easy. My feet cramped, my legs ached, and my HIPS! Oh, my hips would have cried if they could. It’s impossible to teach kids at that level without demonstrating, and it’s impossible to demonstrate without standing in 5th position. I’m teaching three 90-minute classes a week, plus an hour of pointe strengthening/beginning pointe, as well as substituting occasionally at this school and another school nearby. My hips still hurt when walking up steps after teaching, but six months later I’ve lost weight and gained strength and confidence.

When I started this website, it focused primarily on combinations for ballet class. I’ve compiled a lot of combinations into a book, Classical Ballet: Ten Complete Advanced Classes, which is available on Amazon in print or kindle and is selling well. As years went by without stepping foot in a classroom, I didn’t feel confident giving advice to teachers by writing posts. But I’m back!

There were a lot of points made, and questions asked/answered in the Teaching Methods class, and I think I’ll break them down into separate posts because there are stories that go along with each. The interesting thing is that while I always felt dance prepared me for so much of what I had to face in life, on the flip side, the living that I’ve done has contributed to what I bring to the classroom in new ways.

Having kids of my own is probably the biggest factor. I’m more aware of issues that students face, and it tempers my interactions with them. Some are coping with the death of a parent, others with eating disorders or dyslexia. I’m doing my best to offer them a supportive and positive environment to learn new skills and improve their technique. It doesn’t matter if they pursue a professional career in dance. I am focusing on today, and regardless of where dance takes them, I hope to teach them that discipline begets progress and that a stick-to-it attitude will enable them to achieve their hearts’ desires.

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Improve Your Balance

In ballet, balance is a key factor. There’s more to balancing than simply holding a pose, too. Every aspect of an adagio exercise requires tremendous balance and control, whether you are holding a pose for several counts or simply moving from one pose to the next. A pirouette is a balance while turning. The interesting part about balancing, to me, is not so much the physical strength it involves, but the discipline of the mind. Both pieces are important.

Yes, you must be strong. In order to hold a balance you have to be in command of the pose and have the necessary strength to maintain it. We know that balancing at retiré is a good preparation for pirouettes. If you want to do a triple pirouette with the foot at the knee, you must be able to at least balance in that position without turning for as long as it would take to rotate three times.

When we practice balancing at the barre it is helpful to remember that the position we’re balancing in is never static. We aren’t statues; we’re living, breathing beings. There must be life and breath involved. I once had a teacher who would say that from a single balanced position, the audience must never know whether we will run off the stage, move into yet another position, or even begin to turn. This is where it’s imperative that we can adapt to those minuscule changes in order to maintain our equilibrium. Even if we feel ourselves drifting off to the right, we are able to make adjustments that put us back on our center axis without completely losing the balance.

Turns at the barre was always one of my favorite things. It’s tricky at first because you have to learn how to avoid hitting the barre with your knee, but we would do half turns, full turns, fouetté turns, both en dehors and en dedans. It was a bit like working with a partner!

I had another teacher who would come and stand next to us while we were balancing and make ridiculous movements like a chicken. Anything to make us lose our concentration and laugh. This part is what fascinates me more than the physical part. Being able to focus our thoughts on staying lifted out of the hips, breathing in and out, noticing change in the environment but sustaining our position within it—this takes a lot of practice and discipline. It’s important to stay with yourself and not worry about the person in front of you who may be doing a better or worse job of it than you.

Another point I’d like to make about balance is focusing the eyes. Just as we’re not trying to look like a stiff statue, we may find it easier at first to maintain our balance if we keep our eyes focused on an object, but it’s really good to practice moving your focus too. When I was teaching I would try to start out class with balances on two feet, then on one foot, then moving from one position to another (for example, from retiré to arabesque or attitude), or taking the arms from fifth en haut to an open V and turning the gaze away from the barre.

Key Points for Balancing:

  1. Lift out of the supporting hip. Let there be a circular energy: as your weight pushes down into the floor, lift the muscles above the kneecaps and through the thighs upward. Don’t “settle” into a balance.
  2. Keep the back wide and don’t let the shoulder blades creep towards each other.
  3. Think of lifting up and over, like your ribcage is resting on a little shelf.
  4. Focus at or above your line of sight so your chin doesn’t drop.
  5. Keep breathing and moving, adapting to minuscule changes in your body and the atmosphere.
  6. Strengthen and engage your core, the abdominal muscles.

Image file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author Danivalcarce

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Pedagogy: A professional’s insights on the art of training and the technique of classical ballet

By Jonathon Levy, Ballet Master & former Principal Soloist of Ballet Dallas.

Choosing a school for dance training can be a daunting task. In the United States, there are no guidelines or accrediting agencies for dance training, and that means anyone can open a ballet studio regardless of their background. If you desire training for yourself or your child, the primary concern should be for a long-term goal. Whether it involves professional career potential, a college degree program, or just a means of health and discipline, the training being offered will allow or inhibit every subsequent success in learning dance technique. The difference between adequate and inferior training is monumental, and will affect every opportunity that might present itself. A clear understanding of the fundamental components of professional training will illuminate the process of choosing the best training facility.

These are the essential components of learning and performing classical ballet: the tendue— the plié—the port de bras—aplomb (or stance; which includes extending, contracting, arching, and twisting); from these four the positional ideas can be formed and taught. These four ideas form the foundation of classical movement training, and incorporate rotation, elevation, and length (including lateral, and linear momentum; and the various qualities of movement, namely,  gliding/sliding, darting, extending/stretching, turning, jumping, bending, rising[1]). Cecchetti[2] referred to these “qualities” as the seven fundamental movements of dancing. Current training methods have progressed far beyond the original concept of simply teaching students how to maintain and move between a set number of positions for the feet, legs, arms, head, and torso. Continue reading “Pedagogy: A professional’s insights on the art of training and the technique of classical ballet”

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For the Love of Praise

Praise your ballet students

Make it sincere

Talking about validation in my DBT support group for parents of kids struggling with various types of issues has coincided with recognition survey results at the bank where I work. It’s interesting how people like to be recognized, as no two people are alike. Some people want praise weekly, others don’t feel that’s necessary. Some want rewards and others just want verbal praise. But everyone wants praise and recognition to be sincere. Working at a big corporation certainly differs from working as a ballet instructor, but giving sincere praise is an important component for both.

One thing I really miss about dancing is the immediate praise you get while performing a combination. Either you’re doing it all right and don’t get any attention, you’re doing something wrong and get a correction (which is not a bad thing at all), or you’re doing it really well and get praise like, “Good girl, Tammy!” That was my favorite one from my favorite teacher, Melissa Lowe.  It was always my goal while doing turns across the floor or grand allegro to have her take notice and give me a “Good girl!” shout. And when I was teaching I made it a point to take notice when someone was pushing extra hard, or putting into practice a correction I’d given them, by saying something positive to them.

Praise can be the best motivator

When I was dancing, I know for a fact that praise did way more for my technical improvement than negative feedback. Some teachers I could just tell didn’t like me for some reason or another, and nothing I could do would get a nod of approval. Once I took an entire class where the teacher hated how I put my weight over the ball of my supporting foot when working on one leg. This was major. It was how I’d been taught to stand when doing tendus with the working leg, for instance. She wanted the weight to stay exactly where it had been when standing on two feet in 1st position. So I’d move into a tendu and fall over without hanging onto the barre for dear life. It was very odd and I never went back to her class again. I was also in severe pain for at least week afterward.

Now I’m working on bringing this validation and praise home. I realize that I pick at my own kids for the things I wish they didn’t do (“Your room is a mess! Pick up all these clothes—either put them away or put them in the dirty clothes basket!”) rather than praising them for the things they are doing right. “Thanks for emptying the dishwasher when I asked you to. It makes life a lot easier for everyone when we help each other out.”

Praise. Give it sincerely and give it often when deserved. It will improve this world. You never know what hassles people are going through in their personal lives, so showing praise for a job well done at work or in ballet class can sometimes be what is getting someone through the day.

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Influencing Lives by Teaching Ballet

The task can’t be taken lightly

Ballet teachers have a unique opportunity to instill self confidence and to encourage creative expression in their ballet students. The task should never be taken lightly, and it’s important for parents of young children to fully investigate the qualifications of their child’s prospective teachers before beginning lessons. There are two sides of this coin: it can be looked at from the teacher’s point of view as well as from the parent’s point of view. This post will focus on the teacher, and how his or her classroom environment can affect the development of a child. In general, all teachers are aware of the influence they may have over impressionable children, but I believe that a ballet teacher’s influence is ever so slightly different than that of a school teacher’s. The ballet class is a place where the child is forced to look upon their bodies in a mirror and scrutinize that reflection. How much emphasis is placed on that image should be relative to the age of the student.

Creative movement and pre-ballet students

Ideally, children who begin pre-ballet or creative movement at around four years of age will not need to think too much about technique. At this stage, instilling a joy of movement is vital. Teaching musicality and approaches to moving creatively will be the main focus. Simple stretching exercises in the guise of games will be introduced. This is a very special age and quite fun to teach. Having colorful and flowing scarves, various types of musical instruments, and other props in your arsenal helps keep a child of this age engaged. Experimenting without using particular steps, but with movements that are heavy, soft, light, sharp, dull, long, short, or what have you will enable them to express themselves using their bodies in new ways. Later, when more formal technique is introduced, they will be more open to trying new things if they’ve been given a chance to experiment on their own a bit first.

Pre-teen and teenage students

Skipping ahead now to the pre-teen and teenage years, I think it’s especially important for a teacher to understand what is happening developmentally, emotionally, and intellectually to these students. This is a critical age (between 11 and 15) where they are coming into their own selves, learning how they are the same and different from their peers, and beginning to shape who they will be as adults. This is a fascinating article about the growth of the brain in these formative years, and how physical activity can have an effect on that growth.

Socially, we know that adolescents are going through a difficult time at this stage. They are morphing out of the childhood phase and moving into the adult phase, having to navigate their way sometimes alone and sometimes with the help of peers, and sometimes they are lucky enough to have the loving guidance of a teacher helping them along this new territory. I think ballet teachers could easily forget this is happening. I’m not saying that we should relax our standards by any means; I think the fact that there are clear expectations in a ballet class (see my post on ballet etiquette) can be comforting to a pre-teen. Here is a place they can come and know exactly how to behave. I’m just saying that it’s important for teachers to be aware of what these kids are going through developmentally at this stage in their lives.

One way we can effect a positive influence on pre-teens through ballet is by offering plenty of praise when they get things right. At this age students should already understand that getting a correction is not a criticism for them to take personally and feel badly about. They should know that getting a correction means they are worthy of the attention of the teacher and it’s a means to improve their technique. For a teacher, I think once a correction has been given to a student it is of vital importance to note when that student incorporates it and makes the adjustment. It’s a two-part thing here: give a correction, and watch to see (and praise) when the correction has been made in the future by that same student. This sort of confirmation encourages the student to seek corrections, even when not given to them directly, and implement the improvements in their technique because they know that the effort will be noticed.

I’m not really finished with my thoughts on the powerful influence a ballet teacher can have on his or her students, but this is enough for one post. Any other thoughts from other teachers out there? I plan to write more in detail about how we can work with kids at various stages of their training to get the most out of them, avoid burn out, and build their self esteem right along with their technique. Even for those who study ballet for a year and never come back, it can have a positive influence on their lives.

Classical Ballet: Combinations for Ten Complete Advanced Classes

by Tamara Stanwood, 2009

 

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Infusing Fun into Ballet Barre

Infusing Fun into Ballet Barre Combinations

There are many things that can be considered in order to make ballet barre exercises more interesting and beneficial to your students. In my last post, Anatomy of a Ballet Combination, I did mention that using épaulement (shouldering, meaning arm and head movements) is important to include in combinations at the barre so the dancers don’t look uncomfortable dancing in the center. Since I wrote that post I’ve thought of more things to add that can make your barre combinations really dance!

Switch Things Around

Change feet. It’s easy to get caught in the en croix crutch. One tendu en croix, one degagé en croix, etc. But en croix gets boring, and the pattern doesn’t make the dancer use their minds as well as their bodies. I love combinations that shift weight and change feet. For example, you could do a tendu combination and have the pattern be front, side, (change leg) – inside leg front, (change leg again) – back. Or you could do front, inside leg back, outside leg side, and inside leg side, and then reverse.

Along these same lines, you can work the outside leg and turn the body ¼ away from the barre to work in éffacé devant, or ¼ into the barre for croisé devant. The same is true for working to the back. You can also change directions entirely, moving the body to face the barre at one point in the combination, perhaps moving through promenade in attitude or arabesque, and finishing on the second side where you’re ready to begin everything on that side.

Do Turns at the Barre

One of my favorites was always pirouettes at the barre. At first this is tricky because you’re afraid you’re going to hit your knee on the barre, so it may be helpful to begin with the foot on the ankle or calf rather than at the knee at first. Becoming comfortable doing pirouettes at the barre makes doing them in the center infinitely easier. It’s like having a permanent partner right there; one that you know will be there when you come around at the end of the turn. You can add pirouettes to practically any barre exercise, but I think it makes more sense to do this toward the middle to end of barre rather than at the very beginning.

Fouetté turns are commonly done at the barre during rond de jambe en l’air exercises. You can also do pirouettes en dehors or en dedans during degagés, rond de jambe, frappé, or grand battement. Flic flacs are great for adding turns during frappé. And in pointe class, doing turns at the barre really helps build a dancer’s confidence before moving into the center.

Vary the ways you turn to the second side

One last thought and I’ll close this post. If you’re short on time and want to move from one side of the barre to the next without stopping in between sides, there are tons of ways to make the transition to the other side more fun. You can do tombé pas de bourrée to 5th position away from the barre and still facing the side you were working on, then detourné ½ turn toward the back leg, and tombé pas de bourrée to 5th position on the other side to finish at the barre, ready to begin the second side.

And another plug for my new book! Classical Ballet: Combinations for Ten Complete Advanced Classes.