The Veri Tasimova

When I taught exclusively at one ballet studio, I used to have a skinny, ½-inch wide by 7-foot-long piece of molding that I had stashed in one corner of the studio. I would use this handy “tool” as a teaching aid to help students “see” where their “center” was and where and how it needed to be centered over their standing foot. But there was a problem once I started traveling all over to teach at many different studios: I couldn’t take my “vertical alignment tool” with me! So I got myself a 6-foot, folding carpenter’s ruler that tucks nicely into my satchel, and I can carry it with me to every studio, wherever I am teaching. Every ballet teacher should have one!

The folding carpenter’s ruler is a multi-functional teaching tool, and I use it to great effect. It is actually much more versatile than my original, non-folding vertical alignment tool. Not only can it effectively show vertical alignment and demonstrate — when you hold it up in front of a student — how the center of the weight must shift when rising from flat to demi-pointe or pointe, but by bending and forming it into an “L” or a “Z” or a “T”, it can help students visualize (again, when you hold it up next to them) what should (or should NOT) happen to their shoulders, hips, etc. I have found that students suddenly “click” on basic principles of alignment and stance when I use this instrument! The tool can also be formed into an oblong representing the alignment “box” of their shoulders and hips, or placed flat on the floor as a square box or hexagon to demonstrate directions of the room or a hexagonal pattern of movement.

After recently introducing this device to a class of young students, I have decided that I should name my teaching tool “Veri Tasimova” — rather than calling it my “vertical alignment tool”. I chose this name because it occurred to me that the Latin word for “true” and “truth” is veritas. (The tag end, “-imova”, is a frequent ending for feminine names in the Russian lexicon.) The ruler is a symbol and metaphor for that which is “straight and true” and “in alignment” with our core values. In ballet we talk a lot about our “core strength”, “alignment”, and “centering”. In this and so many other ways, ballet is a wonderful metaphor for life, helping us to be “in balance” and moving correctly and wisely through life, with freedom and joy. Now go get your own “Veri Tasimova” to use with your students. Find one at your local hardware store. They’re inexpensive and well-worth the price.

“The Veri Tasimova” sounds like it should be a dance, doesn’t it? Kind of like “The Bossanova” with a stick, maybe? I am given to humor and occasionally to downright silliness, when I am teaching. I use humor judiciously to get a point across or to allow students (particularly young students) some “lightness” in the midst of a very demanding lesson — like calling a folding ruler the “Veri Tasimova”!