Goals

As a teacher of the classical ballet, it has never been my goal to assert
control over my students for purposes of bending them to my will. That would only produce resentment and rage, neither of which can produce either a better relationship with the student or a beautifully coordinated dance movement. The reason is simple: a dancer whose energy is the energy of rage will certainly not coordinate her body and her limbs more effectively or beautifully. In a struggle of wills, neither the teacher nor the student can win. The teacher may win the battle, but lose the war.

Nor do I expect to convert any student of mine into desiring to become a classical ballet dancer. That is not my goal for the vast majority of students I teach these days. It is not a realistic goal, given the current state of the art. The ballet is way too difficult a road for most to walk, and provides little remuniration and less financial security than just about any other path one might choose.

The problem with ballet is that it does not give “instant gratification”. It is not, initially at least, as freeing as one imagines it must be when one is a little kid looking at a ballerina leaping across the stage. It is only at a very advanced level — which, unfortunately, fewer and fewer students are patient enough to reach — that the student gains true freedom with their instrument, their own body. All the early work is simply not very much “fun” and, especially in our American culture, impatience sets in, students become restive and resistant because they don’t know about the freedom they will eventually gain if they humbly and patiently work hard. They don’t see the “light at the end of the tunnel.”

Unfortunately, because of their impatience and resistance (and also because of a total lack of positive feedback from peers or the dominant popular culture, which is market-driven and, therefore, focused on other things), it is more difficult than ever to change students’ work habits. Students want it all, and they want it all NOW! That is completely impossible within the classical ballet, where we must work very carefully and slowly to build up strength while maintaining form in order to safely and beautifully handle the final form and speed of large and brilliant movements. Since all they see is what is on television, the internet, and at their competitions, the vast majority of students these days are more interested in dazzling or titillating an audience than in affecting an audience at a more profound level. They subsequently understand neither the technical nor the artistic requirements (or possibilities) of the classical ballet. Devoid of substance and form, the ballet languishes, like the golden bird in the cage in "The Golden Bough, A Fairytale Ballet for Children".

Ironically for them, the more resistant a student is to changing his or her work habits, the longer it takes to reach the point where things become “fun” and where a more developed technique allows them the freedom that is based on the discipline they have developed. Freedom in classical ballet comes at the cost of an almost draconian discipline, which is something foreign to most students today. This discipline takes a certain humility, which is also in short supply these days. It’s unfortunate that such discipline is necessary, but we are working systematically with the human body which must be treated with respect and great care. Ballet is an extreme sport as well as an art. Ballet teachers, therefore, have a huge responsibility for the safety of students as well as the preservation of the art form. Even though most students will never see the inside of a professional ballet production, they will nevertheless benefit from the careful discipline and patience they develop in ballet class.

In the broadest sense, my goal these days as I teach my ballet classes is to try to move energy from students’ brain cases into their bodies, into their muscles. I am trying to bring consciousness of every muscle cell into each student’s awareness. I am trying to get students to the point where their bodies can become a vehicle of greater consciousness, so that emotion and thought, cognition and awareness, physical sensation, spatial awareness and movement all become one. The student of ballet then just might become the vehicle of something larger than their own ego; he or she just might become a servant of something of greater importance than fleeting peer admiration and trophies. That is a distant goal, but it is a goal that can be achieved slowly, humbly, with each small effort at concentrated focus.