Unless parents and students are informed (educated) about
the structural differences between the choreographic classes of their
tap/hip-hop/jazz/lyric classes and the non-choreographic, physical training
program of their ballet classes, horrible confusion, misperceptions, and
emotional turmoil will be inevitable and persistent, and ballet instructors
will always be faced with a raft of false assumptions (carried over from
their other dance classes) about the operations of ballet class. Minus an explanation of the differences, they
will inevitably view all dance classes as basically operating the same
way. But the different classes do not operate the same way. The focus, purpose, method and reason for
each are totally different.
In its approach to the physical training of the body, the
exercises of the ballet barre have more in common with the approaches of
physical therapy for the rehabilitation of muscle systems after trauma than
they do with the format of instruction the student receives in other forms of
dance which focus primarily on learning one (or several) piece(s) of
choreography (routines for competition, for example). The constant attention given in ballet class to
precise body mechanics and alignment issues resembles a physical therapy session
more than it does a dance class that exists to teach choreography for
competition. In fact, if one were to
observe a typical ballet class, one would notice that about 90% of the class
consists entirely of exercises that have little resemblance to anything most
people would call “dance”. Most of the ballet
class is slow, arduous work with little to recommend it in the way of free-form
entertainment value or choreographic diversion.
Only perhaps the last 20 minutes of an advanced ballet class lets out
all the stops and begins to look like “dance” to the uninitiated observer. The arduousness of what will be asked for in
those last 20 minutes, however, requires every iota of the slow, developmental
work that leads up to it, beginning with the first demi-plie at the barre.
The ballet barre and center work is composed of a
systematic, ordered, logical progression of sequences of exercises designed to
develop and enhance the physical instrument (the student’s body) in a way that
leads (ultimately) to the safe and exemplary execution of all forms of balletic
movement including, for the advanced dancer, large elevation jumps, beating
movements in the air, and pointe work. For
advanced dancers, the physical requirements of pointe work, large, complex
jumps with multiple rotations and all manner of turns in all manner of poses
demand an exactitude and precision of execution that begins with the very first
ballet class a child takes and the very first demi-plie at the barre in each
and every class, every day thereafter until proficiency is attained.
There is good reason for a ballet teacher’s seemingly
terminal case of persnickettiness when it comes to ballet class: after all, the female ballet dancer will ultimately
be required to balance the entire weight of her body on the tips of just 2 toes
of one foot! Contrary to common belief,
it is not the pointe shoe but rather the strength and adept plasticity of the
instep of the foot, the strength of the back, abdominal and leg muscles that
achieves the rise to pointe. The head,
shoulders, arms, spine, pelvis, leg, and foot must all be organized and
balanced over just two square inches of support! Just think about that for a moment: it would be like designing a five-story
building over a mere three-foot diameter pylon!
The requirement of pointe work, along with the requirement for large jumps
that are sustained in the air, presents significant mechanical engineering
issues since being even a fraction of an inch off can spell disaster and a career-ending
injury for the dancer. Other forms of
dance have none of this to deal with.
Function dictates form, and the functional requirements of
pointe, large elevation with multiple rotations and beating movements dictate
the form we call “turn-out” in ballet. The
mechanical engineering issues presented by these functional requirements are
addressed by careful attention to “the balletic stance” of the student — the placement/alignment
of the bones (the weight-bearing structures of the body) — right from the beginning
of the barre and continuing to pay attention to that precise alignment all the
way through to end of the ballet class. Stability,
ease of execution, enormous range of controlled motion and swift lateral
movement is made possible by the rotation of the legs from the hip joints, but
the rotation of the legs from the hips cannot occur without the correct
alignment of the pelvic structures. Correct
alignment of the pelvis, spine, shoulder girdle, head, arms, legs and feet
(“placement”) takes consistent engagement of the correct muscles to achieve and
maintain. This work begins at the
beginning of the barre exercises in the ballet class.
The muscles, ligaments and tendons of the student who participates
in a ballet class require a totally different procedure of warm-up exercises
than those that are given in tap/hip-hop/jazz or exercise classes. “Warm-up” is actually a bit of a misnomer,
since what is actually meant by the ballet teacher is that the dancer’s
muscles, ligaments and tendons have been precisely prepared to hold and
maintain the balletic turn-out and alignment.
Since neither tap nor hip-hop nor jazz nor exercise classes address
alignment and turn-out issues, the dancer cannot be considered to be
effectively “warmed-up” to do ballet by taking these other
(choreographic/exercise) classes. It may
be 96°
outside or inside the studio; the student may be sweating profusely and may be
aerobically fit; but the alignment and placement issues and the necessary
lengthening, stretching and organizing of particular muscles, tendons and ligaments
that work and maintain the turn-out in ballet class and develop the foot, ankle
and knees for jumping and pointe work has not been done.
The choreographic work done in the student’s other dance
classes will not suffice for ballet because the mechanical engineering issues
are completely different for ballet than they are for the other forms of dance. In fact, the work that is done in the
choreographic classes actually tightens and stiffens the ankles, hip and knee joints
and shortens the Achilles tendons of the dancer in the way that is appropriate
for those forms of dance not requiring large jumps, controlled landings, or
pointe work but is not appropriate for the ballet which requires strong, supple
Achilles tendons and flexibility combined with strength at the hips, ankles and
knees which aims at developing large jumps suspended in the air, controlled
landings and pointe work. Therefore, it
is especially important for the student entering ballet class after just having
finished a session in jazz/hip-hop/etc. that the Achilles tendons, ankles,
knees and hip joints are “reset” by carefully and slowly coaxing them back into
a more pliable condition — not just thrown into a situation where they are suddenly
and abruptly cranking on those delicate structures.
Beginning with small, slow, sustained movements, the barre
exercises progress gradually, over a period of 45 minutes to an hour depending
on the level of the class (for beginning level classes that period of time can
easily extend to an hour or more of the class), increasing in length, height,
breadth, dynamic strength, amplitude, speed, power, intensity, and the number
of repetitions. These exercises are then
repeated with modifications in the center of the room following the barre
exercises. In this way, strength is
built up and the body is preserved from the harm that would occur if the student
were simply thrown willy-nilly into the considerable physical demands of a full-blown
balletic routine in the center of the room.
As the work progresses over two, three, four years and up through 7
years of careful daily work, there is the addition of turns and small, medium,
and large jumps and pointe work (for the ladies).
In contrast, the tap/hip-hop/jazz/lyric classes with which
most people are familiar are structured for teaching choreographic routines for
a competition that may occur only a month or two down the road. In those classes, the purpose, methods and
goals are completely different from those of the ballet class. Unfortunately, this basic difference in
format between ballet class and the other forms of dance is not widely recognized, so
parents and students alike tend to over-generalize from one to the other,
across the entire dance spectrum. This
leads to false assumptions about ballet training and to an over-simplified view
of ballet class structure and operations in the minds of those unfamiliar with
the differences. It is quite understandable
that parents and students, unfamiliar with and unaware of those differences may
falsely assume that whatever is allowed in their choreographic routines classes
is allowed also in ballet class.
The work at the barre and in the center aims at developing
the consistent alignment, organization and coordination of the supporting
weight-bearing structures (the bones) for the deliverance of maximum thrust and
efficiency of movement. Those levers of
the body (comprised of the bones, joints, ligament, tendons, and muscle
systems) propel the body through space.
The maximization of their function requires exactitude and precision of
alignment — just as your car’s alignment determines its efficient and safe
functioning. After all, if one is going
to be dancing full-out for two or more hours on stage in a full-length ballet
like “Swan Lake”, for example, efficiency, stamina, and economy of movement is
exceedingly important. Even though most
students in ballet class will never aspire to or ever find themselves dancing in
a full-length classical ballet, the maximization of function lessens the stress
on the physical instrument (the student's body). The training
aspects do not change just because a student may not be intent on becoming a
professional ballet dancer.
Because of the difficulty for students of initially
maintaining stability when asked to turn-out, the ballet class begins with what
is called “the ballet barre” — exercises performed holding onto a barre (Fr.) attached to the wall of the studio. Only gentle yet firm and clear, consistent
corrective action taken by the teacher and persistent work and repetition of
the barre exercises will consolidate the correct stance of the student. Therefore, the “ballet barre” exercises do
not begin with the most violent and difficult movements to control. Rather, the ballet barre begins with
movements that are relatively easier to control. I say only “relatively easier”, because in
point of fact these initial movements are extremely difficult for the novice to
control and require the intense focus of the student and the hyper-vigilant
supervision of the instructor. Indeed,
for the beginning student, the relationship with their own body is frequently
experienced by the student to be a bit like trying to train a wiggly, squiggly
puppy that cannot understand or execute the command to “Sit!” For his or her part, the teacher may indeed feel as if they are faced with a room full of very enthusiastic puppies who do not comprehend the instructions to drop the tailbone down. Because the beginning student cannot "find" the muscles to accomplish the correct stance, the teacher must help the child physically by a hands-on approach — much like the puppy trainer would pull up on the lead while simultaneously pushing the puppy's hindquarters down to the floor while saying, "Sit!"
The exercises of the ballet barre and center progress, over an hour-and-a-half to two-hours, to very large, strong, explosive movements that are NOT easy to control, unless the groundwork has been laid by the alignment/placement/positioning exercises of the first three-quarters of the class. If a student misses the first hour of the ballet class, they have missed the fundamental groundwork that will preserve and keep them from harm and injury, and develop their mastery of the material.
The exercises of the ballet barre and center progress, over an hour-and-a-half to two-hours, to very large, strong, explosive movements that are NOT easy to control, unless the groundwork has been laid by the alignment/placement/positioning exercises of the first three-quarters of the class. If a student misses the first hour of the ballet class, they have missed the fundamental groundwork that will preserve and keep them from harm and injury, and develop their mastery of the material.
If a child is allowed (by a non-professional,
non-conscientious teacher) to enter the class late, the child finds herself
thrown into the middle of exercises that her body is not prepared to handle
safely, effectively, or correctly, since they will have missed virtually all of
the careful, slow, lengthening, strengthening, and alignment exercises that
occur at the beginning of the barre and are protective. Furthermore, there is also, for the teacher,
a huge logistical problem when a student arrives late, for how is the teacher
to keep the rest of the class moving forward with the later-barre exercises
while at the same time giving separate beginning-barre exercises simultaneously
to the latecomer? The teacher is faced
with the impossibility of having to give basically private singular instruction
to the latecomer within the context of the larger class that is moving forward
with the more demanding work of the later barre and center exercises. It is neither practical nor fair to the other
students who arrived on time to suddenly reset the entire class back to the
beginning of the barre exercises in order to accommodate the student that
arrives late. Also, if the teacher
allows one student to come in 1 hour late, there is no reasonable argument for not
allowing all the others to do the same anytime they want or their personal
schedule changes.
Because of the seriousness of the work and the need to
protect the delicate physical instrument of young, nubile bodies, it is
standard operating procedure at professional ballet schools (but not, it must
be noted, at competition dance schools) that a late-arriving student is not
permitted into class at all — ever — regardless of the reason. At those schools it is considered highly
disrespectful to the teacher and disruptive of both the class as well as the
late-comer’s training. Even the first 10
minutes of class are critical because the plies
at the beginning of the class are fundamental to placement, alignment and the
careful stretching of ligaments and tendons.
However, at competition dance schools where I have taught
the rules are bent a little. At these
schools, standard operating procedure stipulates that if a student arrives more
than 10 minutes late for class, the student must sit, observe, and take notes
and may not participate physically in the class. This “10-minute rule” allows the child to nevertheless
still get something highly valuable out of the ballet lesson. I follow this standard operating procedure at
all competition dance studios where I teach.
The exclusion of the child from participating physically in the class is
not done out of ire or in order to punish or “teach the child a lesson”. It is, in fact, obeying the first
responsibility of the teacher to first and foremost allow no physical harm to
come to the student. Naturally, this is
hard (if not impossible) for a child to understand, especially when their other
dance classes don’t work that way. But
in those studios where the “10-minute-rule” is understood beforehand, it
preempts a “meltdown” if a student is late, because all students know what to
expect.
Because parents, too, are generally unaware of the
differences between the structure of classes focusing on choreographic routines
for competition and the structural format of physical training that is the
focus of the ballet class, their perspective prevents them from considering
another possibility: namely that by
refusing to allow their daughter into class one hour late, the instructor is in
fact protecting their child from physical harm, which is the first job of the
conscientious ballet instructor. All of
us would like to be able to please where we can, but pleasing the parent or
pleasing the child is not the first job of the responsible ballet
instructor. It is understandable that
parents, who lack basic knowledge about the structure and scientific approach of
ballet class, cannot even imagine what possible basis a teacher might have for
keeping their child out of class. They
only see, and are naturally are upset by the emotional reaction of their child —
who also does not understand that
this is not a punishment — to being “sidelined”. They instead perceive the action of the
teacher to be not only unreasonable, but a “punishment” for something that was
not the child’s fault.
Obviously, when misperceptions and misunderstandings
occur, emotions run high. In a highly
charged moment, there may be no way that either the parents or student herself might
listen deeply or even attempt to understand such reasoned explanations as I
have just taken the time and effort to explain here. Parents may not be open to the teacher’s
attempts to explain why their daughter was not allowed to come into class one
hour late. But perhaps, if/when emotions
calm down, parents and student alike will be open to educating themselves about
what the ballet class is organized to do and will finally come to recognize
that what occurred could have been avoided by education or having a conference
beforehand between all parties about what was scheduled and what a student should
expect and why, in the event that they show up late for class. A simple, preemptive conversation beforehand
between all parties (studio owner, parents, student and any teachers involved)
can head off a serious “meltdown”. The parents and student will then understand
the standard operating procedures for ballet class beforehand (including the
“10-minute rule”), and in the event that unavoidable scheduling conflicts occur,
the student and her parents will know what to expect and why the child will be
instructed to observe and take notes if she shows up for ballet class
late.
The constraints in studio scheduling are not the student’s
fault. Neither are the studio’s
unavoidable scheduling problems the ballet teacher’s fault; neither is it
punishment to keep a student from participating physically in the class when
she arrives late. The ballet teacher is
operating under the first rule of a conscientious ballet instructor, which is to
ensure that no harm comes to a student. Unfortunate
problems occur in the absence of communication beforehand regarding the schedule
and about the realities (and seriousness) of ballet class work. Misunderstandings are inevitably when there
is a lack of comprehension of why being on time is of considerable importance when
it comes to ballet class. There is a
large educational void to bridge, if we are to ensure that unfortunate (and
totally avoidable) incidences do not keep erupting. Even a very simple statement in a brochure
or on the studio website regarding the “10-minute rule” regarding ballet class would
be helpful.
Wilor Bluege
Saturday, July 20, 2013
