Constructing a Ballet Technique Class
Constructing a Ballet Technique Class
"Where do I begin and what should I include? Where should my focus be when creating a technique class?" Sound familiar? Great classes don’t just happen, they require a considerable amount of planning and observation. If you are teaching several dance classes a day it might be impossible to plan each class in the manner described in this article. But you probably have that special class that you go the extra mile for so we’ll concentrate our efforts there.
What elements should I focus on when planning a technique class?
Your first priority should be to understand what the general skill level of the class is and how much variation of those skills exist. Then, you should strive to turn each class into a carefully placed pebble that will contribute to a strong foundation, supporting the beauty of the finished dancers. The third consideration is to constantly test and understand the students' limits and capabilities because observations of the students' progress is necessary to adjust and fine tune the class.
Where should I begin?
"Begin at the beginning!" is a response that is not quite appropriate for a ballet class. Consider what would happen if the class was structured around the centre barre rather than around barre. Like a tree that starts small and grows by adding rings around its center, your classes can also develop with a similar strength.
The logic behind this is quite simple. When you build a class from the inside-out the exercises in the centre barre will determine the type of allegro work the student will attempt during the latter portion of the class. In so doing you have a better chance of building an allegro that is appropriate for your students. Plus, with your centre barre goals in mind you can tailor the barre exercises to support them.
The barre exercises are usually segmented into shorter combinations, while the centre barre exercises are usually a combination of two or more barre exercises. For example: the ronds de jambes à terre and en l’air exercise from the barre are combined in the center with some sort of tours (pirouettes) movement as a conclusion. The trick is to first plan the centre barre combination and then break up that combination and present it first as two or more separate combinations for the barre.
In a true and completely developed technique class almost all the exercises done at the barre should have some reference to the centre barre. Planning a class from the inside out, starting with the centre barre, will insure that this occurs. It is in the center, without the support of a barre, that the student masters the art of dance, and it is this that the teacher must focus on.
What should I include?
The exercises for each class can be drawn from your experience, from the notes you take when attending or viewing other classes, from technique books, and as Ballet Central publishes its material, from the DanceArt archives. As a teacher I am always reviewing my notes and updating my vocabulary. From this vocabulary I build my class exercises.
As a teacher you should strive to thoroughly understand all the basic steps in classical ballet. It will be from this knowledge that the more advanced and complicated steps will develop -- every advanced step takes its form and rhythm from some basic component step.
Below you’ll find a chart that highlights the relationship between some of the exercises in a typical ballet class. Start with the center column and pick a centre barre exercise. Then follow the colored lines to the left and discover what basic barre exercises will prepare the students for that centre barre exercise. Move to the right column and you will find the allegro components that you are supporting with the centre barre exercise that you selected. Click for chart
