The Awakened Soul The Power of Reverance
In my early Cecchetti training we were taught that grande reverance means "large, formal bow." When I think of the power of reverance I think of respect, honor, love of your craft, and an initiation into the spiritual realms...
I learned the tradition of beginning one's class with a reverance from the Russian ballet teachers in Los Angeles. I had always attended classes where we would bow at the end, (first to the pianist, and then to the teacher,) but to do this in the very beginning was something new. I liked it immediately. "How nice!" I thought. I intuitively knew it would make a big difference in the quality of my experience of the class. It did. I was reminded from the first moment that something bigger was going on... a grand design. From that day forward, teaching my own classes, I, too began with a reverance. I feel it establishes a three- fold connection: student to teacher, teacher to ancestors, and also a spiritual or heavenly connection, which to me is at the heart of all art.
When I teach I notice that dancers who follow the dress code, fix their hair carefully, and present themselves beautifully in each class have this same attention to detail on stage. Appearances really do count. One of my ballet teachers, Rosemary Valaire, used to tell her girls: "If you wear those big, baggy plastic pants, your legs will take on the same shape as those big, baggy plastic pants." She believed that everyone looked much better in a leotard and tights. She told me, "They think they look thinner in those baggy clothes, but everyone looks much better without them." Also, she felt we would work our legs correctly if we watched the muscles in the mirror. She also taught me the importance of the shape of the legs of a teacher. Once a woman wanted to teach with her, but she had very large, overdeveloped thigh muscles. Rosemary told me privately, "If she teaches our girls, their legs will become the same shape as hers, and we can't have that. She's doing something wrong in her training." I never forgot this. Your legs are your tools when you dance professionally. You shape them with how you work, what you do, and how you do it. In Yoga this is called the science of sequence.
The spiritual connection isn't something we can't always see, but we do feel it. Children are very naturally connected to their spirit. There's a light in their eyes...sometimes it's a fire. When I teach my own students, I talk to them about the importance of eye contact. Whether it's with the teacher, with a choreographer, or with other dancers, it's so important to look people in the eye, smile, and have a pleasant, open attitude when you're dancing...particularly if you want to pursue a career in dance. There is nothing worse to feel as a student than that the teacher has a condescending attitude towards you. It completely negates the experience. The reverse is also true.
As I read and study the Vaganova syllabus, I feel inspired and enthusiastic over the perceptiveness in her lesson plans. Often I will create an exercise to help my students with something if they are struggling. The other day my girls were popping their heels as they landed assemble. "Let's try it this way," I suggested. Instead of a series of eight assembles forward, I gave them a different rhythm: brush assemble, stretch your knees, plie, brush assemble, stretch your knees plie, brush assemble stretch your knees plie, brush assemble, brush assemble. Now they would have to put their heels down. The next day I read that very same exercise in the book 100 Lessons In Classical Ballet by Vera S. Kostrovitskaya! It was a powerful coincidence, and I felt a quickening. When you feel on the same wavelength as teacher that you admire and respect, you learn faster...and start to read their mind, even if there are no longer living. When our students are on the same wavelength as us, we feel a connection, and understanding, and a bond. So much of communication is unspoken. It's felt. Often our intuition will lead us to a method or a teacher. Before I began studying Vaganova, I would intuitively do things like repeat the combinations at the barre starting back, and reversing everything. I wondered why I was doing this, but kept doing it anyway. I found out later she often did this in her exercises, as well. It's a repeat, but the students have to think a little bit more, and they are learning to reverse the combination in their mind.
So much of teaching is acknowledgement. Children love to be watched. They love to be listened to, and given your full attention. It's very healing and uplifting for them to develop their gifts around someone who loves and appreciates their progress, talent, and honors their spirit. Most of all, they love it when you dance with them.