First Year on Pointe

There are basically two schools of thought for pointe shoe choice for first year pointe students. 1) They're young and still developing strength, so their shoes should be strong/hard to support them. 2) They're young and still developing strength, so their shoes shouldn't be too strong/hard, so they can work their feet and get stronger. 

Take a wild guess which one I believe in. If you've been reading this blog, you know.

A lot of girls are put on pointe waaaaaay before they should be. If they need strong/hard shoes to hold them up, they're not strong enough to be on pointe. Sure, pointe work will strengthen the feet and legs. Duh. However, you have to be strong first, otherwise you won't benefit from pointe work.

Holding a student back so they get stronger before putting them on pointe is a good idea. Period. Giving them shoes that are no more than crutches is not.

See you in pointe class... when you're ready.

Appropriate technique

At a performance the other night, one of the ballet dads (I love that we have "ballet dads" and "soccer moms") asked me if I could look at a dancer and know what type of training they had. I said, yes, usually. This is good and bad. It's good if they are using what I am going to call "appropriate technique". It's bad if the first thing I notice is their specific training.

Every ballet should be danced appropriately. If you're watching, say, "Sleeping Beauty", every dancer should be dancing with proper classical placement, style that looks like it should be there. If you're sitting there thinking, "That guy trained at the Royal, that girl is obviously from the Maryiinsky, etc." you are no longer watching the ballet or following the story. Those dancers are dancing the ballet wrong. Not that everyone should look the same, but there should be some kind of uniformity, especially from the corps.

If you're watching a Neo-classical piece, like "Four Temperaments", everyone should look like a Neo-classical dancer, otherwise they are dancing it wrong. To put it drastically, it would be like watching Fosse danced like Martha Graham.

Technique should be transparent. You really shouldn't be able to tell where someone has trained. Even though I trained in the Vaganova style and Neo-classic, I danced for The Joffrey, where we prided ourselves as having no specific style. We had a uniform appearance in placement, and one of our trademarks was being extremely well rehearsed, but we were just ballet dancers. We had to be able to adapt ourselves to everything from Tudor to Pilobolus, so if we were stuck in one style, that would not have been possible. You had to dance Tharp differently than DeMille and in some of those pieces, you couldn't even look like a ballet dancer. In "Rodeo" you couldn't even stand turned out!

But, Jerry, you're talking about character pieces or jazzy stuff. Yes, but the differences between "Swan Lake" and "Don Quixote" really are as drastic as between "Rodeo" and "Deuce Coupe II". They have to be. Fouettés in "Nutcracker" are different from fouttés in "Flames of Paris".

Some teachers of specific styles think their style is appropriate for every ballet. Nope. This is one of the reasons I don't adhere to any one syllabus. If your "Giselle" instantly makes me think you trained at SAB, you're doing it wrong. If you're going to honor Mr. B., then you have to honor Marius Petipa, too.

See you in class.

Ballet Has Evolved

Yes, it has. Training methods have improved, shoes have improved, and the good old days weren't all that good.

Oh, sure, there were great dancers, but I know many women whose feet were destroyed by the limited variety and technology of pointe shoes. I remember using an X-Acto knife to cut out the soles of my soft shoes because they were too stiff. I remember Capezio tights that were so inflexible, you could pull a muscle putting them on, and good luck making a quick change with sweaty legs. And don't get me started on a makeup from Satan known as Texas Dirt.

Thank God and the Australian ballet for split-soled shoes that didn't need to be broken in. Thank Eliza Minden for the Gaynor-Minden pointe shoe. I don't know who to thank for finally realizing that a center seam in tights and unitards makes no sense for either sex, but bless you, whoever you are! Oh, and thanks for unitards, too! And new fabrics! And colors! Have you seen some of those gorgeous lace-accented leotards?

Training methods have changed. Thinking that everyone should be trained the way you were trained pretty much slaps George Balanchine right in the face. You do know that he developed a whole new style of ballet, yes? Well, that can happen again. Thinking that advancement of the art stopped with Mr. B. is an insult to him. I tell my students that I think the way I teach- which is constantly evolving- is good, but they might find an even better way.

The good old days are fine to learn from, but you can't be stuck there. You can't look at training methods that produce wonderful dancers, and pooh-pooh them because you don't understand them. Learn, for heaven's sake! I heard of a high school teacher who told his students, "You're born, you learn, then you die."

Think about that.

I'll see you in class.