Hello, dance friends!
Next week, I've got some new classes starting and I thought now would be a good time to define what each level of class means to me - and for you, the student. Because my classes are drop-in and open to all, it's a good idea to know what you're getting into.
Basic: the class for the absolute beginner. If you have never done ballet at all, this is the class to start with. Typically, I will stand near the new student and guide her at the barre. I will use my hands to move her hips or feet or arms to where they need to be. As we progress, though, I ask that the new student observe and follow along as best she can so as not impede the advancement of the other students. Much can be learned by simply imitating those around you. Questions that arise are often answered in subsequent classes so it's important to give yourself time to catch up. You can't expect to know everything in one class!
Advanced Beginning: the next level up. Increased vocabulary and longer combinations at the barre and in the center. As usual, I break down new steps as they are introduced so everyone learns in a similar fashion. I will assume students know classroom etiquette, such as how to stand at the barre, when and how to ask questions, and how to space themselves in the center. I will do petit allegro and adagio combinations in my Adv Beginning class whereas I don't (as a rule) do them in my Basic class. Turns? Of course! We will put them in combinations.
Beg/Int: I have heard people say my Beg/Int is more Int than Beg and that may very well be true. At this level, I expect students to know all plies and port de bras at the barre, as well as tendus, degages, grands battements, frappe, fondu and rond de jambe en l'air. They may not have mastered those steps but they are familiar with them. In the center I will do adagio, allegro and turn combinations that are more complex. Lots of travel across the floor and multiple weight shifting in the center.
Intermediate: my most advanced class. I expect all of my students to be able to do multiple turns in the center, fouette turns at the barre, brise and beats in allegro as well as more advanced turns like attitude and arabesque. Again, students may not have a command of all these things but they should be familiar with them. I will do plenty of weight-shifting at the barre along with more complex combinations that reverse. With my more advanced students, I do not expect to have to walk them through combinations on both sides.
So...ready, set, come check out my new classes! See the schedule below for exact times and locations. Happy dancing!
Friday, August 31, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Leigh's new ballet class at DAA & other schedule changes
1. Starting Tuesday, September 4th, I will have a new Beginning Ballet class at Dance Arts Academy (address at left on sidebar), from 6:30-8PM.
It will be a level between my Basic and Beg/Int classes and is aimed at
dancers with a general knowledge of positions and steps (e.g. tendu,
degage, etc.) who want to increase their vocabulary and technique. The
class will also be suitable for more experienced dancers who want to
take it en pointe or simply wish to perfect their technique with less
complex combinations. We will do barre, center and traveling exercises.
2. Starting Thursday, September 6th, I will have a Pointe 2 class at Le Studio (address at left on sidebar) from 5:30-6:30PM. There will be no floor barre class anymore but I will continue to hold a Stretch/Strengthen class on Fridays, from 5:30-6:30PM. In Pointe 2, we will work on turns, petit allegro combinations and adagio.
3. For dancers interested in Nutcracker, rehearsals will be held on Saturdays at Le Studio from 12:30-1:30PM, rather than Fridays. Variations rehearsals will follow as necessary. Please let me know if you want to be part of the show this year.
4. Finally, all of my classes at Le Studio and Dance Arts Academy will be held over the Labor Day weekend and on the Monday holiday. See my schedule below for more complete information.
Happy dancing~
2. Starting Thursday, September 6th, I will have a Pointe 2 class at Le Studio (address at left on sidebar) from 5:30-6:30PM. There will be no floor barre class anymore but I will continue to hold a Stretch/Strengthen class on Fridays, from 5:30-6:30PM. In Pointe 2, we will work on turns, petit allegro combinations and adagio.
3. For dancers interested in Nutcracker, rehearsals will be held on Saturdays at Le Studio from 12:30-1:30PM, rather than Fridays. Variations rehearsals will follow as necessary. Please let me know if you want to be part of the show this year.
4. Finally, all of my classes at Le Studio and Dance Arts Academy will be held over the Labor Day weekend and on the Monday holiday. See my schedule below for more complete information.
Happy dancing~
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Sunday Funnies
Have a laugh, courtesy of my lovely student, Jen Ruano (super happy thanks, Miss Zombie Jen!):
Dancers who take my classes in Pasadena will definitely recognize this!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Competing passions - or complementary?
“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”
― Voltaire
When someone asks me what I do, I hesitate to answer. I have to look around and remind myself where I am, what venue am I responding in. Is this a dance group of people? Then I tell them I teach ballet. Is this a writerly group? Then I am a novelist.
In truth, I am both. And I am equally passionate about both. If I had to give up one over the other, well, I think it would be like Sophie's Choice for me. Ha! Seriously, though, my writing fuels my creative fire just as much as ballet does but in a very different way.
Writing is a solitary pursuit with feedback only provided in the far distant future. I might think a story is fantastic only to find, a few months or a year later, that a reader doesn't get it at all. On the other hand, when I teach, I receive feedback instantaneously. I know when something is working and when it isn't.
As an artist, you need and appreciate both types of responses from your audience. You can create in a vacuum but you certainly can't make progress that way. At some point, you need to come out of your cave and present your art to someone else who doesn't know and love you already. You need objective feedback. What you do with it from then is entirely up to you! In my case, as a writer, I may go back and rewrite if someone has a problem with a story I wrote and as a teacher, if a student isn't understanding my corrections, I can consider a new approach.
Or not. That's my prerogative as an artist.
I've known so many dancers who are also attorneys or agents or therapists or designers. They would no sooner give up ballet than they would give up those non-dance careers. While ballet does require you to focus solely on it should you choose it as a singular career (and the number of people who can do that is truly infinitesimal), there is no reason you need to give it up if you have another means of earning a living that you love. If your passion is there, you will find a way to keep it in your life.
Happy dancing~
― Voltaire
When someone asks me what I do, I hesitate to answer. I have to look around and remind myself where I am, what venue am I responding in. Is this a dance group of people? Then I tell them I teach ballet. Is this a writerly group? Then I am a novelist.
In truth, I am both. And I am equally passionate about both. If I had to give up one over the other, well, I think it would be like Sophie's Choice for me. Ha! Seriously, though, my writing fuels my creative fire just as much as ballet does but in a very different way.
Writing is a solitary pursuit with feedback only provided in the far distant future. I might think a story is fantastic only to find, a few months or a year later, that a reader doesn't get it at all. On the other hand, when I teach, I receive feedback instantaneously. I know when something is working and when it isn't.
As an artist, you need and appreciate both types of responses from your audience. You can create in a vacuum but you certainly can't make progress that way. At some point, you need to come out of your cave and present your art to someone else who doesn't know and love you already. You need objective feedback. What you do with it from then is entirely up to you! In my case, as a writer, I may go back and rewrite if someone has a problem with a story I wrote and as a teacher, if a student isn't understanding my corrections, I can consider a new approach.
Or not. That's my prerogative as an artist.
I've known so many dancers who are also attorneys or agents or therapists or designers. They would no sooner give up ballet than they would give up those non-dance careers. While ballet does require you to focus solely on it should you choose it as a singular career (and the number of people who can do that is truly infinitesimal), there is no reason you need to give it up if you have another means of earning a living that you love. If your passion is there, you will find a way to keep it in your life.
Happy dancing~
Saturday, August 4, 2012
The correct way to compare yourself to others
Newbies are smart to observe others who are more experienced and to compare how an advanced dancer performs a combination to how they themselves are doing it. When you don't know much, you need to watch dancers who know what they're doing. Careful observation and even mimicking will teach the muscles and brain what is correct and what isn't. As a teacher, I try to point out when someone is doing something the right way (or the way that I prefer) so that other students will learn how to recognize a correct step or line or phrasing. Hopefully a Newbie will aspire to be that student who has been held up as an example!
But once dancers have made some leaps and bounds and perhaps plateaued once or twice, comparisons tend to veer toward the simplistic "Who's a better dancer?" variety. This type of comparison is a hindrance to progress, especially for those students who come to ballet as adults. They consider solely the length of time they've been studying and then look at other students who may have been similarly trained and they think, "Why am I not as good as she is??
As an adult it's easy forget that things took time to learn. You didn't learn to read or write overnight. You didn't learn to drive overnight. You didn't become CEO or manager overnight. Why on earth should you expect to be a ballerina overnight?
If you are a parent of two children, one of whom learned to ride a bike quite quickly while the other struggled with it, would you encourage the second child or discourage her? Of course that isn't even a question! You would tell your little girl to keep trying and eventually she will get it. You would tell her that everyone progresses in their own time, at their own pace. And you would tell her that she can learn from her sister but not to compare herself to her.
You are no different! And I am here to encourage you, to tell you not to compare your own technique to that of someone who may have far more experience than you think, who may take more classes than you do on a regular basis, who may have a different lifestyle and job and stresses - and genetic gifts. You are an individual with your own talents, perhaps ones that you may not even realize. You may have an amazing balance in your turns or fast feet in allegro or a performance quality that makes you shine on-stage.
So I just said that comparing yourself to others is nonsense; yet the title of this post suggests otherwise. What's the deal with that? There is a good way to compare:
As adults, we can glean a lot from watching others. We are mature enough (hopefully!) to understand that a compliment to one person does not mean a negative comparison to others. If I tell a student she has performed a pirouette well, that takes nothing away from you. That does not mean you did not perform it well. This is the mature part of the comparison. You hear me tell a student I liked her epaulement in the adagio - then watch and learn! Don't tell yourself you must have done it poorly simply because I didn't acknowledge it.
I may have years of experience under my belt but I still learn from the observation of others - not to ask, "Is she better than me? Do I dance as well as she does?" If I am drawn to watch a dancer in class, I want to know why. What does she do well that I can learn from or, at the least, appreciate? That is the sort of comparison you should make for yourself. Not good vs. bad or right vs. wrong. Ballet, like life, is not so simple. Mature comparison to others will encourage you in a healthy way, rather than a competitive one.
Happy dancing~
But once dancers have made some leaps and bounds and perhaps plateaued once or twice, comparisons tend to veer toward the simplistic "Who's a better dancer?" variety. This type of comparison is a hindrance to progress, especially for those students who come to ballet as adults. They consider solely the length of time they've been studying and then look at other students who may have been similarly trained and they think, "Why am I not as good as she is??
As an adult it's easy forget that things took time to learn. You didn't learn to read or write overnight. You didn't learn to drive overnight. You didn't become CEO or manager overnight. Why on earth should you expect to be a ballerina overnight?
If you are a parent of two children, one of whom learned to ride a bike quite quickly while the other struggled with it, would you encourage the second child or discourage her? Of course that isn't even a question! You would tell your little girl to keep trying and eventually she will get it. You would tell her that everyone progresses in their own time, at their own pace. And you would tell her that she can learn from her sister but not to compare herself to her.
You are no different! And I am here to encourage you, to tell you not to compare your own technique to that of someone who may have far more experience than you think, who may take more classes than you do on a regular basis, who may have a different lifestyle and job and stresses - and genetic gifts. You are an individual with your own talents, perhaps ones that you may not even realize. You may have an amazing balance in your turns or fast feet in allegro or a performance quality that makes you shine on-stage.
So I just said that comparing yourself to others is nonsense; yet the title of this post suggests otherwise. What's the deal with that? There is a good way to compare:
As adults, we can glean a lot from watching others. We are mature enough (hopefully!) to understand that a compliment to one person does not mean a negative comparison to others. If I tell a student she has performed a pirouette well, that takes nothing away from you. That does not mean you did not perform it well. This is the mature part of the comparison. You hear me tell a student I liked her epaulement in the adagio - then watch and learn! Don't tell yourself you must have done it poorly simply because I didn't acknowledge it.
I may have years of experience under my belt but I still learn from the observation of others - not to ask, "Is she better than me? Do I dance as well as she does?" If I am drawn to watch a dancer in class, I want to know why. What does she do well that I can learn from or, at the least, appreciate? That is the sort of comparison you should make for yourself. Not good vs. bad or right vs. wrong. Ballet, like life, is not so simple. Mature comparison to others will encourage you in a healthy way, rather than a competitive one.
Happy dancing~
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