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Your School Might Be a Dolly Dinkle If...


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...your five-year-old's makeup kit has enough eyeliner to get Boy George through all of the 80's and some of '95.

...the most highly-regarded teacher's only qualification is a bachelor's in dance ed.

...the "advanced" class includes three twelve-year-olds and takes class once a week.

...the students compete for the privilege of dusting the trophy cases in the lobby every Saturday.

...the costumes (and choreography) for the retical's jazz piece make Anastasia Volochkova's Kitri look like a Puritan.

...the studio offers so many different activities that its ad takes up two pages in the phone book.

...you call your teacher "Miss Tami-Sue" even though you're the same age.

...you don't take ballet, but you do take "toe."

...you think ballet terms are in English (i.e., "lame duck").

...your class lasts 45 minutes, in which time you are able to study tap, jazz, hip hop, "ballet," tumbling, hula hoop, and fire-baton twirling.

...you think that although your ballet could use some work, ABT will still accept you once they see your killer lyrical routine.

...your teacher told you that Cynthia, who left to study at the snobby ballet-only school across the street, is a traitor and that you should never speak to her again.

...you got to lead the warm-up routine because Miss Tami-Sue was late on account of her trailer rolled into the holler again. :beg:

Anyone care to add? :D

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...the costumes (and choreography) for the recital's jazz piece make Anastasia Volochkova's Kitri look like a Puritan.

...not to mention the hair---don't you think Volochkova is a little stingy with the glitter?

...your class lasts 45 minutes, in which time you are able to study tap, jazz, hip hop, "ballet," tumbling, hula hoop, and fire-baton twirling.

You forgot toe-tap.

...you think ballet terms are in English (ie "lame duck").

...knee bend

...point

...leap

Lame duck is one of a very, very few for which I haven't heard a French equivalent (I think I even asked Alertniks about this one a while back). What is it? Pique en dedans is the closest I've heard.

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The full, correct Vaganova term for that step is "tour piqué en dehors." It's also known as a piqué turn en dehors, and other syllabi probably have other names.

And yes, I do think Volochkova is stingy with the glitter--I mean, how can she not put it on her tights and pointe shoes? I'll never understand her.

I cannot believe I forgot toe-tap--the only excuse I can think of is that it just seemed so obvious to me that I didn't feel the need to spell it out! :D

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HUMOR-IMPAIRED BEANIE ON (not an official beanie)

In my opinion, what separates the people who run multi-genre dance studios -- and give a lot of people the opportunity to participate and a great deal of pleasure -- from the Dolly Dinkles is whether the teachers can recognize talented students and are honest with the students and the parents about the level and amount of training the students need to excel at ballet, and steer the talented kids to a "real school."

HUMOR-IMPAIRED BEANIE OFF

I'm really not trying to kill all the fun out this thread.

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My niece studies at a serious, multi-disciplinary suburban studio (no baton twirling, though) which has produced a fairly large number of professionals. My niece does not have professional aspirations, but loves dancing. The excellence of the training is evident in the Nutcrackers.

But preparation for the Nut became a problem. Both casts were required to attend all rehearsals, every night from 6:00-10:00. For families with commuting parents, this broke up dinner time every night for weeks. Children were required to observe the other casts' rehearsals, making it difficult to complete homework. It seemed, to DN's parents, a bit extreme for children with purely recreational interests, and how can you tell your pre-teen (or even teen) that she can't be in a Nut?

Are there happy-mediums out there? Where you can get solid, healthy training and not sign your life away while you're trying to develop a balanced life?

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Does any of this really happen?

Alas, I had to witness most of the above at a recent recital of my little cousin's.

:shake:

As rude as it was, I had to leave during intermission simply because I couldn't stomach any more of it. I made the excuse of feeling somewhat ill, which I suppose was partially true. :rolleyes: Thankfully my cousin doesn't take dance seriously and only uses it as an aid to her figure skating training (and if I may brag on her behalf, is progressing along quite impressively at the age of 8 :D ).

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Are there happy-mediums out there? Where you can get solid, healthy training and not sign your life away while you're trying to develop a balanced life?

The American Dance Institute in Rockville, MD offers good-quality recreational training.

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...you don't take ballet, but you do take "toe."

My mother, whose family nationality was Czech (Austro-Hungarian Empire, that is) was a serious ballet student in the 20s in Manhattan -- serious enough to have considered going to Europe for training while still a teenager. I remember her saying that "toe dancing" in those days was a very common expression even among dancers, used to distinguish ballet danced on point from ballet -- often ethnically derived -- danced in flat shoes. "Ballet" appears to have been a rather broad term, at least in New York City long ago.

Anyone else have an insight into this?

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Merrill Ashley and Nancy Goldner spoke to the audience for Ballet Chicago's Remembering Mr. B program on 30th October at the Dance Center of Columbia College here.

MA:  Balanchine had a wonderful sense of humor...  It's easier if you have names for the steps, where you stop and go back:  The chicken step, the trouble step, lampshades, grasshoppers, butterflies.  These names make it more distinctive.

Seems that Dolly Dinkle is only following the Balanchine example.

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"Ballet" appears to have been a rather broad term, at least in New York City long ago.

Still is, when you consider companies like Ballet Folclorico de Mexico. Not a pointe shoe in sight, calf-length skirts with many tiers of ruffles. Ballet can be (but in this time and place generally is not) understood to mean theatrical dance of any genre.
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Bart, the "toe dancing" expression is still used by some people, but presumably your mother only studied toe/pointe after several years of regular technique class in flat shoes. The line in my first post was a reference to the way at some "schools," students learn to dance en pointe without having any experience with ballet technique. :shake:

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MA:  Balanchine had a wonderful sense of humor...  It's easier if you have names for the steps, where you stop and go back:  The chicken step, the trouble step, lampshades, grasshoppers, butterflies.  These names make it more distinctive.
Seems that Dolly Dinkle is only following the Balanchine example.

As well as the example of that French fellow who coined "cat step," "Basque jump," "big turn in second position," etc. :shake:
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Not to mention all the "Ballet" companies in Spain -- Ballet Nacional de Espana, los Ballets Espanoles, Ballet Teatro Espanol, Ballet Antologia, Compania Talent Danza Ballet Espanol. Several, based on my performance observation only, do seem to use ballet (in our sense) as part of their training, incorporate the occasional dancer from a more conventional ballet background, and incorporate ballet in some of their movement vocabulary.

Ballet Victor Ullate, which has Giselle, etc., in its repertoire in addition to more Spanish material, is the only ballet company we might recognize as such. I remember a Don Quijote in Madrid about 8 years ago -- Kitri, Basilio and a few others dance "classically," but the rest -- a gang of gypsies around a camp fire, for instance, are pure, theatrical "ballet espanol."

And then there's the interesting term "clasico," as in "danza clasico espanol." Petipa it isn't.

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Bart, I think I can sort out a bit of Spanish terms for you. Indeed I had a school in Spain for some years where I taught "Ballet clasico" and not "Baile clasico". The baile bit refers to old court dances. Various types of dance have been forbidden on and off in Spain. Sarabande was an old "baile" that was forbidden at one time. So was flamenco also at one time. Then you have folk dances, like the jota and also the flamenco - jota in the middle of Spain and flamenco in Andalucia. Problem is that when you talk to people they think that flamenco is typically Spanish, whereas it is only danced in Andalucia. Not surprising, 99% of all tourists go to

Costa del Sol where they are likely to see some kind (usually quite indifferent) display of stamping and clapping. To get to see the real thing is not easy, but that will have to be another thread.

Not until very recently has what we call classical ballet taken root in Spain, I feel like quite a pioneer, there had never before been a school of classical ballet in the town where I lived.

Also, I could recommend a very good book that sorts out all these terms. Unfortunately I dont seem be to able to lay my hands on it right now - must be somewhere though. Anyway, the author is Caballero Bonald and it was published

1957 or 8. Text in English, I remember buying my copy in Beaumont's legendary

book shop in London. :rolleyes:

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Oops, I see Pamela and I were posting at the same time. Here is my original post:

Well Bart, there is classical Spanish dancing, which is a completely different form of dance than ballet, so I guess some of those companies aren't being entirely misleading....

Silvy, that's rather terrifying!

Here's a fun, true story:

At the local dancewear store one day, a group of girls from an out-of-town studio came in wanting to buy pointe shoes. They ended up buying shoes several sizes too large, as well as foam-rubber pads to put inside. When asked where they studied ballet, they said, "Oh, we don't take ballet. We just do toe."

:excl::wacko::blink::D:icon8::shake:

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Hans! How could you have missed:

Halfway through the year, center floor has been dispensed with, replaced with recital rehearsal.

Frankly, I think anytime a rehearsal takes place during class time (unless this is specifically a "variations" class), the entire school is suspect.

Oh... and:

No one in the entire school seems quite sure how to point their feet.

It's heartbreaking for me, but my daughter prefers to study at a Dolly Dinkle. I must admit the teacher works well with young children... but I'm not sure what they learn beyond confidence on stage... however, until the child is 7 or 8, perhaps it's unimportant... Still, I wish she were being taught musicality, even if strict technique is inappropriate for young children. And then there's the side effect that by age 9, most of the children have lost their interest in ballet (and who could blame them when there seems to be little else to it beyond sequins and tiaras and pretending to be princesses). I guess she'll never know the joy of floating through the air in a perfect grand jete.

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