alaneE

Well...I am new here and it's late.....but, in Company Class it is the responsibility of the teachers to prepare the dancers to dance in the choreography that is present. when I was Balletmeister in Zurich for Uwe Scholz petite allegro was the high lite of the class. as Uwe did not use to much Grand allegro and the dancers needed to actually work on speed... Speed and coordination needed to be a large part of the daily training........

Why thank you Giannina..... my performing experience was actually quite short. I went from the school in Stuttgart to Hamburg and after 4 years quit to attempt painting. Then went back to performing with the company and eventually starting to teach. I found coaching much more stimulating then actually teaching but at the time there were few positions open for coaches....so i was almost forced to become a balletmeister.......anyway PAINTING is wonderful and my last engagement in the theater was actually doing sets and costumes for a ballet in Stuttgart, where i had gone to school......painting my paintings in Stuttgart to be used on the stage was so much fun....this was just great......full circle so you are hearing from me...... I am trying....to answer any and all questions...... as an artist if you google my name you will see what i am up to...... alan ebnother

Hello alaneE, Have you danced any of John Neumeier's works? I am trying to find out more about him and his choreography but there doesn't seem to be very much written in English. For example, are there difficulties for dancers specific to his choreography? How does Neumeier work? Well of course...., i was a member of the company for 3-5 years and danced works and created roles with John. John is a wonderful story teller, although the time for narrative dance officially was put to rest by Mr B....the tradition has continued. Johns work is not always wonderful for a dancer to actually dance! The flow of movement is not choreographed from a physical viewpoint but from a mental standpoint.....John is very dear to me, but if I was to view him from a more progressive mindset I would have to say that he was never much of a dancer himself, brought into his prime in the Cranko era and managed to take a small element of dance in his time and develop it. His specialty would be the rethinking of already written and choreographed concepts......., and his genius would be his own explorations into the small details of their telling.....(a surplus of small detail)..........While Bill in Frankfurt was busy breaking down walls John was busy rearranging the bricks.......... i am not a writer and my English gets mixed up with my German and please forgive my grammar.....

I was a dancer in the Hamburg State Opera, and later a private coach working with a few "principals" from ABT, SFB, Stuttgart Ballet, GoudοÏν & Friends etc. Was also Balletmeister at the Opera Haus in Zurich-Wiesbaden-Ulm etc... Gave up theater to become a painter, have more time with my children and so on... I often find myself missing dance and thought that I would check out this site.. Greetings

As it has always been a little difficult to encourage boys to "wear tights" etc, there is often a lack of firm-ness in their teaching. They normally develope a bit slower then girls and are laging behind in their motivation, thus most teachers tend to favor the boys and relax their standards in order not to scare them off. The larger established schools have the few boys that are serious about dancing and in these schools the problem is a bit different. Attire in class is actually more for the discipline of the student then for the teacher. I spent many years teaching proffesional dancers in europe and had no problem in seeing what needed to be correctedon on a dancer due to his or her attire.... I really do believe that the first step is encouraging men to enter the class....the secon d step is to make them interested enough to stay, the third step is to teach them love and discipline for an art form....(but yes i agree with u)

Dear Leggie, I danced in Hamburg for John in the 70's.....and it can be a very hard life for those not gifted with the "dance body"....Good choice....have fun alanE