vrsfanatic

Spacial awareness begins in early schooling. Children are set up in symetrical lines and taught the basic positions of the body . These positions of the body will enable them to move maintaining their personal line and lines in a ballet for the rest of their life as dancers. Spacial awareness is taught at first without traveling and then with traveling added. Each traveling movement in ballet has a "spacial awareness". Students are trained to move in groups and recognize early on that if they do not keep their spacing, they may not fit within the given space. Later, when learning corps de ballet work/repetoire the students are taught about spacing. Generally the width of the space is divided into 1/4s but sometimes 1/8s. They are taught to move sideways according to the spacial markings. When onstage, the legs of the wings and lighting booms are used as depth markings, but in a room, students must use a clock, a line on a door, a bracket to a barre or a thermostat for example to figure out the depth. Flooring depth is also a big help. Much spacing is done according to marley width. Students are also taught that they must see, feel, hear and smell the dancers around them. They learn to use their senses when moving not just their bodies. Eventually bits and pieces of scenery can become reference points as well. Eventually it becomes second nature, but learning the ropes as a student is a tremendous amount of work for the student and the teachers alike.

http://abt.org/performances/calendar_index1.asp Hopefully this link will work. If not, go to abt.org and click on Performances. Choose the month of February and all should appear. The ABT website is very easy to navigate. No names as of yet, but soon I am sure.

Fabulous. Thank you.

Now that you have given more background, I venture to say you were trained by a wonderful woman who was fortunate enough to have experienced and remembered both! Having begun my pedagogy studies with a remarkable Lithuanian woman, Janina Ciunovas, born in 1914, I was inspired 20 years ago to try to figure out some kind of time line. The ballet teachers of the pre-Vaganova era had influences from the French, Italian, Danish and of course the Imperial schools. They grew up with these teachers. A. Vaganova began her adventure as a teacher in the Petrograd Choreographic school in 1921. My pedagogy teacher at the Vaganova Academy St. Petersburg, Russia. Valentina V. Rumyanseva was in her 70's in 1995 when I left school, which places her in one of Vaganova's first classes. She told charming stories of G. Balanchine in school when she was a very young girl. So what does any of this have to do with your question? Not being a ballet historian, however having great interest in timelines, there are quite a few years of intertwining of schooling and development as one program of study took rise while the other left it's wonderful foundation deeply imbedded in the dancers who were caught inbetween. These students and dancers were able to inspire pedagogs to reflect upon making their indepth studies of movement and the further development of classical line. Having spoken with many noted pedagogs of the Vaganova system of schooling, what is often discussed is the fact that the choreography does leave an important mark on schooling. The development of a schooling system should be a reflection of the choreographic needs. Although none of us know what the Petipa ballets actually looked like when performed, The Imperial School of Russia and the Vaganova Academy (now Vaganova Institute) have been deeply influenced by the choreography of Petipa and Ivanov. Perhaps, for this reason you are able to still see similarities in the two? Vaganova published the first edition of her book Fundamentals of Classical Dance in 1934.

Sacto1654 you are headed in a very different direction than I was thinking, but it is an eye opening one. As a teacher when asked about the Vaganova "style" I automatically think the question is about methodology, but your thoughts are sending me in a new direction. cxllqhy are you asking questions about classroom work and how it effects the development of the ballets being performed/choreographed or are you asking about the stylistic differences of various companies you may observe? The subjects are related however the academic approach will differ from what is observed.

Just guessing here, but Soviet may be a leftover political term. I remember my late husband using the term rather than Russian since Russia did not at that time exist as a country. Most Eastern Europeans who were able to defect or get out of Eastern Europe did not use the term Soviet shall I say in a loving or gentle manner. Soviet was a period of ballet in Russia Not guessing here...Vaganova is a method of studying ballet rather than a style of port de bras. Vaganova and her colleagues worked many years to develop this program for use in the Soviet Union and Soviet satellite schools of ballet. As for the comparison to the Imperial "style" and again I would say the Imperial "style" of ballet is not a style but the name of the schools of ballet in Milan, Italy and St. Petersburg, Russia and perhaps other countries with Royalty. Both Academies have illustrious graduates. The Imperial Academy of Milan did have an influence on the Imperial Academy of Russia in that Cecchetti and other dancers of note were able to pass their knowledge from Milan on to the Russians and Vaganova in particular. Having studied with Russian teachers who were trained as dancers in the Imperial school and as teachers in the Vaganova method, it is difficult to separate the two schools of thought since the Imperial Academy had an influence on these wonderful teachers but they only discussed their knowledge of movement crediting the Vaganova method. The Imperial school of ballet did have a great influence on the development of Vaganova schooling. Also watching an older dancer (and by that I mean women and men in their late 70s and 80s), show port de bras has never given me an actual knowledge of what the port de bras should actually look like, but rather wonderful imagery and ideas for passing along information. The principles of Vaganova port de bras are based upon harmonious form and placement of the arms with a natural sense of coordination of body movement with musicality. The end result of the 8 years of study, when taught correctly, creates a balanced, harmonious sense of movement. In teaching the principles of Vaganova port de bras to American students, one of the biggest differences I am confronted by is that today's students generally do not have the backs of students trained in the Vaganova method in Russia and perhaps elsewhere. Without this important understanding of the back Vaganova port de bras can not exist. When one is watching a dancer, it is generally evident if the dancer has a background in Vaganova, by the way they move and use their arms and focus but I can not actually pinpoint what the differences are.

Did you also hear that it was Patricia Delgado with Sarabia on Saturday evening? cubanmiamiboy seemed think I was incorrect in what I had heard. It did not look like Seay to me, but I do not attend every program so I thought I had just forgotten her port de bras and line from last year. Thanks for the heads up bart about the staircase at the Kravis. I am not able to attend, but it would be fun to meet up another time in one of our venues in the tri-county area.

nysusan, my last memories of seeing NYCB in 4 T's was with Arthur Mitchell which had to be in the 1960's. When I refer to having seen 4 T's 30 years ago was Pennsylvania Ballet from 1974-1983. They did it beautifully.

Thank you for the clarification of the substitution. I know the name was Patricia Delgado, I just heard incorrectly the pas. This was my first seeing a Delgado sister as an adult. Thank you also for letting me know about the security/fire/alarm lights. Our students were emmensely disappointed in having to leave, but when I realized I was responsible for this group and they were spread through out the balcony, my mother's voice popped into my head as if I myself were a child hearing her say, "Exit quietly, do not run. Take a head count!" I could see from the front row of the balcony that the lights were flashing in the orchestra, mezzanine and also in the lobby when we exited. No one seemed to know what was happening in the lobby, but no one was doing anything or telling us there was not fire. Sirens were heard outside as we walked to the parking lot. Kind of scary actually. I would have hoped there would be some plan of action in a theatre when something like that occurs. I know I for one, will most likely be one of the first ones out if I experience anything like that again.

cubanmiamiboy, I believe I heard an announcement on Saturday evening just before the curtain rising for Swan Lake that Patricia Delgado was replacing Seay in the "pas de deux" (perhaps they meant the adagio?). I am not familiar with the MCB company members although I do know the Sarabias and Amanda Weingarten. I would appreciate your clarifying what dancers I did see. As for the Balanchine Swan Lake, from the balcony some the patterns were well crafted and very musical. Sarabia was a bit flat although elegant and the danseur nobile. The corps was well rehearsed and very much as I remember the arm movements from my childhood. Having not seen the production in almost 30 years, my reaction to the overal flatness of the movement, in particular the port de bras, was interesting for me. This could have been any other Balanchine work with bits and pieces of his other choreographies thrown in here and there, hip lunges and all. The corps danced well, it was just the choreography that did not strike me as being particularly swanlike. 4Ts...Jeremy Cox was a standout. In the Upper Room, not my favorite bit of repetitive movement. I left early due to the emergency lights flashing in the theatre. Mostlikely the fog machines set them off but being with 12 of our students, I jumped up and said let's go. cubanmiamiboy, did the lights ever stop flashing? Was this a lighting effect? A few audience members did get up and leave as we did. So what was the story?

My experience is with the Vaganova Academy studios which are raked according to the Mariinsky Theatre stage. I do not know the grade, but it is a consistent rake. Perhaps the last 5 feet of downstage is relatively flat. When one gets accustomed to working on a rake it really becomes no big deal.

The Russian children grow up already coping with the rake in their ballet studios in the academic academies. Imagine, the lack of a rake in the US takes some getting used to for the Russian dancers when they are touring.

Mr. Radetsky has joined the Dutch National Ballet not the Royal Ballet.

Natalia do you know if Mr. Kuznetsov (Mariinsky Theatre) has been on the recent tours to the US?

Yes, in Vaganova Academy they do have one single portrait on the wall, sometimes an oil, sometimes a photo.

Just a guess but, Vaganova Academy. The floors look to be the same, the barres are the same, double doors for entrance and exit, the mirrors are the same, the reflection in the mirrors of the windows, looks like one of the 1st floor studios, not used very often anymore. I only saw it through a key hole, so I am not sure if there was a fireplace in it or not. As for the teacher, oh my, I have no idea. I did see photos of my pedagogy teacher in class with Vaganova in similar class attire, so maybe it is Vaganova, although I do not see her in the photo.

Ballet Etudes is a commercial school/performing company that has been active in Miami for at least 25 years. They have always rented large theaters for their productions of the classics. The majority of the principal dancers are hired from outside of her school, but the corps is from the school. The director, Suzanna Prieto does a wonderful job of introducing her students to classical ballet and developing a great love of dance. She deserves commendations for what she has done to encourage dance in Miami.

I am not actually sure of the date. I should have asked when I had the chance. Maybe one of you knows. circa. 1971 Ballet master Jurgen Schneider (East Berlin) in Helsinki, Finland from Comischer Oper tour, East Berlin There were quite a few East German dancers who defected in the early 1970's.

Not to make it a competition of any kind, but Harid also has had at least 7 graduates in the various ranks of ABT since 1996. If one scrolls through the bios of the dancers, both American and not, one will find that ABT has a rather large Vaganova influence amongst the ranks. There were quite a few Vaganova trained and influenced ballet masters and one company teacher at ABT during the Barishnikov years and in the the School of Classical Ballet, the entire faculty was trained in a Soviet ballet program either as dancers, teachers and/or both. During those years an attempt was made to form a school and a uniform schooling. The question of a school and schooling however has yet to be sustained long enough to produce a generation of dancers to feed into the company since the 1960s. Hopefully they will be able to maintain the existing school long enough to see positive results. It is highly unlikely however that the company will hire students from only their school. Only time will tell.

Mr Murphy, a remarkably talented writer as well as dancer, also has his weblog, Ranting Details which may also be of interest. May his journey take him on a path of happiness. Enjoy this link: http://rantingdetails.typepad.com/my_weblog/abt/index.html

Amy tape #7 is L. Semanyaka (Swan Lake), a male I do not recognize, N. Ananashvilli (Bayadere), M. Lavrovsky with the knee brace (5 years before hip replacement surgury), then I stopped watching for now. Please excuse spelling errors until later. It is a joy to watch the Bolshoi spirit again. It is such a very big one!

Thank you again Amy Reausch. I love the energy and lightness of the jump. He is a contemporary of M. Lavrovsky. Mr. Lavrovsky had the same freedom and spirit. I agree totally with you about the sissonne failli in Bluebird. I would love to see a dancer do it that way on stage.

Thank you Amy Reusch, that was lovely.

Amazing technology! Wow. IY has such lovely legs! Thank you for the treasure. It would be interesting to know the history of these costumes for the BRdM. Thank you again.

IY looks to have leather ballet slippers on to me. Look at the tips and inside edges of his big toes. Having dyed both canvas and leather, his feet look like dyed leather to me. As for his hair, looks like a pomdapour. The costumes are amazing. I remember somewhere seeing the photos of the "1st" Serenade in White Plains, NY in ample very long net (black and white photo, I always assumed blue). Is my history incorrect? What is the date on this photo?