spiritfire

Ping,

Thanks.

Edward Villella

Grant, his recent performance of the Pas from The Nutcracker was beautiful. His handsome looks were complimented by his ability to make his partner look like everything was effortless. He enabled her to go for anything knowing that he was there. He was beautiful to watch, and made his partner look even better.

When or where did Grant danced the Nutcracker PDD? Thanks.

I saw Grant Delong as Nutcracker Cavalier at the Hershey Theatre December 20 - 21, partnering Sarah Walborn. Beautiful.

Major Mel,

When I read this post it brought back wonderful memories of my son's first partnering classes (nicknamed "baby partnering"at CPYB) with Ken Laws, Physics Professor at Dickinson College and author of The Physics of Dance. I think he was 8 or 9 years old. Ken invited the parents in for the final partnering class after the 5 week summer intensive.

I almost bust a gut trying not to laugh out loud!

I was seated next to a stage mom, whose daughter was one of the girls my son was partnering. She made it seem as if they were destined to get married. After I edged my chair away from her, I observed what Mel described as the beginnings of any partnering class - manners and respect. These little ones thought that members of the opposite sex where "yucky". One of the things the partners were to demonstrate was walking with one's partner and presenting her. Many of the young ladies just stormed acrossed the stage not wanting to be anywhere near their partners, some of the young gents were overly serious about their role, trying to corral their partners, ovethers looked clearly bowled over!

I had barely recovered from this exercise when Ken had the class in lines with their partners, girls in front. The girls were instructed to go on releve and the boys were to place their hands on their partner's waist. At this I was almost crying - on releve, many of the girls were taller than their partners - and all you could see was hands on waist! Ken told the girls to "trust their partners" - as they were swaying in the breeze. (One could just see the girls saying to themselves, "Trust HIM! - Ha!"). One was grateful that this is an artform without words.

And now, looking back 10 years later, having seen some of the member of that class grow up, it is wonderful to see that those basic lessons of respect, trust, communication, deportment, are well ingrained.

Thank you for brining to mind some wonderful memories!

Well, I can say that I've done my share!

Partnering skills start very early, when the boys and girls first meet one another. Each must be respectful of the other. This doesn't mean that they have to use etiquette from another age, it means simple respect. The conventions of classroom and stage manners are built to demonstrate that, but if the respect doesn't come from inside the dancers, it's worth nothing.

When partnering lessons start, it is necessary to make sure that the students are self-reliant. You will often hear a pas de deux teacher saying to the girls, "You should be able to do this without him! Forget he's there! Don't depend on him, depend on yourself!" The boys get, "Show her off! See how beautiful she is! Don't lean into her! Stand on your own feet!" and of course, the ever-popular, "If you drop her, I'll KILL you!" The dancers have to learn what it is to execute ballet technique correctly while close to another person. The tutu is good for stand-off, but you're really much closer in some parts of the dance than you are at others. Most pas de deux classes are done in standard practice clothes, no tutus. The dancers have to learn how and when to "put air about themselves" and when and how to step in, and when and how to step back. Only experience will teach these lessons.

Thank you for the lovely posting about Grace Ann Powers. I, too have followed her, though from afar. She did her early training at CPYB before moving to The Art of Classical Ballet School. We hear of her through her various performances. Thank you again. It sounds like it was a breathtaking eveing.

Does anyone else have any sources for timely news coverage? It seems unfair to ask exhausted family members to provide all the details (though many thanks to those who did!).