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Balanchine the Teacher: Fundamentals That Shaped the First Generation of New York City Ballet Dancers
An invaluable resource for dance teachers everywhere
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2008
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December 20, 2015
This is a reference book. Being a glutton for punishment I started at the beginning determined to read to the end, but soon gave up this approach.
The book is divided into 2 parts. The first, by Barbara Walczak, is a collection of exercises from Balanchine's classes in the nineteen-fifties. The classes are partial but show Balanchine's methods. For instance, he favored giving many repetitions of battement tendu and other exercises.
The second part is written by Una Kai. This I read straight through. She classifies ballet movements by turning, jumping, rotary movements, or poses and then gives a detailed description of how Balanchine preferred the movement to be performed. The details are a rich source of information about his ideas on stylistic matters and learning dance at the American School of Ballet.
The authors quote Balanchine as stating, "When I go, it goes." They are interested in preserving his legacy, but I feel sympathy for Balanchine's perspective. He was not a sentimental man and he did not even preserve his own creations. He was a craftsman interested in solving movement problems. I think he would be skeptical of efforts that develop a new orthodoxy around his works. (Pet peeve)
The book is divided into 2 parts. The first, by Barbara Walczak, is a collection of exercises from Balanchine's classes in the nineteen-fifties. The classes are partial but show Balanchine's methods. For instance, he favored giving many repetitions of battement tendu and other exercises.
The second part is written by Una Kai. This I read straight through. She classifies ballet movements by turning, jumping, rotary movements, or poses and then gives a detailed description of how Balanchine preferred the movement to be performed. The details are a rich source of information about his ideas on stylistic matters and learning dance at the American School of Ballet.
The authors quote Balanchine as stating, "When I go, it goes." They are interested in preserving his legacy, but I feel sympathy for Balanchine's perspective. He was not a sentimental man and he did not even preserve his own creations. He was a craftsman interested in solving movement problems. I think he would be skeptical of efforts that develop a new orthodoxy around his works. (Pet peeve)
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review