I had my first beginner ballet class in Paris (and thank God I stuck to my instincts about going back to beginner ballet rather than trying beginner-intermediate, as there are still many basics that are mysterious to me – I began in my late 30’s!) As I had a great and productive time, I wanted to share some insights.
As an amateur, I don’t believe I am spilling any industry secrets by writing in this blog, but rather sharing some positives about various teachers and how ballet is taught.
First of all, the two teachers I’ve been with most often in New York City are Finis Jhung and Heather Hawke (beginner to beginner-intermediate), and they both provide some very smart training that is particular to different skill sets that are equally important for any dancer to begin to develop. Finis is great at helping beginners develop strength, which I’ve noticed many other beginner teachers don’t emphasize. His beginners go up on their metarsals and have to balance all their weight in this position fairly early in the barre exercises for every class. Most other teachers wait longer to have the students réléver (lift up). Heather Hawke is excellent at improving coordination, as she implements complicated footwork, often with a step or two additional to the type of footwork other teachers may require in warmups. So anyone (like me!) who has been uncoordinated for most of their lives can start to build the neural connections between their brain and feet necessary to moving in ways they never dared try.
In my first class at Paris Marais with a teacher named Nathalie Bochanek, I’ve already learned something important that for some reason, none of my previous teachers ever emphasized as clearly. I had always noticed when looking at pictures and videos that the feet have to be angled outward before doing a pirouette in a way that seems unnatural or even impossible, but always thought that just meant some people were more flexible or were trained to stand that way from the time they were young, and thus I shouldn’t attempt to. Nathalie was the first teacher who ever said, “Your feet have to be angled outward from each other in a way that does not feel comfortable; if it feels comfortable, you won’t be able to do it.” So at once, I tried to angle them outward in a more extreme way, and guess what? I automatically had the balance I needed to land correctly on a pirouette. It was that clear and that important, and it had been communicated in a way that I understood.
There were two other things that I want to make sure to remember, things other teachers have told me before, but that I wasn’t ready to pay attention to until now. One is that my feet need to be tucked in toward each other much more closely when I’m standing in fifth position. I’ve always known that I don’t keep my extremities as tightly in position as I should, but when Nathalie placed my ankles in the correct position with her hands, it was much clearer to me. The other thing was that I am flinging my arms outward too much when doing a pirouette when I should just be following the line of the curve that my arms are already in. The way she said it was something like, “Just move starting from where you already are…” This is something I’ve been told before, but I felt readier to absorb it this time.
The other thing is that I can sense how the entire culture of the place and of the school lends to the ease of communication and understanding toward the subject. It just feels very organic, and Nathalie’s personality and sense of humor have a very marked charm, diversity, and flow. Our barre stretching exercises were extremely fulfilling for me because she took us through very specific barre stretches fairly quickly, whereas most of my teachers in NYC just expect students to know how to use the barre to stretch (and I never do!) Finally, I wanted to say that the entire class moved together in a more communal way when we did floor exercises, sometimes even changing places or slightly jostling each other, which is something I tend to do in NYC, but I’ve found that in NYC, no one does that. People are extremely individualistic about their space, and to me, that feels a little unnatural. There is something very communal about dance, and I don’t see why people shouldn’t “move together,” or “switch places” or sometimes even brush past each other in ways that are very communal and free-flowing. So I feel kind of gratified in that it was more like that here!
(Disclaimer: I am not saying that any of my previous teachers should change anything they do. Everyone is good at different things, and it benefits students to try different classes and to experience different cultures.)
Ok, that’s all for today and I will probably keep writing these notes, partially to remind myself how to keep the correct positions.