The Importance of Ballet Technique for Dancers

Ballet Student at Barre (photo by Bruce Peter Photography)

I still have my mind a little on my previous post about "Dance Moms."  One of the things that bothers me is that the moms are convinced this woman will make their daughters "stars."  Yet all I see in the show is the girls practicing routines for competition after competition.  When are they learning technique?  To become a professional dancer (yet alone a star) takes a tremendous amount of training that is learned in the classroom not in rehearsal.  Performance is an important element and it teaches its own things, but technique is the foundation of everything.  And whether you want to be a jazz dancer or a tap dancer, on Broadway or the ballet stage, ballet training is what separates the wheat from the chaff.  Ballet training is the foundation for professional dancers.  In talking to Nan Giordano, the Artistic Director of Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago (one of the preeminent professional Jazz companies in the world), she told me that when she holds auditions for her company she will not even look at a dancer's jazz dance until they first audition in ballet and pointe.  She does most of her cuts in the ballet class and only those with the strongest ballet technique go onto the next round of auditions and get to show her what they can do in jazz dance.  Quite simply, if you don't have excellent ballet training, she doesn't want you in the company.

How does one get that kind of ballet training?  It isn't by taking one or two ballet classes per week.  Most dancers who aspire (and succeed!) to become professional begin taking ballet by the age of 7 or 8 (many start earlier, but it isn't necessary since real ballet training doesn't begin until about 7 anyway).  At the ages of 7 or 8 they take one class per week, then they progress to two.  By the age of 11 they are probably taking three classes, and it progresses from there as they get older, until they are dancing from 5 to 7 days per week, often taking more classes than just ballet (pas de deux, pointe, variations, modern, jazz, pilates, character dance etc).  In addition, ballet training doesn't just happen by repetition.  When I was younger, I used to think that somehow if you did enough developpes and grand battements that eventually you would turn into a great dancer!  How wrong I was!  Repeating something incorrectly only teaches you how to do it incorrectly and isn't going to produce a professional dancer.  It matters what quality of training you get.

Dancers who are serious about becoming professional find a school that is on par with the schools associated with professional ballet companies.   Something I often hear moms say is "well she's just taking it for fun so it doesn't matter."   Here is the thing, with dance you have to start young.  Do we ever know what a 5 year old is going to end up wanting to be?  If you wait until she's 16 and has decided she wants to be a professional dancer, it will be too late to go back and undo her lack of training up until that point.  If on the other hand, she decides she doesn't want to be a professional dancer, so she's had the best training available which has also, incidentally protected her from injury, which poor training can cause.    For the same reason, whenever a child enrolls in dance it is best to always include ballet classes and only include other types of dance as extras.

Ballet is the foundation of technique for everything else.  If a child chooses to major in dance at school or wants to audition for a part in a performance, do competitions, audition for companies they will have the edge if their ballet training is good.   That is what upsets me about places like that portrayed on "Dance Moms."  The kids have all the heart and dedication and quite a bit of talent that could take them far if they were in the right place with a good teacher.  But I feel they are being sold a bill of goods to think that  doing competition routine after competition routine with a teacher who doesn't put the health and safety of her students first will turn them into stars.  Technique, training, hard work and talent is what makes stars.

Real Elite Competitive Dance versus "Dance Moms" Reality Show

A dance teacher friend of mine said to me "Did you watch Dance Moms?"  Did I watch what?  She explained to me that there was a new reality show about to air about dance moms.  I hadn't heard of it, but I was curious, having to deal with dance moms myself from time to time ;)  So I watched it.  Once.  That was enough!  Reality?  I'm not sure whose version of reality this is, but I'm thankful to say that in the 36 years I've been dancing, I have never encountered anything remotely like it.  Is the dance world tough at times?  Yup.  But most often the dancers are harder on themselves than their teachers.  Elite athletes all over the world are the way they are because they push themselves to perfection.  When I have had teachers who were tough, it was a tough love kind of thing.  I knew they cared about my dancing and that if they didn't believe in me they wouldn't bother to correct me.  Most dancers actually want to be corrected and hate not to receive any correction- how else do we improve?  (I came across a nice blog about someone reminiscing about their ballet teacher.  This is more the relationship most dance teachers and students have.)

But what I saw on that reality show made me shake my head.  The odd thing too about it to me, is that the parents are taking the kids there because they believe the woman will make their children "a star."  Yet, the type of competitions the kids are competing in are recreational competitions- they aren't the elite pre-professional and professional international competitions of the dance world, such as Youth America Grand Prix, Prix de Lausanne, Varna, Jackson International Ballet Competition etc.   The winners of these competitions do become stars- they are offered contracts at major ballet companies and usually the medalists become soloists and principal dancers in the best ballet companies in the world- making them the top dancers in the world.   The difference in level and technique between competitions like these and that portrayed on the show is night and day.  It amazes me that the girls are being treated like that when it's not even a high caliber competition, and it's not going to make them "stars."  If you want to see what a real elite level competition is like watch one of the videos below.  No where will you see anything like what is on "Dance Moms."

Free Boston Ballet Performance!

OK so this isn't really a blog post per se, but I thought I would pass along the information!  If you've never had the chance to see ballet live, here is an opportunity to see Boston Ballet for FREE!  They will be performing excerpts from Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Nutcracker at the Hatch Shell on August 31st.   It's a wonderful opportunity to expose your children to the art without the expense of tickets and a great chance to see some of the best dancers in the world!


https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=229204380448295

The Pointe Shoe

Photo of my pointe shoes, taken  by Bruce Peter Photography

When people think of ballerinas they think of them dancing "on their toes" or what is called in the ballet world as "sur les pointes."  To be able to do this takes many years of training.   Young children are not allowed to wear pointe shoes because their bones are soft cartilage while they are young and can be damaged by pointe work.  Once they enter their pre-adolescent and teen years, the bones begin to ossify and if they also have developed sufficient technique and strength they may be allowed to start studying pointe.  Among the factors that will be looked at is whether they have sufficient technique to maintain their placement and correct body alignment while en pointe.  They need to have very strong back, abdominal and thigh muscles to correctly hold their body placement.  They also have to have strong foot, ankle, and leg muscles to help to keep the joints safely aligned and to pull the dancer's weight out of the shoe.  The shoe is designed to be quite hard and supportive however it is not supposed to do all of the work for the dancer.  Allowing all the weight to fall on the shoes places too much weight on the delicate foot bones and joints.  A dancer uses her muscles to help support herself in the shoe.

In the early days of  pointe work, there was no special shoe and dancers had only their physical strength to support themselves on their toes.  Geneviève Gosselin  is thought to have danced en pointe in 1815 and  Fanny Bias appears to be en pointe in prints dated 1821.  However, these early attempts to dance en pointe  involved little more than briefly posing on the tips of the toes.  Marie Taglioni in 1832 was the first dancer to really dance en pointe and to use it artistically as part of the choreography.  Marie's father trained her for hours every day and she debuted in Paris in 1832 in  La Sylphide  in which she astonished theatre goers with her ability to stay en pointe and to appear as though she floated above the stage like the fairy that she portrayed. The shoes worn by Taglioni were not like today's pointe shoe. There was no stiffened box to support her toes. Instead she darned her shoes along the sides and around the toe to keep the slipper in shape and to give her extra support.

Today, the pointe shoe is made with a process similar to papier-mâché.   However instead of paper and glue, the pointe shoe is made of fabric and glue.  It has a leather sole with some layers of cardboard and a shank to give support under the foot.  The fabric is formed around a "last" and pleated under the toe.  Great care is taken to make the "platform" of the shoe- the tip of the toe where the dancer stands- as flat as possible in order to assist with balance.  It is also important that the bottom of the shoe lays flat so that it doesn't rock when the ballerina balances on a flat foot.  The shoe is made in many sizes and widths and also has to include other variables such as the length of the "vamp"- the part of the shoe that covers the toes.  Some dancers have long toes and some have short toes.  Where the vamp falls depends on the dancers toes and how high her arch is among other things.  Dancers also have different preferences in how the heel fits.  It is important that as they dance, the heel doesn't slip off their foot, causing them to lose a shoe in the middle of performing, which can be dangerous.  Because of all these variables, many professional dancers will have their shoes custom made.

 It can take a long time to find the right shoe.  It isn't only about the fit of the shoe, but how it moves with your foot.  In addition, once a dancer finds a shoe she wants  she prepares it to her own specifications.  First the elastic and ribbons have to be sewn on, as pointe shoes do not come with this pre-done.  Then dancers have many different things they do, most of which looks like they are taking a new shoe and destroying it!   They bang it to soften it a bit and get the noise out, they may take out some of the nails from the shank so that it conforms better to their arch, they may cut out part of the shank, they sometimes snip the satin off the tip of the shoe to make it less slippery.  Sometimes they also darn around the tip to help give them more traction and balance.  Some dancers use a rasp on the bottom of the shoe to give more traction and  pare down the sides of the sole to make it flatter for balance.  When the shoes begin to soften too much, they may pour glue or floor wax into the shoe to reharden it.  On average a professional dancer goes through a pair of shoes per performance.  With shoes costing between $60 and $90 per pair, pointe shoes are quite an expensive proposition.  Luckily for dancers, they usually receive pointe shoes as part of their company contract.

To see more about pointe shoes check out the videos listed below on You Tube:

How Pointe Shoes are Made

Dancers about Pointe Shoes

Requirements for Starting Pointe

  

The Three T's of Dance

Ballet is a beautiful but demanding art form.  I have found that it takes three things to produce a professional dancer:  natural talent, years of dedicated study with a reputable professional ballet program, and a tremendous amount of dedication and perseverance.  Without any one of these pieces, often a dancer will not succeed.  Ballet is an extremely competitive field and it takes a lot to get the edge to make it.  Simply having talent is no good unless the technique is studied and mastered to allow the talent to shine through.  Learning technique will only go so far, without the talent to bring it to a higher level.  And having both talent and technique still requires the determination to make one’s own opportunities, to seek out the classes one needs, to be involved in performances, and to market oneself.   Sometimes I have had students who were extremely talented and they often didn't make it as far as the student who wasn't quite as gifted but worked extremely hard.  It's almost like they are too used to everything coming easily and don't go the extra mile to push themselves.  In some ways those who are given a little less natural ballet ability are given the blessing of learning to work hard, which can take one a lot further in the ballet world.   I noticed in the April/May issue of Pointe Magazine that Johan Kobburg of the Royal Ballet feels it was his hard work and determination that got him where he is rather than talent.   Talent only takes one so far, but one has to put oneself where one will be seen, create opportunities, find ways to learn more and challenge oneself, and do quite a bit of self promoting.

Self promotion is often neglected, but can make the difference in getting noticed and getting that next coveted role.  Nowadays, savvy dancers network and find ways to make their name stand out from the crowd.  Appearing in a publication such as Dance Magazine has often done much to boost a young ballerina’s status in a company.  Some dancers have become involved with photographic projects featuring dancers which has brought them into the spotlight.  Auditions for Summer Dance Intensives, Dance Companies, and Dance Schools often require a headshot and a photo in a dance pose, such as first arabesque.  Always check the requirements for each audition you are going to well in advance so that you have a chance to get your photos done.  Many dancers simply hand a point and shoot camera to a friend while they are in the studio and get them to snap a couple of photos.  These type of photographs can turn out grainy, badly lit, blurry and do not always catch you in your best pose. Naturally, you will be judged on your dancing, but in a close decision, it is often the little things that make a difference.   In a field as competitive as dance, any edge you can get is worth having.

So, in dance, remember it takes three T’s:  Talent, Technique, and Tenacity.  You can’t rely on just one of these elements but need them to work in concert with one another.  If you have talent, do everything you can to get the best training in technique, and do everything you can to give yourself the edge.

Professional audition photo of a student in 1st arabesque by BrucePeter Photography

Professional headshot taken for a student's audition by Bruce Peter Photography