Judy Chan - Exploring Ballet at the Movies!

Cineplex Odeon has been offering 'Sunday Ballet' movie experiences.  You can check out their schedule at http://www.cineplex.com/Events/DanceSeries.   

Judy Chan, Cecchetti Teacher, recently went to see one of these shows!  Here are her thoughts!

I watched ballet at the cinema on December 15, 2015.  It was a mixed bill with four short ballets by the Royal Ballet - Viscera, Afternoon of the Faun, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and Carmen.  For me, it was a lovely 3 hours well spent that afternoon!

There was brilliant dancing, wonderful choreography, fantastic performances, and true classicism at its best!    The company is strong and the dancers matched well with the ballets they were cast for and vice versa.   The danced with passion, precision, and poise.   Everything you hear about classical ballet from your teachers was all there.

Viscera by Liam Scarlette - This contemporary ballet piece is breath taking.  The intense sections and the sensual slow movement are an eye opener.

Afternoon of a Faun by Jerome Robbins - The choreography is amazing.   The way he uses mirror reflection is impressive, particularly since they are not dancing in front of the mirror.  This piece is simple, light, yet elegant in style. It was wonderfully danced by Sarah Lamb and Vadim Muntagirov.  It's just like dancing our Cecchetti port de bras and adagios.  There is so much of this, yet it's understated and beautiful.

Tchaikovsky pas de deux - This has the typical Tchaikovsky sparks and elegance.  Bravo to the technique of Iana Selenko and Steven McRae.  The last part where the Iana throws herself onto Steven and he caught her in mid air is breath-taking - Wow!

Last one, Carlos Acosta's Carmen.   This is a combination of ballet and opera; a dance-theatre mix.   Don Jose was danced by Carlos.   Carmen was danced by Marianela Nunez.   We all know the story.  The dancing was amazing - bravo!  That was Carlos's last performance before he retired from the Royal Ballet.   

At the end of the mixed bill 'show', after all the applause and presentations, Carlos thanked everybody in the Royal Ballet, all the Artistic Directors, his ballerinas, his wife, etc.   At the end of his speech, he said:   "I want to say something to the new generation of dancers.   My advice for you is, allow yourself the freedom to commit mistakes.  There is nothing like right or wrong, better or poor.   There is no such thing as failures because life is a learning process…...  Be curious and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy ……."

What an inspiration!!!

Jacques Bourgouin at the World of Highland Dancing Conference

Our teachers at Vimy and ESB come from a variety of backgrounds and experience.  Often we see them only in the role they fill at our school teaching ballet, jazz, tap, or other classes.  However, our teachers also do many other amazing things!  Jacques Bourgouin, for example, also has a strong presence in the Highland Dance World.  Recently he was in Las Vegas teaching at an international Highland Competition!

From Jacques . . . 

I was invited to teach at the World of Highland Dancing Conference being held in Vegas, Nevada back on the Thanksgiving long weekend in October 2015. This is my 3^rd time participating as a guest teacher, working with students and professional instructors. The conference is held approximately every 3 years and has been running since 1980.  The conference attracts Highland dance professionals and dancers from around the world including South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Scotland, England, Japan, United States and Canada.  This past October was the 13th conference held and 200 participants attended.  The primary focus of the conference is the understanding and development of a competitive Highland dancer.  There were multiple sessions included.  The sessions I taught were:

Developing Proper Body Alignment for Highland

I worked from the feet up and talked about weight placement on the feet and how it can affect the rest of the body’s alignment. Also addressed how the abs can control the placement of the pelvis and the rib cage. The use of the arms, shape and placement.

Exercises to improve and strengthen turnout  

In this session I co-taught with Nadiene Gibney from Toronto and who is also a Cecchetti Teacher. We worked on several exercises to help improve turnout, what muscle to use and strengthen the use of turnout.

Origins of the National Dances

In this session, I was asked to demonstrate the ballet steps that are used in the highland national dances. The purpose was to show how the ballet dancer dances the step with the use and control of the plie movement. How the steps have lost their quality and the need to bring back the quality and control of these steps to the national highland dances.

I also lead the daily morning warm up for the dancers.

Below is a testimonial of a participant:

"Thank you for putting on such an outstanding conference. I know I'll be using the information I picked up from it for a good long time.

I was especially inspired by Jacques and all he added to each of his sessions. I have a male ballet instructor here in Vermont, Chatch Pregger, who is also an inspiration but Jacques was clearly world class."

10 Life Lessons I Learned From My Dance Teacher

Lindsay White-Thornton one of our dance teachers (tap, jazz, and lyrical) at Vimy and ESB discovered this article and thought it worth sharing! This article is posted on the 'Retale Blog' and is written by K.M. Leismer.

10 Life Lessons I Learned From My Dance Teacher

Flexibility, self-discovery, and the importance of balance go beyond the studio.

Click here to read more!!!

Imagery in Dance

Dance teachers often use imagery to help their dancers visualize and understand more abstract comments.  This imagery is an integral part of training dancers - young and old.  One of our teachers - Ms. Tanya - has been using this important concept in her Cecchetti 3 ballet class to help with alignment and weight placement.  Ms. Tanya speaks to the girls about their 'mustaches' and how they need to 'align' themselves under their mustaches. 

"In our class we use the image of a mustache in a number of ways. For example, I tell them to hold their bottoms under their mustache (to avoid tucking the pelvis under) and not sticking out behind their head (to avoid a tipped pelvis). We use the image of a mustache in posé and posé coupé. For instance; 'Bring your mustache to your toe, not your toe to your mustache". We also use it in arabesque. "Don't dip your mustache in the milk" - to help keep their back lengthened and prevent them from releasing the back forward."

On Halloween, the girls all had the opportunity to 'sport' their mustaches and put the image into action!

Please read this excellent article on the use of imagery in dance by Lynnette Young Overby, Ph.D. and Jan Dunn, M.S. - The History and Research of Dance Imagery:  Implications for Teachers

Dance's Effects on the Human Body & Mind

By DEANNA CIPOLLA on September 19, 2013 1:30 AM

We all know that exercise has a major affect on the body. However, what we do not know is how specific art forms affect different aspects of our lives. More specifically, the art form of dance can not only stretch your flexibility, but increase your strength & health among many other things. In addition, dancing not only has a measurable affect on one's physical health, but also on one's mental health.

One major affect of dance on the human body is weight control. Depending on the specific type of dance, a dancer can lose a tremendous amount of weight. For example, the highest calorie burning form of dance is ballet. It is said that a ballerina can burn up to 432 calories per hour while engaging in this activity.

Dancing can also improve one's balance and coordination. Because dancing is a series of quickly paced melodic moves, a dancer must learn to center their core. Without the balance that is required to become a dancer, one would not have the necessary tools to successfully carry out all the twists & turns that are required of them. Coordination is also a predominant effect on the human body. Especially, in group & partnering dances, a dancer must be & will become equipped with the necessary tools to not only coordinate their body to do several different things at once, but will also learn how to control their partner's body at the same time.

Dancing improves posture due to the contracted muscle tissues surrounding the spine and also develops exceptionally good muscle tone surrounding the legs and glutes.

However, one thing that most people don't know is that dancing also has a psychological effect on the human body. Dancing is a type of exercise and every type of exercise releases endorphins in the brain. This will cause the dancer to experience happiness. Over a longer period time, dancing will condition the brain to be able to learn & pick up information more easily. In addition, a Dancer's skill of repeating will be sufficiently higher than a non-dancer, since they have been taught to do so their whole life.

Video Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y8g7HlCgwI