Honolulu Classical Ballet started a summer evening open class and I checked it out--it was tall and ancient me plus five girls who haven’t hit puberty yet! (they are all really good). I loved that they all practiced every correction given to every person. I felt kind of awkward since I am like half a foot taller than all of them but wasn’t I just walking past the studio on 8th Ave wondering if I could join the teenager’s advanced classes? Bonus points for the teacher being my favorite sparkly man teacher. Imagine a jolly bald ballet professor with beautiful turnout splashing out synonyms and tugging the class along with anecdotes, jokes, idioms and all kinds of fun! I wish I could write down every correction and little speech he gives in between exercises. Here are some things I remember or need to do and things I loved about the class:
For Grande Allegro, he demonstrated a thing and said “rond de jamb.” I was like, “So, is the feeling like a fan kick?” “Actually it is exactly like a fan kick!” OMG I always loved fan kicks in jazz and they are sooo not classical ballet but it was so fun to do paired with balance’ (perhaps my favorite ballet step), rotate, do it again!
Hang your spine like a classroom skeleton. Stack all the bones. Everything else goes DOWN. But the hook in your head is hanging your bones like a model skeleton! (yesterday in rehearsal I told my dancers to hang themselves like Christmas Ornaments :))
Turn out working leg in coupe
As I always say, be ready already, so you don’t have to get ready when it’s too late! (for balancing).
You can do tendus on the music and be correct. Or you can use your punctuation! Is there anything between a period and an exclamation point? No? That’s silly. You either just end yoru sentence or you SHOUT!? This exercise is between a period and an exclamation mark.
For a slow tendus and the plie sandwiched by them: The plie is looking chintzy. Do you know what chintzy is? Chintzy is when you pay $5 and they give you a sample scoop of ice cream. I want the whole luscious scoop of ice cream! Your plie should not be like a period. Your plie should be like a comma or an ellipsis. And luscious! Juicy! Generous! (I thought he was going to say lascivious but he didn’t) Delicious! Oops that’s a food word. Luscious! And begin.
Every tendu and rond de jamb a tierre you want to dig a trench in the sand with your toe.
4th Arabesque Elonge’ should be your faaaavorite favorite because you get to twist and show your back!
For petite allegro, the feet should be like waves not like stiff static.
Grand port de bras needs to start down front! That is the best most laziest most easiest most dramatic part!
He assigns all these pretty and unusual arms that are almost contemporary. Like jugglers pulling tissues. And these walking tendus in plie that were like Balanchine when we got to extend our hips to elongate our legs. And pirouettes in a la seconde. (oh wow I just googled “alicicon” and got no results before I realized I knew how to spell it..I am like an uneducated French ballet baby!)
#DanceTeacherGoals
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