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It’s the last class of the spring semester, and Paige Cunningham Caldarella isn’t letting any of her advanced contemporary students off the hook. After leading them through a familiar Merce Cunningham–style warm-up, full of bounces, twists and curves, she’s thrown a tricky five-count across-the-floor phrase and a surprisingly floor-heavy adagio at the dancers. Now, near […]
Irene Dowd’s third-year students at The Juilliard School sound more like they’re in medical school than a dance class, citing complex kinesiology terms and muscle names, like multifidus and iliocostalis. But instead of memorizing the vocabulary with index cards and textbooks, the students in Dowd’s anatomy/kinesiology class come ready to move. “Motor-learning specialists have found […]
When Laszlo Berdo teaches men’s class at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, he sees some dancers who turn very well, but only to one side. “I have guys who can do triples in à la seconde on the right, but they can’t do a double pirouette or a single à la seconde to the left,” he […]
Start with a good preparation. Plié in fourth, keeping the hips square and the back knee straight. Arms are in fourth. Texas Ballet Theater School associate director Kathryn Warakomsky encourages students to keep their heels down and use the whole foot on the floor, rather than rolling forward on the arches or letting the front […]
Pavan Thimmaiah casually hovers in a freeze, his weight between his head and hands on the floor, legs extending out on an upward diagonal. From this topsy-turvy position, he encourages his students to try this breaking staple. “Take a picture and make it your Facebook profile,” he jokes. Self-taught Thimmaiah founded PMT Dance Studio in […]
Tammi Shamblin works magic with the boys of Ballet Tech in New York City. Here, she uses imagery to teach rond de jambe.
Derek Mitchell is on street jazz and contemporary faculty at Broadway Dance Center, where he grew up training under legends Frank Hatchett and Sheila Barker. Here, he teaches a street jazz pivot turn combination focusing on the importance of foot placement and spinal movement. Your […]
Your browser does not support the video tag. Juan Carlos Peñuela is the ballet master of Ballet Hispanico. Here, he teaches entrechat trois, emphasizing the beating of the legs en l’air by beginning in second position.
How I teach Cunningham technique The young students at the Complexions Contemporary Ballet summer intensive exchange uncomfortable glances when Banu Ogan walks into what, for most, is their first-ever class in Cunningham technique. “Please take off your ballet shoes,” she says, after eyeing their feet. As the group—a mix of comp kids and bunheads—begins pliés […]
How I Teach Ballet There is a black plastic folding chair sitting at the head of the studio, but it remains empty during most of Michael Vernon’s hour-and-a-half advanced class at Manhattan Youth Ballet. He’s walking among barres lined with dancers in black leotards, poking, nudging and calling out musical accents and corrections, only returning […]