In classic Balanchine style, this tank dress from Body Wrappers has clean lines and minimal fuss. The back is not too high or too low, and the attached skirt is just the right length for class or performance. Even the model here is sporting a Balanchine-esque pose.
Ideal for a variations or partnering class, this leo, P717, comes in four beautiful shades. Wear your bun high with this modern classic style and you’ll really be channeling the Balanchine ballerina.
The incredible husband and wife duo of Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev are two of the very best-loved Russian ballet dancers. Katia & Volodia reveals clips of their early training, rehearsals as pros, performance snippets and clips of them coaching younger dancers.
Partnered together as small children in ballet school, the leading pair were wed in 1961. Maximova passed away last year at the age of 70 and was survived by her husband. In March of this year, a gala was given in honor of Vasiliev for his 70th birthday.
Here are some lovely art photographs of a ballet student from North Carolina. Perhaps under Ethan Stiefel with NCSA?
You know I love my themes! Today is French method ballet, so it’s the perfect time to introduce La Danse, a very recent documentary about the Paris Opera Ballet.
This much anticipated film contains beautiful footage of the world-famous company, but be forewarned – it’s about two hours long and is a mix of both modern dance and ballet. Both are of the best quality, however, which makes this documentary worth the time – just have some snacks ready!
How about some simply gorgeous photos to inspire you before your next ballet class? Enjoy!
There are many different styles of ballet taught around the world. Each is usually named after its founder and that person’s country: Cecchetti for Italian ballet, for example. But what are the differences between them? Which one came first? Does it matter which one you are trained in? How can you choose which one is best for you? How can you figure out which one you’re currently training in?
The four most popular styles of ballet in the U.S. are:
Other popular styles include Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), Cuban method and Bournonville (Danish ballet). Each technique has its own special philosophy on what kinds of movements look best on the body and are best mechanically-speaking. The vocabularies can vary quite a bit as well. I’ll be posting soon to tell you more about what makes each style unique and what would make a dancer choose one technique over another.
You can usually figure out what technique you are being taught by simply reading the brochures or website of your school or asking your teacher. Especially in the U.S. however, ballet teachers may be trained in a mix of styles and end up teaching their students different things from different techniques. This can create confusion for the student, especially the student thinks she is being trained in only one technique.
It can be great for your versatility to explore different ballet styles, but only once you have reached a somewhat advanced level in your dancing. Doing so too early can confuse your muscle memory and your brain! Until you are ready, its usually best to find a teacher who articulates what technique is being taught and who specifies when you are presented with a step or vocabulary from a different style.
To keep with my theme today of professional track training, I thought it would be perfect to highlight the not-yet-released documentary TuTuMuch, which follows nine girls through the summer audition process of the revered Royal Winnipeg Ballet School.
Professional ballet schools can be very closed when it comes to their audition processes. For those of you who’ve never been through such an audition, TuTuMuch provides a revealing look at what happens behind the curtain. The vast majority of young dancers auditioning will not make it into the program, but those that do will be one step closer to making their dream a reality.
Ballet tights in an unflattering shade of pink are one of the CBT’s pet peeves! Choosing a pink that clashes with your pointe shoes or ballet shoes will shorten your lines and just look wrong.
Pinks can vary depending on the amount of blue and yellow in the dye formula. Generally, classical or ballet pink tights look best with the more salmon-y shoes, like Freeds and Capezios, while theatrical pink looks better with truer pinks and paler shoes, like Grishkos and Russian Pointes. You may need to purchase one shade to match your soft shoes and one for pointe.
Non-mesh tights are usually very soft and appear to be a pretty pale pink in the package, but they often look white, yellow or purple once their on. Mesh tights can be almost scratchy sometimes, but usually have better pinks. (Steer clear of Capezio #9 in classical pink, though, it’s famous among dancers for looking bright orange!) A backseam makes alignment checks easier and visually lengthens your lines dramatically.
One of the best ballet tights on the market currently is the Body Wrappers A45, a convertible mesh version with a backseam available in ballet pink and theatrical pink. Its designed to feel super soft against the skin so you’ll get the best of both fabric worlds, and you’ll look polished and professional.
Part of becoming a well-rounded ballet dancer is not only striving for versatility, but educating yourself on dance history and the great dancers that have come before you. For the latter, a visit to The Ballerina Gallery is a must.
A simple A-Z guide of some of the very best dancers that ever were and that are today, this online collection of biographies and photographs of great ballerinas is positively inspirational!
An essential for many aspiring dancers by high school, the dancer’s résumé can be a very intimidating project for a young student! Your first résumé is always the hardest one to write, but a little guidance is really all you need.
One of the very best beginner résumé guides for dancers is available for free online – just visit Your Dance Résumé. This guide was written ages ago, but the advice is timeless.
Remember, as a student your résumé is not expected to be long. In fact, it would be inappropriate for an entry-level dancer to have more than two pages; one page is preferred. Keep it neat and don’t embellish or fudge the facts. And don’t forget to keep updating it as you expand your experience and education!
Not every ballet student dreams of joining a company. Are you a versatile dancer that has dreams of dancing in music videos and commercials one day? Here are some solid tips for auditioning out west. Not surprisingly, your ballet training can prove more important than your hip-hop!
Few photographers hold a candle to the perspective that Kyle Froman takes on ballet, and that really shows in his pictorial book, In the Wings: Behind the Scenes at New York City Ballet. This book is a dream for any aspiring student of ballet.
As an NYCB corps de ballet member for thirteen years, Kyle has had all the access to and intimacy with the company that a most photographers could only hope for. Add to this a professional dancer’s perspective on the productions that take place each night, and In the Wings becomes a wonderful peek into Balanchine’s great creation and one of the highest quality professional ballet companies in the world, New York City Ballet.
Does your ballet class hairstyle stand up to the force of chaines and multiple pirouettes? Nothing screams “amateur” like hair and hairpins flying. Oh, the embarrassment of the undone bun! But with just a little effort, you can put those pedestrian days behind you.
I expect students to start doing their own hair for class by around age ten. It can take some time to learn how to master the technique on yourself, but not half as long as you might think – usually a few hours of practice is all it takes. Today, you’ll get the 411 from the CBT on how to master this essential skill for dancers.
The basic bun style begins with a ponytail at the crown of the head. This step has to be done correctly in order for the bun to take shape properly. Use a good brush to sweep the hair evenly and smoothly into the pony. Dampening the hair can make it more manageable. Secure it with an elastic that is not too bulky, which will get in the way of hairpins and cause bumps, nor too flimsy, in which case it will need too many wrap-arounds and may break easily. Try to find elastics that are close in color to your hair. Use a light spray of hairspray (Elnett is a favorite of celebrity stylists and is available in a travel size.) to sleeken your wispies, or wait until the bun is complete and use clips to take care of them. Once the pony is in place, brush the hair in the tail to re-smooth it. DO NOT to coil the hair into a bun and then try to wrap a scrunchie or elastic around the bun … Seriously, just don’t!
The next part is the where it all usually goes wrong – here’s where you twist the ponytail and start to coil it around its base. What makes or breaks this part is whether the bun is kept close to the head with one hand each time the tail is coiled. If you don’t use a hand to secure the bun against the head as its coiled, you’ll end up with a cone-shaped thing that sticks out and looks, well, absurd.
After one full coil is made around the ponytail base, start inserting hairpins horizontally from the outer edge of the coil into the base, every inch or so of the circumference. Make sure to grab a bit of bun hair with each pin and a bit of hair from the scalp beneath the bun. That’s what connects the bun to your head. If you don’t feel a bit of resistance, the hairpin is probably just sitting in the bun and is not connecting anything to anything. As with the elastics, try to find pins that are similar in color to your hair. I find that U-shaped pins work better than “bobby” pins.
When you reach end, tuck the tail in and secure with a hairpin. Remember to secure wispies with clips; clip your bangs too if your studio requires. Voilá, a respectable bun!
Many dancers opt to also wrap a super-fine hairnet, again matched to the hair, around the bun to lock in bun wispies. Hair spray may be all that is needed for some, though others find these steps to be overkill. Whether you choose to do these steps may depend on the culture of your studio and your personal preferences, but both are must-dos for performances and auditions.
The ballerina bun isn’t just one style, it has many variations depending on the height wear the bun is fixed and what is done with the surrounding hair. A bun that sits very high on the head is generally associated with Balanchine technique, and a bun that sits low is often associated with more old-school techniques and, if the surrounding hair covers the ears a bit, with romantic-era ballets.
Once you’ve mastered the basic technique, play around with different configurations to find the style that suits you best. It’s a commonly held belief that the high bun is preferred for auditions, but the truth is that what’s best for auditions is dependant on what style the company or school is and what you feel most comfortable in. For class, its fun to experiment by adding a braid to your hairline, inverting the pony, braiding the pony or accessorizing with ribbons or flowers. There are tons of options out there – go have fun with your bun!
A Young Dancer’s Apprenticeship is the fascinating story of Olympia Dowd, a very young ballerina who was selected out of a small summer program to apprentice with the Moscow City Ballet. Ms. Dowd was a true prodigy, with technique and artistry far beyond her years. Her exceptional talent comes alive in beautiful color photographs throughout this book.
The life of a student is very different from life as a professional with a touring company. If you are interested in becoming a professional ballet dancer or just enjoy reading about what that world is like, this book is the perfect choice for you.
I’ll never forget my first ballet class away from home, standing at a barre in the middle of a huge ballroom with strips of marley duct-taped over red and blue carpeting. I’ll also never forget the sheer relief of realizing that the master class teacher’s annoyed comments after the first exercise were not directed to me, but to the dancer next to me who had been yanking her leo up in the front and down in the back incessantly. “Tell your mother to buy you a leotard that fits before you come to another class,” he said with complete seriousness. “If you have to pull it up and pull it down all the time, it doesn’t fit you!”
It had never occurred to me that adjusting a leotard was noticeable, let alone that it could turn into enough of a distraction for a teacher to ban it! We’ve all had That Leotard though … The one that you know will look totally gorgeous, if you can just have another sec to situate it just right …
Just like in street clothes, different cuts are made for different shapes. If you have a leo in your closet that bugs you no end, ask yourself why you are bothering with it? Endless tugging and yanking and wedgie picking – that’s right, I said it! – isn’t only a distraction to your own concentration, it’s annoying to your teachers and can make you seem unprepared and unprofessional. Um, not worth it!
Rest assured, the issue has nothing to do with you or your body. It has everything to do with one simple fact. Are you ready for this revelation?
People come in different shapes!
Shocking, I know. My longer torso was the cause of all my leotard tugging. Certain brands and cuts will never sit right on me – but others look simply fabulous!
Teacher annoyance aside, if you aren’t comfortable in your dance gear, you can’t put your all into your training. Don’t waste your time fussing with an awkward leo. Next time you’re shopping for dance clothes, try on as many different cuts, brands and fabrics as possible until you find what combinations look and feel great – so you can stop thinking about your gear and just focus on your dancing.
BalletScoop 