Hey Dancers,
As you can see, ballet is taught in very different ways. Each teacher will offer instruction in the ways that they were taught and they will teach the movements that they like. Catherine and David are very different teachers and dancers. Catherine has years of experience, while David is beginning his career. What did you learn this week from these very different teachers?
Louis
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The two teachers were most definitely different! I felt Katharine was more traditional in her teachings and adhering to the more traditional ballet movements, while David incorporated some more modern pieces and techniques. Both were very good about doing an exercise, giving us something to think about and then letting us practice that and retry again.
Katharine helped out a lot on our ront de jambe footing, making sure we are leading with our toe and pulling in with our heel, and David helped us with our second position arms. While these are both things we have gone over in class multiple times, it was interesting and helpful to hear it from another perspective.
Unfortunately, I checked my email before the "class uncancelled" email came through, therefore I have no comments about Catherine.
As for David, I really like the comment about arms in second and the exercise we did with our rib cages.
When doing the revolving spheres exercise, I really felt the engery up my back and not so much in my ribs.
When we did the exercise with David regarding our rib cages, I totally felt it in the front of the rib cage! But.. though my rib cage felt way closer to correct than I've ever felt before, my shoulders felt incorrect....?... Opening my rib cage is a constant problem for me, so that's why it struck me as a great exercise cause I could feel the difference.
As for arms in second, my previous teacher taught me the roll the upper arm forward and the lower arm up thing before, and you can really feel the difference in how you place your arms... I think its great and makes a huge difference, but knowing that, the next task is to execute what I've learned as much as possible now...
Katrina Hamilton:
More than anything I appreciated when David had us repeat an excercise focusing on our arms, but rather than simply say, "Focus on your arms" he said, "We won't worry about the feet, I'm not even looking at your feet." If he hadn't said that I honestly don't think I would have been able to concentrate on my arms so well. And you know what, even though I wasn't paying attention, I didn't mess up my feet at all!
As for Cathrine, I appreciated the manner in which she gave feedback and the unique ways we worked on our balance.
Katherine's style of teaching was more traditional ballet which I have to admit I prefer. She had some interesting combinations and I learned a new step which unfortunately I can't recall the name of :P, started with a ronde jambe. Her corrections were quite helpful as well. With David's class I felt more frustrated than anything, he is probably a fine teacher, but his style and suggestions didn't really work for me personally... for example using the moving balls is much more effective on my posture than pulling up the rib cage.
Unfortunately I didn't see the class uncancelled message early enough, so I missed Wednesday's class.
David teaches very modern ballet. He made us concentrate on the precision of ballet postures by adding some less traditional movements in the combinations, in between which we still needed to get back to the traditional ballet movements we were learning.
Imagining rolling the upper arm forward and lower arm up was nice, it helped me feel the correct alignment of my arms.
What I liked about Catherine is that she was very technical. She taught us some movements that were seemingly simple but she focused our attention on the tiny details of the movements. She said something like, through precision she finds freedom. That really stuck with me.
I really liked how David had us doing a lot of different types of movement--almost like a hybrid ballet/modern class. Well, more like a ballet+ class. His combinations were so fun also.
The most helpful thing I learned from Catherine was how to think of keeping your feet turned out when doing a ronde de jambe. When you are bringing your foot back, think of the toes leading. When you are bringing your foot forward think of the heel leading.
With David, I think what he said about arms really helped me, as he told us to think of the forearm (elbow to wrist) rotating inward while the upper arm (elbow to shoulder) rotating outward, in order to find strong second position arms.
As for the two teachers, I enjoyed both of their instructions, but Catherine showed us plenty of things I hadn't seen before and combined them together, while David had us doing barwork and floorwork that was mostly familiar to me already.
I really enjoyed Catherine's class. I find that one of the things I enjoy the most about ballet is the precision and control that you can aim for. It can certainly be difficult and tedious, but once you have mastered or vastly improved a skill where you once had problems, the feeling is just amazing. Her class did not have much in the way of modern elements, which helped me to focus more completely on what exactly I was doing. It was focused and calm, which made it easier to concentrate on form and the smaller aspects of movements.
Like many other people, I appreciated her explanation of how to maintain proper feet in ronde jambe's. That kind of technical and specific feedback really makes me happy.
Nicole Boutillier
I too miss the uncancelled class message and therefore missed out on Catherine's class. :(
As for David's class, I enjoyed the modern ballet aspect. That made it fun. He also really worked on the second position arm and the placement and strength of arms as well, which I really appreciated. He showed me a new way to hold my arms in second position and this was completely new to me. So that was really helpful.
I unfortunately missed Catherine's class. However, David's style is one that is easy to learn from. I like the simple combinations he presents and can learn a lesson from each one. I loved the rib position exercise with David because it made me more aware of both holding my rib cage in place and stretching my body up wards at the same time. Further, the modern techniques he incorporated in the combinations were a good way to hep us think about different types of movement in one exercise.
From Sophie
Though I couldn't make it to David's class, I believe he taught us few weeks ago. I loved their ways of teaching the same subject: dance. Catherine had routine and style of the original ballet, which I really enjoyed. She also taught us a lot of different techniques and the knowledge of each movement. She even told us that she wants us to learn the basic knowledge and understanding of the movements (such as rond de jambe) and all not just the physical movement. I think the explanation of the movements helped me a lot because I would think about what she said and put in into an action. I also enjoyed David's style of teaching. I've noticed that he puts a hint of modern moves into our routines which I really enjoyed. Through his class, I also learned different ways of approaching the movements.
The differeance between the teaching styles of david and katharine is very different. Katharine said that for her fun is found in discipline. That is clear from her teaching. She taught with an emphasis of getting the movements perfect. When she retaught the class pique turns she empasised getting them as perfect as possible...first time that i actually made it all the way across the floor doing pique turns correctly! It felt great! She also empasised leading with the toe or the heel while doing rond de jambe which also increased my excitment about class that day.
With David, although I only had him for one of the classes he taught, his ballet teaching is more free flowing. taking movements from modern, keeping a relaxed atmosphere, expanding on the movements we already knew and increasing the range in which to use them. And where Katharine finds fun in the discipline of ballet, david seems finds the fun in the act of moving in ballet.
Catherine was great. I really enjoyed the way she taught us combinations. They were repetitive, so after you understood the combination it was really easy to focus on how you are doing the movements verse how you are doing the combination. It was nice because it was less stressfull while I was doing the same/more work.
I also liked Davids class for different reasons. I really enjoy the way he starts class, it really helps me focus in on ballet when I start doing simple body movements.
I didn't get the class is un-canceled email in time, so I didn't have a chance to work with Catherine this quarter. As for David, what most struck me was (and I've noticed that other people have mentioned this) his tips for arm positions. Thinking about my upper arms rolling forwards while the forearms roll backwards (I think that was it...I am doing weird things with my arms in my living room and my cat is giving me judgmental looks). In any case, it gave me a great sense of lengthening and it actually felt like a nice stretch. That was very helpful. I also enjoyed his mingling of modern and ballet, I always enjoy that combination..
Catherine was very forward and clear in her direction. She Communitcated constantly with us and I felt like I understood what we were doing the whole time. She told us how ballet gave a basic strucutre for strengthing the body to build technique upon. She deffinatly taught more traditional technique and combinations.
David's class was more mellow, laid back, and a bit like your class Louis. He had us do push-ups inbetween exercises and promoted a less serious/more fun attitude. Both were fun to take class from and saw different things in my technique that needed to be corrected!
The two teachers are totally different. Katharine's class was very organized, and she clearly showed us what we are going to do now and told us what we need to focus on for the movements. Also, because she danced in the center while we are dancing, it helped me to be on the right truck. The class was very condense, but after the class, I felt very very good. She told me that the most important thing for a beginner dancer is building a basic body in order to dance properly and well-balanced. It was such a meaningful time for me.
On the other hand, David's class was very fun and more enjoyable.
And the one point he pointed out about the arm position is very helpful. Now when I dancing, I use his method. It works very well.
Anyway, I missed your class so much. I am glad to have you back... but I am sick now...
i am so sad to have missed both of these classes. i do remember catherine teaching us some pretty advanced and precise moves when she subbed for jamie hall last quarter, and she was awesome. i like the discipline of ballet, and as someone who is kind of lazy it really helps to have someone to remind me. (but i'd really miss the crazy things louis has us do, ESPECIALLY the vocalizations)
i remember teachers in the past teaching to lead with the heel but that is not something i have thought specifically of in a while! it will be good to have that in mind when i do the rond de jambe in the future. also, i'm not sure i'd heard the thing with the arms now, i am practicing and i'm finding that it's something i would like to incorporate into my port des bras since my arms haven't been getting enough workout and i remember a teacher who had us do almost sadistic lengths of arm exercises that left my arms aching and eventually quite strong.
Hey Louis,
I would comment but I couldn't. I was not there for these two classes.
Sorry...
Oscar Milano MAI
I missed the email for the class uncancelled so I didn't make it to that class. With David's teaching style I thought him to be more concerned with our posture. Which was nice to have it totally corrected for dance, I finally felt tall. Although I thought that his warm ups and his teaching style went very fast and I felt as though I was always having to try to play catch up with him.
I think that it's hard as a teacher to come in on a class that they aren't really familiar with and try and teach things without messing up what another teacher has already taught. I thought that Catherine and David both did a really good job as far as judging our abilities and building upon what you've been teaching us so far this quarter. The classes with David had a very similar atmosphere to the ones that you teach. He's young and doesn't have quite the same presence that you do, but it was laid back with a bit of modern thrown in, and he had some good alternate explanations that I think really helped clear some things up for people.
Catherine's class was definitely more what I'm used to. Like Joanne said, the repetition and seeming simplicity of the exercises really helped me focus on my technique (seeing as how this is a technique class and all) instead of being frustrated that I just can't get a tendu combination.
I think that, as dancers, it's really good for us to experience multiple teachers. When I started dancing, I really only had one teacher for quite awhile who had a very specific teaching style. This made it very difficult for me to pick up on exercises and perform well when I started having other teachers who didn't conduct their classes exactly the same way.
It was fun dancing with David and Catherine, but they're sure not Louis Gervais!
I thought David's method of teaching ballet was really interesting. He seemed to incorporate some modern dance into ballet because some of the steps he taught us were not traditional ballet moves. In having us do those steps, it was interesting to see the contrasts and similarities between what might be considered more traditional ballet or modern. I also really liked that he had us focus on our arms and hip positions. In doing this, he helped us work out some very basic but fundamental areas of ballet form.
It's always interesting to be taught the same subject by different teachers. I especially enjoyed Catherine's class, I think because it tended more toward the classes that I took at my studio at home with her emphasis on self discipline. I appreciated seeing her point of view on the breakdown of some basic movements, like tendus and rondes de jambe.
From David's class, I liked his emphasis on getting the right port de bras. I did find some of the extras that he added into the combinations distracting. I was thinking too much about the modern to get the ballet right. I guess it's good practice though for learning to turn it on and off, which is a good skill to have. I've seen ballerina's trying to pull off hip hop, and it just can't be done without letting go of a lot of ballet.
I enjoyed learning from both dancers. It is nice to have a different approach and take to the dance steps because it gives me more ideas to draw from. David seems to enjoy full choreographed dances but did a lot of prep work at the bar. Practice at the bar is good... Katharine is amazing and tall and she talks to the class like she really cares and knows what she is talking about. It was awesome that she introduced the idea of lifting with your standing leg in order to keep the other leg as long and straight as possible. She also introduced contra ton (don't know how to spell it.) That was difficult for me to grasp at first and she took the time to make sure I understood how to do it which was very helpful.
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