Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Ballet class combinations



It seems to me a lot of people are looking for content online nowadays, and just about everything is available if you know where to look.  I decided that since I spent a lot of time jotting down combinations from ballet classes that I either took or taught, it would be nice if others had a chance to get some use from them, too.  

This is a photo of me and my partner, David Woods, at the University of Arizona in 1991 doing the Black Swan Pas de Deux which I used as part of my MFA project.  I wanted to show how the female dancer can push her dancing beyond mere steps by portraying different female characters.  In addition to Black Swan, I also danced the bedroom pas de deux scene from Romeo and Juliet and performed a modern solo choreographed by Dr. John Wilson titled "Sprite".

There are combinations for all levels of ballet and pointe classes, and for both barre and center.  I've started to compile these into a book that will be available for purchase one day, but I'm considering the best way to do that.  Ideally it would be a piece of software.  You'd enter in the grade level or age of students and maybe a few types of techniques or steps you want to base the class on (such as working on attitude, attitude prominade, attitude en tournant, renverse, etc.).

For now I will just begin by posting some combinations and would love to know if anyone thinks this is of benefit to them.  :)