ABSTRACT

How do teachers create a classroom environment that promotes collaborative and inquiry-based approaches to learning ballet? How do teachers impart the stylistic qualities of ballet while also supporting each dancer’s artistic instincts and development of a personal style? How does ballet technique education develop the versatility and creativity needed in the contemporary dance environment?

Creative Ballet Teaching draws on the fields of Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis (L/BMA), dance pedagogy, and somatic education to explore these questions. Sample lesson plans, class exercises, movement explorations, and journal writing activities specifically designed for teachers bring these ideas into the studio and classroom. A complementary online manual, Creative Ballet Learning, provides students with tools for technical and artistic development, self-assessment, and reflection.

Offering a practical, exciting approach, Creative Ballet Teaching is a must-read for those teaching and learning ballet.

chapter |12 pages

Introduction

part I|102 pages

Rethinking creativity, community, and technique in the ballet classroom

chapter 1|19 pages

Drawing inspiration from creative movement

Teaching and planning from movement concepts

chapter 2|26 pages

Drawing inspiration from creative movement

Developing body knowledge and improvisation skills

chapter 3|20 pages

Drawing inspiration from dance teachers

Teaching students how to use your “tools”

chapter 4|16 pages

Drawing inspiration from dance students

Learning from peers

chapter 5|19 pages

Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis

A tool for facilitating creativity, community, and technique 1

part II|67 pages

Improving balance and motion

chapter 6|21 pages

Discovering the three-dimensional body

Shape Flow Support and Shape Qualities 1

chapter 7|25 pages

Balancing three-dimensionally

Spatial Intent and Countertensions

chapter 8|19 pages

Moving three-dimensionally

Traceforms and Kinesphere

part III|81 pages

Deeping dynamism

chapter 9|11 pages

The dynamic palette

Introduction to Effort

chapter 10|16 pages

Fluidity

Free and Bound Flow

chapter 11|14 pages

Varying intensity

Strong and Light Weight

chapter 12|14 pages

Rhythmical nuance

Sudden and Sustained Time

chapter 13|16 pages

Attentive movement

Direct and Indirect Space

chapter 14|8 pages

Playing with the Effort palette