A couple of summers ago I went to a group of adult classes, which were packed. There were no other classes running, plus a wonderful and talented teacher was taking the class. So it wasn’t surprising that were at least 20 dancers keen to dance in a hot, sweaty studio on a weekday evening.
Among us dancers there was one girl I just couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was amazing! I had seen her at other open classes and she always stood out. There were countless other dancers, including those at vocational school and professional dancers, but she was in a league of her own.
It wasn’t that she was a soloist/principal at the Royal Ballet/English National/etc, or something. She didn’t have endless legs and/or look like a beanpole. In fact, she just looked like a slim, healthy young woman. But the way she moved was amazing and she said she was a dance teaacher. After seeing her I spent ages trying to emulate what she had.
There was another girl who used to go to my ballet school and who ended up going to vocational school. Obviously, she was talented and had the right body proportions. Everything was effortless for her. I envied how relaxed her body was, yet at the same time her work looked technically correct. While I wish my work looked that good, I didn’t want to be her. I wanted to dance like that other girl.
I find it interesting that she is the only dancer I’ve come across who I’ve wanted to emulate. What was it she had? It’s that special something, which can’t be taught no matter how talented you are. It’s also about having confidence too.
My contempory teacher talked about the same thing recently. He said so many dancers leave vocational school and can’t get work because they’re tecnhically correct in what they do, but emotionally dead. He told me this because he felt I was getting too hung up on being technically correct. It’s difficult to be more relaxed when you’re used to classical technique.
So I’d like to become ‘that girl’ I saw a couple of summers ago. You can’t really dance exactly like someone else because you’re an individual. But you can do your best to make sure you’re not being technically correct and emotionally dead in your work. You want to let the technique help you interpret the music. That’s what we should all strive for.
Tags: ballet opinions, dance class, dance opinions, how to dance better, secret to ballet success, talented dancers, technically correct emotionally dead, vocational ballet school
