Susan LucasI sometimes come across people who express surprise when I say that I choose to teach ballet with reference to the principles of the Cecchetti Method of classical ballet. Often the Method is completely unknown to them. Indeed, the Cecchetti Society is relatively small and even in the UK, the Method is only practiced in certain schools. It is certainly not promoted in the way other ballet training syllabi are. They ask me why Cecchetti? There is a perception that this traditional method is in some way not relevant or helpful in the training of today’s young dancers. On this point, I definitely disagree! I have taught in many different educational settings over the years – both vocational, at degree level and in the more recreational environment – and in each situation I have been asked to teach a different training system. I have, therefore, a good overview of the differences and outcomes and have a good understanding of the value of many systems of training.
These questions have led me to reflect on why I value the Cecchetti training and why I choose to train dancers to understand and practice the principles of this Method over any other.
For me there are two important aspects to Cecchetti’s work:
Firstly, there is what Ninette De Valois and Molly Lake describe as the “essence” of his work. Cecchetti created an unmistakable and beautifully exquisite style that is rarely seen on today’s dancers. I love this essence and it gave me great joy to dance, and now, to teach it. The Method teaches a beautiful and detailed quality of movement – an easy flowing coordination of body, head, arms and legs which allow the dancers to fall organically into movements and rhythms that, to me, make up dance quality – something that I see evaporating from today’s dancers.
My contemporary pupils liken the use of gravity and natural body weight to Cunningham’s work….so, definitely not heritage! It empowers the students to develop a highly individual and personal style. They learn how to feel the music, make the music visible, how to phrase using highlights in their movements, how to be vital and compelling and never stop communicating with their audience. Technique should only ever be a servant to dance; it has no value in itself and technical skills need to be subjected to the rhythm and movement of dance.
Secondly, and alongside all of the more usually taught technical skills and ballet terminology, which, of course, must be studied, Cecchetti teaches how the body can empower you artistically – using anatomical knowledge and scientific principles. The work gives you an understanding of how to use épaulement, how the head and torso is carried, how the rib-cage is supported, how the arms connect to the back, how to create a beautiful port de bras, or a long line that goes on forever. Dancers who were taught by the Maestro write about the ‘light easy stance and poise, use of the floor and great coverage of the ground, balance and equilibrium of line, flexible and unstrained torso, and pirouettes that do not merely spin, but sparkle, have brilliance and dynamic rhythms’. (1)
This Method has been directly responsible for the creation of some of the most beautiful, exciting and unique dancers that the ballet stage has ever seen. Cecchetti’s pupils include Pavlova, Nijinsky, Karsarvina, Spessivtseva, Lopokova, De Valois, Rambert, Massine and many, many others. His influence has spread far.
I teach Cecchetti in a way that allows dancers to apply the training to any style. I want the technique to be a living, growing, evolving and exciting way to train dancers. I want my students to be excited about what this technique can bring to them, and to come away a more beautiful, nuanced, artistic, and unique dancer in any and every style they approach, be it contemporary, hip hop, lyrical, jazz, commercial, ballet….
When I teach new students as a guest, I am fascinated as I watch dancers explore this approach to class. It’s like opening a door for them – a door they never knew existed. Ballet students I have taught who are unfamiliar with the method have initially thought the work hard, strange, and even ‘weird’, with the infrequently used inclination of the head, use of gesture and mime, off balance pirouettes, fluid use of upper torso (renversé), and penché to an oblique (horizontal) line sideways. They find the speedy fast lower leg and footwork together with an insistence on rhythmic accuracy a challenge…….but it is a beautiful one – and they quickly become intrigued when they realise what extra personal enhancements the method can offer them. It can make them stand out favourably amongst other dancers who are not familiar with this, more nuanced style.
These exquisite qualities are quite simply ‘timeless’ and whilst I would not teach a dancer training for a career in today’s dance profession solely in this method, I absolutely believe it adds delight and beauty, it is expressive and is, as Cecchetti wrote – wordless poetry following rhythms of the music. It is beautiful, noble and dignified.
In 1921, in a letter to Beaumont and Idzikowski, Cecchetti wrote:
“Dance has known the school of truth and the bizarre and tormented epoch of futurism: but it will live for ever young and immortal, for beauty is in the realm of the spirit that is the substance in the physical order; this art transforms itself but will never die.”
This is why I teach his work.
[i] Cecchetti Remembered Molly Lake, Vagabonds and Strolling Dancers, N. Benari