CECCHETTI SUMMER 1998 WORKSHOP: Myths and Misconceptions.

Heard some secrets about auditioning? Know the preferred body type? Need to have an inside track to get a job? Your conclusions may be based upon dance mythology. Here are responses made at the Cecchetti Council of America Summer Workshop, during teacher discussions and by workshop students who replied to ten statements that may or may not have been based upon dance myths. You may agree with the students or need to change a few of your ideas and make some New Year's resolutions.

More than 170 students, male and female, enrolled in the workshop, July 5 to 18, at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and met in two evening sessions to share their thoughts about their future careers. The students, who came from areas throughout the country, ranged in age from ten to eighteen and attended daylong classes and rehearsals. They began their informal discussions with a response to ten statements.

Statement 1: When I begin to audition, body type will determine my chances for a job. Directors look for thin bodies.

Response: The majority of students felt that dieting would gain them the preferred thin body type at an audition. Few understood that correctly used lengthened and strengthened muscles create a slender and harmonious appearance. Flab at the inner thighs, for instance, usually indicates a lack of proper, frequent, or correct use of the muscles in that area.

Directors of companies find replacements who are, more or less, equal in height and appearance to the existing group and who fit the director's aesthetic vision. The range of styles is wide, but the choices are understandably based upon how well the auditionee fits into the group and is able to handle the given material.

Statement 2: Technique isn't as important as showing a cheerful personality and knowing someone at the casting audition who can speak up for you.

Response: Most students felt that you had to remain "cool" instead of cheerful during an audition. Although staying cool might protect against hurt feelings and rejection, showing that you like to dance at auditions and during exams creates a better impression. Your dancing speaks for you no matter what other recommendation you might have.

Statement 3: The right shoes for class and auditions can make or break my pointe work.

Response: Most girls and teachers found that the search for the "right" shoe was an endless quest. Although feet change in size and strength as the body grows, manufacturers explain that shoe problems are basically the result of an incorrect fit, not the style or make of the shoe. Some manufacturers go so far as to claim that their shoes can correct foot faults. Not so. There are many makes of pointe shoes that can be comfortable and make the foot look beautiful. Keep doing foot exercises to strengthen the arches and toes in order to depend less upon the shoe.

Statement 4: Injuries have to be expected at some time during the study of ballet.

Response: Many students found the possibility of injury too scary to contemplate; however, awareness of conditions that may cause injury--fatigue, overuse, depression, inattention, hard surfaces, and improper technique--are important to observe. Heavy work during a growth spurt (ages twelve to thirteen in girls; fourteen to sixteen in boys) may also be a contributing factor.

Statement 5: If you don't make it as a professional dancer, you can always open a studio and teach.

Response: Fortunately, this group of Cecchetti-trained students knew the importance of taking exams to become better dancers and were aware of the teacher exams offered by the Council that provide accreditation for the teaching of ballet (3,571 students and 133 teachers took Cecchetti exams in 1997). Teaching dance is not a business; it's a profession.

Statement 6: A good video, photos, and a resume help to document the auditionee's level.

Response: Everyone agreed that good photos and videos were important. All also agreed that the resume should be honest in giving the exact amount of study time with a specific teacher or school, instead of just including a list of celebrity teachers with whom the study time was minimal.

Statement 7: Competitions are important because they showcase your work and get you an agent and jobs.

Response: The response here was fuzzy, since only one female student, age thirteen, had entered a competition event. She didn't feel that the class time at the competition workshop was sufficient and thought the class was too crowded. Little was known by anyone about agents.

Statement 8: Support from one's family is essential to the success of a career.

Response: Support in this context was interpreted as financial rather than emotional. Almost all students expected to be able to go to college. One young man said he wanted to attend college because it would give him self-esteem and respect from others. A discussion followed on the merits of respect based upon one's character and how well one does whatever one does in a profession or job. Most had emotional support at home to a greater or lesser degree. All felt that they needed approval at this stage for their academic and technical studies to continue on a high level.

Statement 9: Getting along with peers and keeping up grades at school are just as important as passing dance exams.

Response: No argument here. Balancing time with friends at school and dance-class friends was important to a student's sense of belonging to both worlds. One or the other would suffer if not kept in balance.

Statement 10: Going to college will help a career.

Response: The students, at this point, revealed pressure from home to achieve the level dictated by the family's income and social status rather than the risky future of a career in dance. Discussion revealed the number of colleges that give credit for professional experience, thereby permitting a young dancer to achieve a performing career and attend college at a later time. No guarantee, however, exists that college will lead to a career onstage, although college will give you many dance-related options.

No response was made by the students for a name of a model or idol. One female reluctantly responded that her model was Anna Pavlova because she had read a book about her. A young man hesitantly admitted that he admired Baryshnikov, because "he danced a long time." A lack of knowledge of dance history and dance music was woefully apparent.

Little was known about the history of Enrico Cecchetti (1850-1928) and his methodology. Before Cecchetti codified his famous technique, and long before the Council incorporated in 1951, his family performed in the United States when he toured with his famous parents, Cesare and Serafina, with the Ronzani Ballet. Maria Bonfanti (1847-1921) toured America with an Italian group until stranded in 1866. She was ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera from 1885 to 1886. Malvina Cavalazzi, was the first ballerina at the Met and founded the first Met ballet school in 1909. Cecchetti's protege, Luigi Albertieri, performed worldwide and became ballet master of the Chicago and Metropolitan Operas from 1910 to 1927. He opened his own school in New York in 1915 and

taught famous dancers Rosina Galli, Maria Gambarelli, Albertina Rasch, and--are you ready?--Fred Astaire.

But the workshop students, despite a lack of idols, had dreams. Rebecca Gentry, nineteen, began her study of Royal Academy of Dancing methodology in Buffalo, then changed to the Cecchetti system when she moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and continued her studies with Carolyn Trythall. She now studies at the University of Utah with Conrad Ludlow and hopes to audition for Ballet West, despite their budget problems, or American Ballet Theatre. "I thought I was too old for a workshop this year," Gentry said, "but I have two friends here who were with me in last year's workshop, which made me comfortable. And the classes are so intensive I still gain a great deal from them. The teachers are wonderful and amazing."

Christel Ehlenbeck, sixteen, from Lakeland, Florida, a student of Jane Coyle, saw The Nutcracker in Tallahassee when she was very young and decided that dance was what she wanted to do. But this year, before the workshop sessions, she had some doubts. "I came here," she said, "to see if ballet is really what I want to do. Now I'm pretty sure. The high level here is stimulating. Now I'll have to push myself harder. My teacher at home will go along with that."

At the end of the sessions, no one would reveal his or her resolutions!

RELATED ARTICLE: Cecchetti Council's Mission

Bethany Lenhart, president of Cecchetti Council of America, coordinates the activities of the headquarters of CCA in Michigan and the 500 membership teachers with studios throughout the United States, Haiti, and Jamaica. "Today's typical teacher," says Lenhart, "has three assistants, three studios, and a total number of students that we have yet to estimate."

Lenhart explains the difference between the London-based Cecchetti Society, formed in 1922, that amalgamated with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing in 1924, and the American Council: "Although we were the same in the use of the syllabus at one time, we now have a quicker progression in the lower grades. We are the same, however, worldwide in teaching the elementary, intermediate, advanced, and diploma work levels. Exams for children begin at the age of eight. Parents, because of the exams, are able to see the progress of each student more clearly than in their work onstage at recitals. They are always impressed with the extent of material that the students have learned.

"We have teacher training courses for anyone at any age who wants to learn the method and how to teach it. Exams for teachers are extensive and include the entire system, with certification granted when Level Six exams have been passed. But the learning process never ends for any of us. We teach a basic method that will provide a solid basis for the demands of new choreography."

For further more information on the Cecchetti Council of America, contact Bethany Lenhart, President, CCA, 1530 Diane Drive, Flushing, MI 48433.

A 55-minute video, "Ballet: The Tradition of Cecchetti," with exercises from the method's advanced, diploma syllabi, adage, and allegro enchainements, is available from Rose Marie Floyd, 4937 Moonglow Drive, Troy, MI 48098.