Laying the groundwork: USA International Dance School.

The USA International Dance School, which coexisted with the USA International Ballet Competition, was conducted in an atmosphere of glamour created by the omnipresent prominent dance figures--the master teachers, the international jury, famous international visitors, and talented competitors with their coaches from every land. There were more than 300 students registered for the two-week intensive courses by a galaxy of master teachers. A lure was the competition, offering opportunities to see exciting performances every day. The students took advantage of these performances by the talented and highly motivated competitors, and from their assigned seats in the balcony of the Municipal Auditorium they animated the proceedings with their screams of appreciation and squeals of delight for every bravura accomplishment.

The school, directed by Anna-Marie Holmes, associate director of Boston Ballet, profited from her many international experiences and connections. It offered a faculty of sixteen masters of various dance forms from many countries. Classical ballet was the chief subject taught, mainly by teachers of the Kirov's Vaganova system and by veterans of the Bolshoi school. There were also a teacher trained at England's Royal Ballet School and a Cuban trained in Havana and St. Petersburg. In addition to daily classes in ballet technique, students had classes in pointe, variations, pas de deux, and men's classes. Modern dance, jazz, mime, musical theater, music appreciation, and character dancing were also on the daily schedule. Character dancing, neglected in most American schools, was given special attention, and was taught brilliantly by Peter Pawlyshyn, graduate of the Pavel Virsky Folk Dance Studio in Kiev. A workshop for dance teachers, apart from the classes for young students, was taught by Tatiana Legat of the Vaganova school.

Competitors, including those eliminated in the several rounds, also took classes. Their classes, at no fee, were separate from those of the students who came specifically to study. Teachers of the classes for competitors included some of the coaches; I saw an especially fine class taught by Antonio Castilla of Barcelona. He was that rare teacher who demonstrated each movement full-out, with meticulous correctness. Incidentally, when Spanish competitor Jose Martin Trujillo found himself slated for Round Three without an acceptable contemporary dance created after 1986, Castilla, in one hour, created a clever and well-accepted number--and young Martin Trujillo did win an award.

A number of competitors eliminated in early rounds took part in the choreographers' workshop directed by Dennis Nahat. Six young choreographers produced an exciting piece to Beethoven, presented at the award gala.

The magnitude of the Jackson school (Cherri Barnett, administrator) can be appreciated by numbers. The 300 students were offered the choice of a hundred classes daily in twenty studios in five different locations. The largest studios were the five in the physical education building of Jackson State University. Four institutions, including private dance schools, provided fifteen additional studios. (Mylar floors were contributed by a Jackson firm.) Each studio scheduled classes from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Schedules for most students included three classes a day. The Lower School offered instruction to students of ages nine to fifteen. Most students took classes at the Upper School for ages fifteen and up. Competitors were given space in the quarters of Ballet Mississippi and in the Municipal Auditorium and Museum complex to use for studios.

Here are the master teachers (listed alphabetically): Christine Anthony (Belgium), John Bay (U.S.), Keith Cross (U.S.), Tatiana Dzouloukhadze (Russia), Jorge Garcia (Portugal/Cuba), Ginger Gondron (U.S.), Kee-Juan Han (Singapore/U.S.) Deborah Hess (Canada), Xenia Kosorukov (Russia), Tatiana Legat (Russia), Caroline Llorca (France), Ekaterina Maximova (Russia), Mike Phillips (U.S.), Peter Pawlyshyn (Ukraine/U.S.), Ramona Panseqgrau (U.S.), and Yacov Sharir (Israel).