Realizing your personal best.

Since its founding in 1959, the National Ballet School, based in Toronto, has grown to become one of Canada's great natural resources as well as one of the most prestigious dance training institutions in North America. As the only ballet school in the country that integrates dance and academic studies into a full-time program for students aged ten to eighteen in one facility. NBS attracts auditionees from across Canada and from the world at large. The school has an enviable reputation for producing versatile professional dancers for the Canadian and international dance communities who can absorb the broadest range of choreography. NBS graduates are currently members of seventeen companies as diverse as the National Ballet of Canada, New York City Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theater, and Frankfurt Ballet.

Mavis Staines, NBS's artistic director since 1981, has not only taken the school through a radical review of its training, but has also broadened the horizons of the program to include scientific advancements in anatomical study [See Education, June 1997, for details].

Frequent guest teachers from around the world are also brought in to give the classical dance training an infusion of energy.

STAINES'S RATIONALE FOR CHANGE

To tamper with a successful formula is risky business, but Staines feels very strongly that being a slave to the status quo is equally dangerous because it shuts the door on new influences and ideas. "Founder Betty Oliphant's curriculum achieved her goal of producing a well-rounded professional dancer," says Staines, "but there was no documentation of her system. This led to controversy of interpretation. I felt that it was important to codify our unique training, but before writing anything down, I wanted the staff to define our philosophy of how we teach. I didn't want our discussions to flounder because we were confusing the science of training with stylistic issues which are based on personal taste and cultural conditioning."

Six years ago, Staines began the curriculum review, and, as a point of reference and a springboard for discussion, she chose the Vaganova method, which she feels is the best documentation of dance training available, based on philosophical and aesthetic principles. The minute detail in Vaganova is the inspiration for the NBS staff to isolate and evaluate the quintessence of their own training. "We're not switching to the Vaganova method," explains Staines. "Rather, we're using the wealth of material in the Vaganova curriculum to help us examine step by step how we teach technique--for example, strengthening the back or finding power in jumps. The ballet faculty and our physiotherapists meet twice a week and have heated debates about the most efficient means of training the body in order that our graduates be the best interpreters of all styles. Cecchetti was [one of] Vaganova's [models. She was not actually his pupil but observed many of his classes], and I believe that they would have agreed on the importance of evolution. We are developing our methodology."

At the same time, NBS teachers are concentrating on what the individual body does. Says Staines, "Neuromuscular analysis reflects the reality that not all bodies are perfectly suited to the rigors of classical ballet technique. It's important that we know how the individual student's body functions best with, let's say, legs at the most extreme rotation outward. We customize the training of each student by having one-on-one tutorials and coaching sessions to prevent injuries and increase the rate of progress. We do not superimpose style, but work from anatomical principles. On the other hand, a sense of musicality and flair remains a priority to stay connected with what dancers love about dance. As Vaganova said, `Keeping the passion for dance alive is every teacher's primary responsibility.'"

THE NBS CURRICULUM

The NBS staff has hammered out a draft document that covers training at each of the seven levels of the curriculum. Students are placed according to their level of development and are not lumped together by age. At the end of each year, each student's progress is reviewed, and only those who seem to have career potential at a world-class level are asked to stay.

Throughout a student's years at NBS, much study is devoted to the history of dance through the study of dance forms from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries, emphasizing both partnering and large-group skills. Modem dance is also an important component of the curriculum because it frees the students to explore movement as artists and, as a result, makes their classical ballet work more expressive. Students also take composition classes and are encouraged to participate in the annual student choreographic workshop. Repertory classes occur throughout the year as training for both the school's own spring showcase and performances, such as The Nutcracker, with the National Ballet of Canada. Fitness programs for males and females, with specialized upper-body programs for males, occur throughout the seven levels and include conditioning exercises in the NBS swimming pool. Older students take classes in applying stage makeup, resume writing, organizing portfolios, and handling auditions and interviews--skills that they will need for the professional world. The academic program is enriched by study of the history of the arts, along with instrumental music and vocal training.

The school also provides counseling sessions in fitness, nutrition, and prevention of eating disorders, and employs full-time physiotherapists. Because so many students are in residence at a young age and are far from home, much time is devoted to creating a nurturing environment. "With our emphasis on individual strategies for learning, coupled with our body conditioning and modem dance programs," says Staines, "we are maximizing individual potential. Our objective is to make a successful school even more successful. Our graduates can literally dance anywhere."