On Technique

Appendix A: Word Teaching Phrases of Peter Boal

191 Appendix A Word Teaching Phrases of Peter Boal If you have ever taken or observed a ballet technique class, you will have noticed that teachers go beyond just giving a set of exercises. The exercises themselves provide only the superstructure upon which technique and its accompanying artistry are built. Most teachers use imagery and phrases to embed feeling, phrasing, and the right sense of how dance should be executed. I have included a handful of Peter Boal’s phrases that I found particularly inspirational. Some may be ones that many have heard before . I’ve dubbed them “Boalisms”: tips for teaching and technique, taken from observing and noting Boal’s comments while he was conducting classes, some from regular Pacific Northwest Ballet student classes, some from PNB’s company class. These are the direct quotes, which have been categorized by type. General Comments • Defy expectations. • Take a chance with your body weight. • Be creative. • Be sure to give “dancy” combos. • “Expression of taste”—don’t violate musical phrasing and cut off a phrase. • Take yourself farther than expectations—and perhaps sometimes a little beyond. The impossible is possible. • Positions must be “active” positions, muscles controlling the turnout. • Important to warm up upper body as well—sense of “presentation .” 192 Appendix A • Extend line. • Feel center on one leg, then immediately the other. • Legato on top/allegro underneath. • Pass through position to “a higher place.” • How to make interesting/fun—put repertory into technique class. Related to Artistry • “Can’t have a bad photograph.” • Remember where it’s going; affected us emotionally, quality. • Presentation—lets audience know it’s spectacular. • Visual representation of music; pure. • Audience must see “you”; be sure to pull chest up. • Must have musical precision. • Calm head front. • Pure technique, but with gloss on top. • Find more turnout. • Rhythmic challenge, like knocking out a count in a combo (8, 7, 6, 5, . . .). • Change of timing with same combos. • Getting phrasing in body. • Good to go beyond 4⁄8s; taste of “real” life; give a minivariation . • Speed, sharp—combining more than one count phrase into one. Related to Barre • Quick plié with accent up, as if coming out of a jump. • Holding one full beat to prepare for grand plié; holding count 5 after the two demi-pliés. • Tendu—keep same angle (shape); under the leg. • Frappé—try slow and sense of being lifted. • Can teach cabriole at barre (facing). Appendix A 193 • Using mechanics of grand battement, but to various heights (low to high) tendu/dégagé/90/all. • Do a fondu combo with a release of barre arm to en haut. • Keep class moving—stretch before barre is over. • Lengthen spine to go back (in a cambré). • “Legs clear as a compass”—directionals. • Active participation of muscles—note bone, resting on bone. • Where you put weight is important. • Piqués through position—extra definition. • Note unusual insertion: rond de jambe jeté as a part of barre adagio. • Control of hamstring in tendu to second position. • Tendu with fouetté with pure placement. Related to Center • With the back to the audience, it’s really an opportunity to show them. • Keep your center compact and under control. • Adage—gesture/building. • Glide into fifth—don’t drag—if there is enough space under feet, you cannot drag (in a step like glissade). • Same degree of curve in port de bras (en bas, en haut), centering face in the arms. • Supporting leg anchors you. Related to Turns • Twenty minutes (approximately) in class sometimes working on pirouettes at all different speeds: 3/4/5 numbers of turns, try music in 6. • Turning opportunity—let barre help. • Fast speed on the heads for spotting. • Pirouette, concluding with a rond de jambe to fourth. 194 Appendix A • Center pirouette by being able to control center fall. • En de dans pirouette—lead with supporting heal/leg. • Anticipate port de bras (out of pirouette, fourth position). • Piqué (turns)—heel around right away and consistently. Related to Jumps • Entrechat six—three beats—bigger as exercise. • Assemblé—angle in air allows you to land and stick, so momentum doesn’t knock torso over. • Cabriole—open before land, not sluggish. • Ballotté—hold (Bournonville) position (heels/ankles touching in Cecchetti pas de chat position). • Brisés—teach en face first (devant brush/closing). • Making ourselves longer in the air—gives sense/feeling of suspending; “jumping/freezing.” ...