...your five-year-old's makeup kit has enough eyeliner to get Boy George through all of the 80's and some of '95.

...the most highly-regarded teacher's only qualification is a bachelor's in dance ed.

...the "advanced" class includes three twelve-year-olds and takes class once a week.

...the students compete for the privilege of dusting the trophy cases in the lobby every Saturday.

...the costumes (and choreography) for the retical's jazz piece make Anastasia Volochkova's Kitri look like a Puritan.

...the studio offers so many different activities that its ad takes up two pages in the phone book.

...you call your teacher "Miss Tami-Sue" even though you're the same age.

...you don't take ballet, but you do take "toe."

...you think ballet terms are in English (i.e., "lame duck").

...your class lasts 45 minutes, in which time you are able to study tap, jazz, hip hop, "ballet," tumbling, hula hoop, and fire-baton twirling.

...you think that although your ballet could use some work, ABT will still accept you once they see your killer lyrical routine.

...your teacher told you that Cynthia, who left to study at the snobby ballet-only school across the street, is a traitor and that you should never speak to her again.

...you got to lead the warm-up routine because Miss Tami-Sue was late on account of her trailer rolled into the holler again.

Anyone care to add?

...not to mention the hair---don't you think Volochkova is a little stingy with the glitter?


You forgot toe-tap.


...knee bend
...point
...leap

Lame duck is one of a very, very few for which I haven't heard a French equivalent (I think I even asked Alertniks about this one a while back). What is it? Pique en dedans is the closest I've heard.

The full, correct Vaganova term for that step is "tour piqué en dehors." It's also known as a piqué turn en dehors, and other syllabi probably have other names.

And yes, I do think Volochkova is stingy with the glitter--I mean, how can she not put it on her tights and pointe shoes? I'll never understand her.

I cannot believe I forgot toe-tap--the only excuse I can think of is that it just seemed so obvious to me that I didn't feel the need to spell it out!

Hans, Wicked and brilliant! And disillusioning !!! Does any of this really happen? (Question is based on pure -- not to mention blissful -- ignorance.)

As much as I hate to say it, yes, some of it actually does happen.

In fact, after reading through it...more of it happens than doesn't.

You don't do plies, you do "bendies and stretchies".

When you ask for the schedule for beginning classes they aren't good for your schedule so you're told to come to the advanced class instead.

We are a wicked, hysterically funny, bunch. And, of course, it's almost August.

Giannina

HUMOR-IMPAIRED BEANIE ON (not an official beanie)

In my opinion, what separates the people who run multi-genre dance studios -- and give a lot of people the opportunity to participate and a great deal of pleasure -- from the Dolly Dinkles is whether the teachers can recognize talented students and are honest with the students and the parents about the level and amount of training the students need to excel at ballet, and steer the talented kids to a "real school."

HUMOR-IMPAIRED BEANIE OFF

I'm really not trying to kill all the fun out this thread.

You might even be taking a class where beanies are de rigueur. Along with toe tap and fire baton.

My niece studies at a serious, multi-disciplinary suburban studio (no baton twirling, though) which has produced a fairly large number of professionals. My niece does not have professional aspirations, but loves dancing. The excellence of the training is evident in the Nutcrackers.

But preparation for the Nut became a problem. Both casts were required to attend all rehearsals, every night from 6:00-10:00. For families with commuting parents, this broke up dinner time every night for weeks. Children were required to observe the other casts' rehearsals, making it difficult to complete homework. It seemed, to DN's parents, a bit extreme for children with purely recreational interests, and how can you tell your pre-teen (or even teen) that she can't be in a Nut?

Are there happy-mediums out there? Where you can get solid, healthy training and not sign your life away while you're trying to develop a balanced life?

Alas, I had to witness most of the above at a recent recital of my little cousin's.

As rude as it was, I had to leave during intermission simply because I couldn't stomach any more of it. I made the excuse of feeling somewhat ill, which I suppose was partially true. :rolleyes: Thankfully my cousin doesn't take dance seriously and only uses it as an aid to her figure skating training (and if I may brag on her behalf, is progressing along quite impressively at the age of 8 ).

What I described about schedules for beginning and advanced classes actually happened to me many moons ago!
didn't spend much time there tho.

The American Dance Institute in Rockville, MD offers good-quality recreational training.

Eight-hour round-trip commute for said niece , but good for suburban DC kids in her situation.

My mother, whose family nationality was Czech (Austro-Hungarian Empire, that is) was a serious ballet student in the 20s in Manhattan -- serious enough to have considered going to Europe for training while still a teenager. I remember her saying that "toe dancing" in those days was a very common expression even among dancers, used to distinguish ballet danced on point from ballet -- often ethnically derived -- danced in flat shoes. "Ballet" appears to have been a rather broad term, at least in New York City long ago.

Anyone else have an insight into this?

Seems that Dolly Dinkle is only following the Balanchine example.

Still is, when you consider companies like Ballet Folclorico de Mexico. Not a pointe shoe in sight, calf-length skirts with many tiers of ruffles. Ballet can be (but in this time and place generally is not) understood to mean theatrical dance of any genre.

Bart, the "toe dancing" expression is still used by some people, but presumably your mother only studied toe/pointe after several years of regular technique class in flat shoes. The line in my first post was a reference to the way at some "schools," students learn to dance en pointe without having any experience with ballet technique.

As well as the example of that French fellow who coined "cat step," "Basque jump," "big turn in second position," etc.

Not to mention all the "Ballet" companies in Spain -- Ballet Nacional de Espana, los Ballets Espanoles, Ballet Teatro Espanol, Ballet Antologia, Compania Talent Danza Ballet Espanol. Several, based on my performance observation only, do seem to use ballet (in our sense) as part of their training, incorporate the occasional dancer from a more conventional ballet background, and incorporate ballet in some of their movement vocabulary.

Ballet Victor Ullate, which has Giselle, etc., in its repertoire in addition to more Spanish material, is the only ballet company we might recognize as such. I remember a Don Quijote in Madrid about 8 years ago -- Kitri, Basilio and a few others dance "classically," but the rest -- a gang of gypsies around a camp fire, for instance, are pure, theatrical "ballet espanol."

And then there's the interesting term "clasico," as in "danza clasico espanol." Petipa it isn't.

You would not believe me if I told you what happens in some schools down here....

a teacher once said "Rehearse" when she really meant "warm up" ....

Bart, I think I can sort out a bit of Spanish terms for you. Indeed I had a school in Spain for some years where I taught "Ballet clasico" and not "Baile clasico". The baile bit refers to old court dances. Various types of dance have been forbidden on and off in Spain. Sarabande was an old "baile" that was forbidden at one time. So was flamenco also at one time. Then you have folk dances, like the jota and also the flamenco - jota in the middle of Spain and flamenco in Andalucia. Problem is that when you talk to people they think that flamenco is typically Spanish, whereas it is only danced in Andalucia. Not surprising, 99% of all tourists go to
Costa del Sol where they are likely to see some kind (usually quite indifferent) display of stamping and clapping. To get to see the real thing is not easy, but that will have to be another thread.
Not until very recently has what we call classical ballet taken root in Spain, I feel like quite a pioneer, there had never before been a school of classical ballet in the town where I lived.
Also, I could recommend a very good book that sorts out all these terms. Unfortunately I dont seem be to able to lay my hands on it right now - must be somewhere though. Anyway, the author is Caballero Bonald and it was published
1957 or 8. Text in English, I remember buying my copy in Beaumont's legendary
book shop in London. :rolleyes:

Oops, I see Pamela and I were posting at the same time. Here is my original post:

Well Bart, there is classical Spanish dancing, which is a completely different form of dance than ballet, so I guess some of those companies aren't being entirely misleading....

Silvy, that's rather terrifying!

Here's a fun, true story:

At the local dancewear store one day, a group of girls from an out-of-town studio came in wanting to buy pointe shoes. They ended up buying shoes several sizes too large, as well as foam-rubber pads to put inside. When asked where they studied ballet, they said, "Oh, we don't take ballet. We just do toe."

Oh yes, there are a ton of dance studio ads in our local publications and phone books that always list pointe separately from ballet.

Hans! How could you have missed:

Halfway through the year, center floor has been dispensed with, replaced with recital rehearsal.

Frankly, I think anytime a rehearsal takes place during class time (unless this is specifically a "variations" class), the entire school is suspect.

Oh... and:

No one in the entire school seems quite sure how to point their feet.

It's heartbreaking for me, but my daughter prefers to study at a Dolly Dinkle. I must admit the teacher works well with young children... but I'm not sure what they learn beyond confidence on stage... however, until the child is 7 or 8, perhaps it's unimportant... Still, I wish she were being taught musicality, even if strict technique is inappropriate for young children. And then there's the side effect that by age 9, most of the children have lost their interest in ballet (and who could blame them when there seems to be little else to it beyond sequins and tiaras and pretending to be princesses). I guess she'll never know the joy of floating through the air in a perfect grand jete.

musnt forget recitals that stretch over three days... with each class doing six "numbers" and doing "ballet" to Wind Beneath My Wings

The hep and happening score du jour is Kelly Clarkson's "Break Away." It actually makes me miss "Wind Beneath My Wings."

Ballet training in the US, even into the 1920's, was a much less organized affair than the gradated curriculums of the European schools. "Toe dancing" was often a specialty in musical theater, sometimes used as analog for ballet, but usually reflecting a fairly narrow technique with an emphasis on bourees and turns.

One example of this that's pretty easy to find is the "Lullaby League" number from "The Wizard of Oz," which is mostly bourees and steps on pointe -- the terre a terre dancing is minimal and awkward.

In the past, the curriculum at Daisy Dingle schools was primarily "toe, tap, and baton," but that seems to have moderated now, so that it's "ballet, jazz, and lyrical," with hip hop as a frequent addition/substitution to jazz. In some of the larger suburban studios, "dance team" is a popular offering -- tied to the synchronized dance drill teams that high schools support as part of their athletic entertainment.

It's seemed to me, watching over time, that jazz dance is frequently dancing to popular music, with the dance style shifiting a bit depending on the music of the period.

I did notice, sandik, that their pointe technique was rather awful in that section.

bart, that comment stood out for me, too. In the late 50s and early to mid 60s when I was studying at a very reputable school it was still called "toe" -- and the shoes were toe shoes and advertised as such in Dance Magazine. It's a term that has simply evolved -- as language does -- to the present "pointe". I suppose now it is considered a Dolly Dinklish way to say it.

No, it's not that. It's the idea that one can dance en pointe without studying ballet.

Hans, I wouldn't dismiss what I said so readily. After seeing my share of DD studios over the last 45 years or so, usually by perusing their signs and posted literature on their storefront windows, or seeing the odd recital (pun intended) I'd say it's both.
Many are in an arrested stage of ballet development.

Sorry--I meant to say that in my original post, what I was expressing was the idea that one can dance en pointe without studying ballet. (I've had my share of Dolly Dinkle experiences too, and in a pretty direct manner at that. ) SAB, in fact, still listed "toe" classes on its schedule when I went there, and I think we can agree that it does not separate the idea of pointework and ballet, nor is it a Dolly Dinkle.

I love the "odd recital" pun by the way--that describes it perfectly!

A lot of Dolly Dinkle schools around here place students at a certain level due to their age ONLY... Not only irrational, but detrimental to the dancer's well-being as they miss out on important basics of ballet! I'm seeing an example of this right now. My studio is open all summer with all classes offered as during the fall and winter. So a young girl (13-14 I'm guessing) from a Dolly Dinkle school came to take classes to keep in shape. She began at the bottom because her placement is SO off and dangerous for her body and dancing! She's made great strides even over just 2 months, but she's still going to return to her old school, where she will be going into the advanced level Oy vey.

A question for those with more personal experience than I have:

If they don't do ballet in "toe" classes, what, pray tell, DO they do?

Or shouldn't I ask?

BalletNut, they attempt rather advanced ballet steps (pirouettes, &c)without having the training to be able to really do them.

lame duck? failli, bien sur.

I'm sure the irony of that is not lost on you--"failli" means, roughly, something like "failed"...and IMO, a school that teaches its students to say "lame duck" has clearly failed to teach proper terminology!

after months of lurking, i've been thru many of your posts, witty one. i am enjoying this thread!
may i add to your list "trampoline"--or will i be revealing my age/era
by saying that?

Trampoline is an interesting one that I haven't heard of. How does one hold classes in trampoline?

the same way you do baton and toe-tap!

I'm sure there's a tiny studio, somewhere in an underpopulated area of the US, where they teach you how to twirl a baton while toe-tapping on a trampoline....

I wouldn't be surprised to see this at halftime at a high school football game. Which is kind of the reason to exist for many Dolly Dinkle studios: creating majorettes and cheerleaders -- remember all of those splits? -- for school sports.

ballet, toe-tap, baton, and trampoline were de rigeur during the 50's in the POPULATED areas of the US of A!!!
how far have we come!
(or have we? has it just been replaced with the trophy-style studios?)

Title IX has probably nudged some girls away from baton twirling and toward soccer and baseball.

Now if only we could do something to nudge some boys away from football and into ballet!

I am sure that some of these 'disciplines' like trampoline are now being taught at "Schools for the Circus Arts". I believe (and I'm sure I read about this somewhere) that the popularity of Cirque de Soleil, etc. has created a demand for that kind of school too - among those ready, able and willing to pay for it, of course.