Ballet Methods: What are the differences?

[Albini]

I have seen a few ballet methods mentioned, Vaganova, Cecchetti, Balanchine.

 

Is there 1 method that is more sought after as far as training techniques?

 

My 6 year old is doing the standard one Cecchetti syllabus begining in September.

 

Is this a syllabus that is commonly taught and recognized?

[Mel Johnson]

Yes, Cecchetti is well-recognized the world over. It is standardized on an international scale, and a grade 2 class in Chicago will look very like a grade 2 class in Sydney.

 

All methods are supposed to end up in the same place: Producing dancers who are able to dance classical ballet without mannerism or technical defect. How they do that is where the difference lies, and how well they do that is in the eye of the educated beholder. None is superior to another in this respect.

[Victoria Leigh]

And in the end it all comes down to the teaching. The methods (Cecchetti, RAD, Vaganova, Bounonville, ISTD, POB) are all fine, but it is how they are taught that matters. (Balanchine is a style, not a method.)

[Albini]

Thank you both for the info.

 

May I ask what the difference is between a method and a style is?

 

I'm trying to glean enough info to be educated enough to be a help...but not uneducated enough to assume I'm educated enough to be a help. (if that makes any sense).

[Victoria Leigh]

A method has a syllabus, a graded training system. A style is not a training method, but a specific "look" to the way that the movements are executed.

 

The Royal Academy of Dance created a training syllabus, as did Maestro Cecchetti, Auguste Bounonville, and Agrippina Vaganova. The ISTD is, I think, (someone correct me if I'm wrong here) a combination of RAD and Cecchetti. The Paris Opera has it's own syllabus. Mr. Balanchine was a great and very prolific choreographer, whose work has a very definite style. His work was created on professional dancers, and he did not create a graded training syllabus for children.

[Mel Johnson]

The ISTD is, I think, (someone correct me if I'm wrong here) a combination of RAD and Cecchetti.

 

That's close - ISTD is a side-by-side monitor for Cecchetti in the UK, along with its own "Imperial" syllabus. Tie syllabi together and you have a curriculum. The UK also has the British Ballet Organisation (BBO), which is the old Edward Espinosa school, with its own curriculum and also the Russian Ballet Society, which supervises the Legat Method, presently located in Edinburgh, Scotland.

[stretchthosefeet]

I would also like to add that it's not the syllabus but the teaching (teachers) that counts. You can have excellent RAD teachers and terrible RAD teachers, same for any other syllabus, open class etc

 

It's more important to look at where your ballet school graduates are off to. What Summer Schools they get into etc etc etc.

[Albini]

Thank you everyone.

[julieinkc]

Ms. Leigh, if Balanchine is not a method, but a style, what method do Balanchine schools use? I know our school does not have exams and is run by a former SAB/NYCB principal who studied extensively with Mr. Balanchine. I'm trying to learn.

[Mel Johnson]

SAB, and by extension, any school teaching Balanchine® anything use a vernacular International Mix mostly based in Cecchetti nomenclature. One of these days, somebody is going to have to regularize curricula and syllabi if the Balanchine© is long to defend itself from allegations of vagueness. Of course, that will take an organizational and pedagogical genius as great as Balanchine's was as a choreographer.

[julieinkc]

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. I knew there was quite a bit of Cecchetti nomenclature used at my children's ballet school, but also many stylistic components.

[heleen]

I would also like to add that it's not the syllabus but the teaching (teachers) that counts. You can have excellent RAD teachers and terrible RAD teachers, same for any other syllabus, open class etc

 

It's more important to look at where your ballet school graduates are off to. What Summer Schools they get into etc etc etc.

 

But wouldn't it be that a terrible RAD teacher would get very bad scores on the exams with her/his students,so they would be much easier recognised as being a terrible teacher?

[stretchthosefeet]

But wouldn't it be that a terrible RAD teacher would get very bad scores on the exams with her/his students,so they would be much easier recognised as being a terrible teacher?

 

Yes, grade results are very important when deciding on a school/teacher if it's a syllabus based school. Unfortunately new moms and dads don't know to ask. Or if they do, they can be fobbed off with "very hard examiner, all schools were down 20 percent"

 

My dd started off at a RAD school such as this and she learnt terrible habits before we realised. We presumed because it was a RAD school it must be good. My dd is now at a very good RAD school, but it takes a long time to break habits. I learnt it's the school/teacher that matters not the syllabus etc.

[JosephineM]

I was hoping to address this topic again. I understand the comments about all the different methods not being too important to choose from, as long as the training being provided by the school is good. However, I've recently moved my daughter to a new school and am curious about something I've seen. Our old school didn't really have a "defined syllabus" but it seemed that when most of the students went to summer intensives or wanted to end up in a company, they were looking at SAB/NYCB, SFB, PNB, Boston. To me, those places are similar in their styles, and my dd likes that style. In our new school, the training is Vaganova, and the students are looking at summer intensives at Kirov and Bolshoi. So, now I'm wondering if I'm correct in thinking that there might be some important differences in these two methods or styes? Should I be worried that my dd's training is taking a different direction? I'm actually happy that she's being exposed to something different. But at the same time, if her goal is SAB/NYCB, SFB, etc, does this matter?

[Clara 76]

I'm going to quote Miss Leigh, here!

And in the end it all comes down to the teaching. The methods (Cecchetti, RAD, Vaganova, Bounonville, ISTD, POB) are all fine, but it is how they are taught that matters