Katy Walrath

Spring 1998

Abstract

Ballet is a continuous learning process. Upon examination, the learning involved in ballet can be divided into three levels, each level increasing in awareness and personal reflection.

At the first level, the five positions of the arms and feet are learned through simple imitation without much personal reflection and little awareness. The instruction follows the physical science paradigm, where the expert controls the learning of the novice. Learning follows a basic feedback loop: have a purpose, make a comparison, take action, make a comparison, and exit to another cycle with the same purpose or a new cycle with a new purpose. These early ballet classes are very structured with little room for deviation from the teacher dictation.

The second level follows the humanistic paradigm in which we are all free to learn on our own. This level requires more awareness and reflection as learning conversations take place and the learning becomes self-organized. For example, the dancer must learn to find the center of her body every time she prepares to dance. How to find one’s own center is not information that can simply be passed from instructor to student, thus requiring the dancer to learn to become her own teacher. The dancer may find that the creative roles, as explained by Von Oech, of explorer, artist, judge and warrior can be helpful in finding one’s center of the body.

The third level of learning in ballet is where the most awareness and personal reflection are used. Learning to use one’s posture and upper body to express personality and emotion falls into the conversational paradigm, where the learner has the freedom and responsibility to construct personal meaning through conversations with oneself and others. Personal learning myths that prevent this deep learning from taking place must be broken, and the dutiful robot must be challenged. The four creative roles must again be exercised for the dancer to find her voice with which to express her story in dance.

Ballet can teach life-long lessons to its dedicated students. Thanks to ballet, I have learned how to learn using various levels of awareness and personal reflection. Returning to ballet class after a two year break, I realized that ballet fulfills all of my basic needs for survival, belonging and love, power, freedom, and fun. Teaching ballet puts a new perspective on ballet for me as a learning event, and helps me appreciate the effort of my former teachers who have helped me learn how to learn.

Ballet is an on-going learning process. Professional dancers still take class, receive corrections, and strive to improve themselves. The dancer’s instrument, the body, is a difficult one to work with. It constantly needs tuning, and is somewhat unreliable. The key is to learn the intimate details of your instrument in order to control the execution of the hundreds of movements involved in a dance. Each dancer’s body and mind are unique, therefore in this analysis, I will use my own experiences as a reference.

Upon examining ballet as a learning experience, I have decided that there are three levels of learning that take place throughout the many years involved in mastering the art form. At the first level, the positions and movements are learned mainly through imitation. At the second level, the dancer learns to teach and improve herself. At the third level, the artistic aspect is developed and ballet becomes more than a mere sequence of steps. At each of these levels, the amount of personal involvement and reflection required increases.

When a bright-eyed brand new beginning ballet student walks into the studio for the first time, the very first thing he or she learns are the five basic positions of the arms and feet. Immediately there is structure and precision demanded from a young body who has never been required to hold any particular position before. These five positions are the basic starting, moving through, and ending positions for any movement in ballet. The positions are initially learned by modeling the teacher’s demonstration. The student places her body in the correct arrangement, while carefully visually noting where the arms and feet are. This aspect of learning is a clear example of the cycle of learning feedback loop as described by Harri-Augstein and Thomas: have a purpose, make a comparison, take action, make a comparison, and exit to another cycle with the same purpose or a new cycle with a new purpose (1991, p.74). The student’s purpose is to put his or her body into the five positions. First, the student compares her body with the teacher’s body. The student takes action to place her body in the correct position, and compares her body with the teacher’s body again. If she is not satisfied with her body’s positioning, she will makes changes. If the position looks good, she will go on to the next position. The student will use this feedback loop anytime she is learning a new movement or position, and when she is trying to apply corrections to movements or positions she already knows. I have gone through this loop myself, and have observed my beginning ballet students going through it as they try to follow my example. Although this feedback loop requires awareness, it is a process of learning that occurs close to the surface, without much deep reflection.

I recall my first few strict classical ballet classes when I was about eight or nine years old. Ballet class was very structured; there was most certainly a right way and a wrong way to do things. Mrs. LeVine’s way was the right way. As students, we were expected to follow the teacher’s example and imitate her movements precisely. I had no problem accepting my role and did my best to place each part of my body in the places Mrs. LeVine indicated. For example, I was told that in a demi-plie, legs must be turned out from the hip, knees bend over toes, stomach in, back straight and lifted, arms gently curved and moving at the correct time, head looks straight or to the side, and shoulders down. I knew I learned the movement when I received praise from Mrs. LeVine (a rarity), or if I looked in the mirror (much more likely), and felt my body being in the correct placement. I was being taught in the physical science paradigm, which holds that the expert should control the novice (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991, p. 21). At this stage in my ballet training, this was the appropriate methodology. The disciplined nature of ballet requires dancers to develop the vocabulary, both verbal and movement, to be the basic foundation from which creativity and individualism can eventually grow.

After learning basic positions and movements, the student begins to learn some more complex movements. Most of the movements can be learned regardless of awareness and reflection. However, to learn to do these movements well, and to bring them to a higher level of expertise, the dancer must be able to find his or her center of the body. Knowing one’s center is especially important to be able to move smoothly and gracefully while executing traveling or turning movements. Learning Conversations take place between the student and the teacher hopefully resulting in an understanding of the concept, the center of the body, by the student. The center of the body must be found, physically and psychologically, every time the dancer prepares to dance. It is the "aim of every Learning Conversation that the skills in conducting it become internalized" (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991, p. 32). The more advanced the student becomes, the less she will have to consciously work on this because her center becomes personally significant, has personal relevance, and is personally viable; a sign of Self-Organized Learning (Hari-Augstein and Thomas, 1991, p. 28). Each individual will have a unique experience even when engaged in the same learning situation, the same ballet class. Each dancer brings his or her own experience to the Learning Conversation. The challenge is for the teacher to converse in such a way as to reach all of the students (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, Self-Organized Learning, p. 16).

In my own experience, Mrs. LeVine used the phrase "find your center" so many times I’m sure I said it in my sleep. She would walk around and put one hand on our stomach and one on the middle of our back and give a gentle push. "This the core," she would say, "It is the foundation, the strength from which the dancing comes. It must be solid, firm, strong." Trying to act on these, and other descriptive words helped me to understand what she meant by "finding your center." This was a type of Learning Conversation between her words and the action of our bodies. It was the first time that we were unable to simply follow her directions. We had to find a way to teach ourselves to find our own centers, and to be able to do it every time we prepared to dance.

At this stage in my ballet training, I was learning in the humanistic paradigm which assumes we are each independent, and are not in the control of another person (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991, p. 21). I struggled with this bit of freedom, as I had become comfortable with the strict structure of ballet technique training. I was forced to put my creative roles into action (von Oech, 1986). I had to use my explorer to seek out possible solutions to the problem of finding my center. My artist tried them out in class. My judge knew if they worked or not by the way I felt when I danced; either I felt that I was moving smoothly and in control, or I felt that my arms and legs were not at all attached to my body. Eventually, using my warrior, I adopted my own meanings to the phrases Mrs. LeVine so often repeated. I found the center of my body which provides my balance and control, and I found the muscles it takes to hold my center strong.

Posture and Upper Body Expression

Once the five basic positions, and several basic movements are mastered, it is time to tackle posture and upper body expression. Good ballet technique can be developed through tedious practice, building of muscle strength, and dutiful following of directions. What makes ballet different from all other athletic activities is the personal expression involved. Ballet is an art form. Easy enough to say, but extremely difficult to learn and be able to perform.

A number of personal learning myths (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991, p. 12) come into play for the dancer when attempting the challenging task of using her posture (which was originally merely used to hold her steady) and her upper body (which has proper placements and movements like the legs and feet) to express herself in each movement. These personal myths may include the scope and nature of what is being learned; for example, the learner regards expression as either learnable or as unlearnable. Other myths involve opportunities for learning; that they must be created by the teacher, that the time to learn expression will come naturally, or that the dancer can create her own learning opportunity. Conditions that influence learning is another category of myths, such as "The classroom is not conducive to expression," or "I just can’t learn to be expressive right now." Other categories of myths regard "personal process involved in learning" and "personal capacity for learning" (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991, p. 12). These myths could work against learning personal expression if they place control of the learning situation outside of the individual. I probably went through most of these negative myths at one time or another while trying to learn to be expressive. Developing personal expression in ballet requires "challenging the robot," to pull away from dutifully following the teacher’s example. Existing skills and attitudes must be broken and new ones put in their place (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991, p. 102). This requires a change in the way of thinking about what ballet is all about. The dancer must assume control of her own body as an instrument of expression, not just a machine executing steps.

This type of learning is explained by the conversational paradigm which holds the learner responsible for constructing her own meaning (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991, p. 21). At this point, ballet must become self-organized through conversations with oneself and others about the process of learning, "to observe, search, analyze, formulate, reflect and review on the basis of such encounters" (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, Self-Organized Learning, p. 17). Expression can not be taught to someone, it must be learned by the individual through exploration of herself. Mrs. LeVine would tell us that our legs executed the movements but our upper body danced. From about midsection of the torso and up (she would place her hands on the spot), our emotions should flow up and out to reach the audience. Ballet is expressive; it tells a story through movement. Although we were all dancing the same story, we had to find our own voice with which to tell it. The only way to do this was to have Learning Conversations with myself which involved much reflection about the feelings in the story, and my own feelings.

Mrs. LeVine helped us find our voices by encouraging us to perform in the company. I was first able to feel that my body was my voice when I played a character or role on stage. One of the first roles I ever performed was an Arabian Attendant in the Second Act of the Nutcracker. I used my creative roles to explore possibilities, try them out, see how I felt and what the artistic director’s reaction was, and then judge which changes were successful (Von Oech, 1986). After many rehearsals, I was able to use my upper body and posture to express my role as a prim little Arabian servant girl whose duty was to pour tea for the prince. That role at age 11 was my first experience when I felt that I was speaking through dance. By the time I was a senior in high school, I had developed my own style of expression. I know this by the way I felt when I was dancing, the comments I received, and from watching the very blurry video tape of the performances and being able to pick myself out by the way I moved rather than simply remembering where I stood or what I did.

My many years spent in the ballet studio has shaped the way I deal with and learn in the other aspects of my life. I learned how to learn. There are many lessons that can be learned at the surface level, as the five positions of the arms and feet were learned. Attention to detail, and careful mimicking of the expert’s example is very important in some situations. Other situations require going beyond simple imitation into adapting my unique experiences and techniques to teach myself, such as in finding my center. This involves personal reflection and input. Still other situations can not be taught at all, like developing upper body expression, but can only be learned through deep reflection. These are the lessons about myself that only I can discover.

Life, like ballet, is always presenting new challenges. I always strive to be better, to perfect my existing technique, to expand my expression to the changing situations, and to the changing me. Like the professional ballerinas, I know I am never finished learning, and I will never settle for what I have already accomplished as good enough. I will continue to use learning conversations and my creative roles to determine the best plan of action to learn and grow.

After quitting ballet for the first two years of college to experience being a "normal student," I started taking the adult class at the Dance Studio on the square here in Kirksville. I soon realized that ballet fulfills my basic needs: survival (I can succeed in a ballet class), I feel love and belonging in a studio, I feel power (I am in control of my own body), I am free to express myself creatively, and I have fun doing it (Glasser, 1986, p. 23)! No surprise, I have been much happier since I started dancing again. I also have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to teach several beginning ballet classes in Kirksville and Milan, Missouri. It is so rewarding to watch the excitement and satisfaction on my young students’ faces when they perform a new step, or successfully adapt a correction. Teaching ballet let me see the experiences of learning the five positions, trying to find my center, and attempting to use my arms expressively in a whole new way. I now have more of an appreciation for how my wonderful dance teachers helped me learn how to learn.

Glasser, W. (1986). Control Theory in the Classroom. New York: Harper & Row.

Harri-Augstein, S. and Thomas, L. (1991). Learning Conversations. London: Routledge.

Harri-Augstein, S. and Thomas, L. Self Organized Learning.

Oech, R. Von (1986). A Kick in the Seat of the Pants. New York: Harper Perennial.