Ballet Styles Explained: Which One is Right For You?

Comments · 779

• BA

  @balletreign · 2 years ago · pinned

  COMMENT BELOW to let us know what member of the Ballet Friend Group you are!  Thanks for watching, ballet nerds ❤️❤️

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• GO

  @gonefishing167 · 2 years ago

  Very old phrase.  “Italy invented it, France refined and named it .  Then Russia took it and made it their own.”   Hard to argue with.  Thank you girls 🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰👵🇦🇺

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• JU

  @julianomuertas · 2 years ago

  For latin American's dancers the cuban style is one of our pillars too, and with this video I see that it has a lot of things from different schools, specially English and Russian

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• PH

  @phillipvelinov3892 · 2 years ago (edited)

  In a conversation with Irina Kolpakova,  one of Vaganova’s last students who is absolutely incredible and is still coaching very fortunate dancers at ABT in her 90s, she shared that Vaganova did a great deal of work to refine all the “port de bras” and coordination of arms, upper body and head movements. She did not invent the Russian method of teaching ballet , but she rather systematized, recorded, and refined the method that already existed. Irina also shared that Vaganova was an incredibly caring and supportive teacher who was there for her even after graduation. As we know, there are many paths to the top of the mountain and each ballet style of teaching can take a student there, as long as there is consistency in the training and the teacher(s) really know the method they are teaching and can find a way to inspire their students.

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• MA

  @MarijeK · 2 years ago

  You guys!! You touched on everything!<br><br>I&apos;m a Cecchetti teacher, and I would like to add that both Cecchetti and RAD (like you said) are very much suited for recreational dancers. <br><br>Cecchetti has a similar system with grades for students, to work towards the hard stuff. So the lack of allongé in RAD, is very handy when you teach children or recreational dancers. Because they can&apos;t get confused or distracted as much, and work on strength first. <br><br>I don&apos;t think you would find a lot of professional dancers that are just Cecchetti or RAD trained, they would usually spend some time at a school that teaches a style that is more like what is done on stage today (you also mentioned that).<br><br>On the other hand, as Vaganova is designed for the perfect, professional student, it is hard to use that style to teach recreational dancers... A teacher would need to know exactly what they&apos;re doing, adjusting the syllabus toward amateur students. Sadly, where I come from, I see a lot of shabby teaching, lack of strength and lots of aimless arm flapping. They also don&apos;t have the examinations, that are a test for the teachers as well. Vaganova is beautiful when taught well to carefully selected students. (You did say that) (this video was perfect, thank you).

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• MA

  @Maria.0.1 · 2 years ago

  I’m a 100% a Vaganova girl. I saw the Nutcracker in the Mariinski theatre and I cried the whole time. It was truly one of the most magical and moving experiences I’ve had. Their dancers are truly incredible ♥️

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• CL

  @claraaa07 · 2 years ago

  I’m really sad you didn’t talk about the Cuban Method. It was so groundbreaking for the dance culture in America, and creates such great, expressive and virtuosic dancers. It’s a shame it isn’t well known.

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• JM

  @JMA864 · 2 years ago

  I’d like to hear how dancers adapt when they move to a company with a different style. How much are they expected to re-form their technique? Like, has Vadim Muntagirov become more RAD in movement after being at the Royal Ballet?

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• LA

  @lauramathews3151 · 2 years ago (edited)

  Balanchine is like if Tigger taught Ballet.

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• CH

  @christiecakes014 · 2 years ago

  I trained with the Vaganova style and loved it; everything just seemed more expressive and I loved being able to put in little dramatic flairs in my dancing. I remember being part of a children&apos;s cast for the Moscow Ballet&apos;s Nutcracker tour and just naturally did something with my arms and head during a leap and the instructor just went &apos;Very Vaganova - everyone, do that!&apos; Also, I don&apos;t think I could&apos;ve ever done those front-side fouettes lol

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• OL

  @oliviafyfe4759 · 2 years ago

  I did RAD as a teen and now I&apos;ve joined a Checchetti school as an adult. I find the differences between the techniques endlessly fascinating - also can confirm that Checchetti frappes are HARD!

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• CH

  @charliebradley-ye3cf · 2 years ago

  cecchetti mentioned!! i&apos;m a cecchetti dancer, i&apos;ve done almost all the exams and im so glad you guys featured it! i never really see people talk about the method and all the things you talked about were so well explained, thank you for all your work ❤️

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