Friday, July 27th - Saturday, August 4th
I am truly blessed in having a friend who lives in Bickington, near Newton Abbot, Devon. So with a week off between courses, my husband booked me on a Flybe flight from Manchester Airport to Exeter. Sarah and Ollie picked me up at Exeter Airport and we had a relaxing week together walking the moors of Dartmoor, shopping in Exeter, resting, eating and watching Olympics on the telly! From Exeter, I trained it to Chichester on Saturday, August 4th. The railways in England are safe, fast, efficient and not cheap!
Saturday, August 4th - Tuesday, August 7th
This 4-day PDC intensive focused on children's work, standards (England has Standards 1 through 6), as well as Grades 1 through 6, Elementary and Intermediate Syllabi. Even though England's grades differ from the Cecchetti Council of America (CCA), as an experienced mature teacher, I found the course both enlightening and very enriching. Faculty included ex-professionals: Simone Clarke (Birmingham Royal and English National Ballet), as well as Martin Dutton and Peter Parker (Northern Ballet). Additionally, Cecchetti examiners: Christine Axon, Alison Jenner, Penny Kay and Elisabeth Swan, taught syllabus classes.
The first two days began with open warm-up classes and progressed from Grades 1 through 4. These open classes included emphasis on barre work with analysis of technique and teaching pointe as well as port de bras and adage. Penny Kay taught very creative primary/standards classes that included an "Olympic" theme, and two Pilate's classes were held by Sarah Jane Palmer. Classes began at 9:00 am and concluded at 5:00 pm daily. However, the first three evenings included additional activities of a Welcome Reception, a Mock Grade 4 Level Exam, and a very entertaining Music Lecture/Demonstration by Brian Wilson. This enabled all of us to socialize, share our experiences, commiserate with our aches and pains, as well as make new international friends! Scholarship recipients were presented with certificates (I will frame my Sylvia Hamer Scholarship Certificate), and wine/snacks were served in celebration. Maria, from Norway and Sharon, from Ireland travelled from Kate's course to Chichester as well as myself, so we were pleasantly surprised to continue our camaraderie in Chichester and discover that we were all scholarship recipients.
The last two days of the course included the syllabi work as well as specific classes in "The Teaching of Pirouettes" by Martin Dutton, "Boys Work" with Peter Parker and "Qualities in Petit and Grande Allegro and Ballon" with Simone Clarke. All three ex-professionals are proficient teachers who inspired their audience on and off the dance floor.
I particularly enjoyed learning the new graded work from Grade 4, Elementary V and Intermediate VI, but couldn't help but compare steps and combinations to the CCA's syllabi. Some combinations were brand new to me, while others were just in different places/grades. Overall, I found that England had more combinations, that I believe would aid exam candidates in transitioning from one grade to the next, facilitating a greater success rate. For example, in CCA's Grade III, we introduce the basic step of jete entournant. Obviously, we would break this down as we taught our students/teachers, but it is first performed in full without music in Grade III then in the across the floor combination (demi-contre-temps combination) in Grade IV. England presents this step from corner to corner, beginning with a couru and grande battement devant with temps leve ending with a chasse tendu to 3rd arabesque. After several repetitions, this progresses into the actual jete entournant. I think I liked England's 'version' as opposed to the CCA's, simply because there were more opportunities to actually move and dance! Grade IV also had similar combinations that included running, posing and then repeating immediately on the other side. I feel this would help give any exam candidate a sense of performance, presentation and continuity.
Overall, I feel I gained invaluable insight and knowledge into teaching the details, technique and style of the Cecchetti method. The similarities outweighed the differences in the fact that every teacher at this conference was passionate about preserving the Cecchetti method and teaching the best ballet technique this world will ever know.
My new friend and colleague from Ireland, Sharon Johnston, was presented with "The Emmerson Shield" by Christine Axon, Examiner and Organizer of this course. The Emmerson Shield is presented at the end of each summer school to a teacher whom the faculty have noted as being outstandingly dedicated and an all round asset to the PDC. I hope to see her in Michigan sometime soon, and better yet, I hope to see everyone in England again. I can't wait to return!