Throwback Thursday and Jack Cole

Throwback Thursday and Jack Cole

Jack Cole, often called the “Father of Jazz Dance” began his career with Denishawn in the summer of 1930. When he joined the company he had essentially no training, but after only six weeks he was cast in a production. His early training was Cecchetti, but later he studied with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. He developed a style all his own that incorporated a low plié with steps that had a jazzy feel.

He later studied the Bharata Natyam technique of India and added it to his developing modern and jazz style. He was also influenced by dance in areas like Africa, the Caribbean and Harlem. Blending them all together he created his own technique, one that is often described as “slinky” or “cat-like”, involving abrupt changes of direction, isolations and knee slides.

Among his Broadway works were Magdalena (1948), Kismet (1953), Jamaica (1957), plus Donnybrook and Kean in 1961. At Columbia Pictures in Hollywood he started a workshop to train dancers. At Twentieth Century Fox he coached such stars as Ann Miller and Marilyn Monroe. Jack Cole’s films included Eadie Was a Lady (1945), Down to Earth (1947), On the Riviera (1951), and Some Like It Hot (1959).

Jack Cole was an inspiration to many of the most famous dancers and choreographers of the day, including Gwen Verdon, Matt Mattox, Marc Platt, Carol Haney, Rod Alexander and many others. He influenced the style of almost everything dancers do in jazz classes (and in some modern classes)today.

Jack Cole died in Los Angeles, California on February 17, 1974.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Dance History Factoid #104:  

“Jack Cole was called “the Father of Jazz Dance”.

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcwwcPvoCjU

Quote of the Day:

“The trouble with choreography is you have to get the person out of the way before you can bring out the dancer.”

-          Jack Cole

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Wacky Wednesday Why

Wacky Wednesday Why

Every dance teacher has heard this question:  “Why is ballet so hard?” Well, a glance at the above illustration will explain it. It shows all the things that must happen to achieve a good first position. 

Ballet technique has evolved over hundreds of years to be what it is: a very successful method for training the body and mind.That being said, it is an intricate system, complicated and complex. Learning it mentally and physically is challenging to say the least. But it works if the student does. The system could be sold with an 800 number and come with a guarantee. Every ballet student that works diligently will learn to dance well.

It is not easy. Every dancer finds out early that this is true. But the pursuit of good ballet technique is wonderful, exhilarating, rewarding – often frustrating – but if you love it, it is worth it!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Secret #22:  

“ The intricacy of ballet technique makes it challenging.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjsKJq26an8

Quote of the Day:

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”
― Albert Einstein

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Technical Tuesday Entrelacé

Technical Tuesday Entrelacé

Entrelacé is an interesting step and can have slightly different meanings depending upon the teacher and/or school of training. According to Ballet Hub (https://ballethub.com/ballet-term/entrelace/), entrelacé “is another term used to describe tour jeté”.

I have most often seen it used  to mean a step that starts like a grand jeté en tournant (tour jeté), but in the air the dancer fouettés, and lands with the working leg in front (devant), instead of landing in arabesque. So, this is actually grand jeté en tournant entrelacé, and the work “entrelacé” is used with (to modify) whatever step is being performed (in this case grand jete en tournant). Thus, entrelacé is not used as a stand-alone term.

The ABT site: http://www.abt.org/education/dictionary/terms/jete_tour.html says this: "A term of the Russian School, this jete is done in all directions and in a circle. It is usually preceded by a chasse or pas couru to give impetus to the jump. In the French School this is calle "grand jete desus entournant; in the Cecchetti method: "grandjete en tournant en arriere."

So, as you can see, there are several ways of defining entrelacé.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Secret #15uu:  

“Entrelacé means “interlaced”.

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKtBEuU9jNo

Quote of the Day:

“Some people are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.” 
― Steve Maraboli

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Mad Monday Creepy

Mad Monday Creepy

One of the most problematic areas for port de bras is the first port de bras performed when the working leg is going from passé to arabesque or attitude derrière. This is because in this movement, the torso moves up and forward to compensate for the weight of the leg in derrière.

Thus, because of this necessary forward shift, the arms must move forward too, and at the same time as the leg is doing the développé.  If not, the body moves into the arms, causing the elbows to lead and creating a “creepy” looking port de bras. Whenever a dancer leads with the elbows it creates a bat-like pattern: creepy.

So remember to lead with the fingertips and open the arms forward before opening them out.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Secret #6mm:  

“Avoid “creepy arms” especially in développés derrière.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9LgNloi040

Quote of the Day:

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Sunday Write It

Sunday Write It

An end-of-the-year activity I often do with my students is the Ten-Year Plan. I ask them to write down where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years. Then, I collect the papers and file them away.

Students have contacted me years later to ask if I still have their papers. I do have them, and I’m working toward digitizing all of them. When I get a request, I send a copy to that student, unless they want the original. It is interesting for both of us to see how their lives evolved. Sometimes they are doing exactly what they laid out years before, but most of the time their path has been very different, and often surprising.

But you can do this right now, with a ten-year plan, or a five-year, a one-year, or whatever. Write down what you want in the future and file the paper away where you can find it later. It will motivate you to you put your plans on paper, and this is a technique many people use.

Try it!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Motivational Secret #108:  

“Write your ten-year plan.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhPazUfoFV8

Quote of the Day:

“You can't stop the future
You can't rewind the past
The only way to learn the secret
...is to press play.”
― Jay Asher

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Super Saturday Orbit

Super Saturday Orbit

A retiré, or passé, should never float around the knee. When this occurs, it appears to be a planetary body orbiting around the knee, like a planet orbiting around the sun. This also ruins the alignment  since the “orbiting body” tends to pull the dancer off center.

There is always contact with the knee, especially during pirouettes, yet this is the most common place for orbiting retirés. While it is true that the foot doesn’t rest against the knee, it doesn’t orbit either. Think Ronco passé holder: http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2016/02/wacky-wednesday-passe-holder.html,  There is a light but constant contact between foot and knee during the pirouette – or any other time the dancer is in retiré or passé.

Stamp out orbiting passés!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Statute #64:  

“Beware of orbiting passés.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_H15mY7ZXw

Quote of the Day:

“Wisdom is the remnant of being aware (being conscious)”
― Aniekee Tochukwu

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Fun Friday Feet

Fun Friday Feet

Happy April Fool’s Day! No, I’m not going to try and fool you with today’s blog.

Let’s talk about feet. Those all important things at the end of your legs. We are all familiar with how to stretch (point) them – or are we? So often I see students (usually the highly motivated ones) who point their feet so hard that the toes clench as though they are holding onto a wire, like a bird. Ow!

I don’t use the term “point” as often as I say “stretch”. I believe this works better to describe the correct action of the foot. There is an elongation, but there should never be a clench (where the toes curl under and almost point back toward the heel).

Also, when the foot is acting as the supporting foot, the toes are relaxed and all five toes must maintain contact with the floor.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Secret #22w:  

“When pointing the foot, do not clench the toes.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plUhhsKaC4Y

Quote of the Day:

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.”
― Amit Ray

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