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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with with permission permission of the of copyright the copyright owner. owner.Further reproduction Further reproduction prohibited without prohibited permission. without permission. ENRICO CECCHETTI: TAKING THE PAST
INTO THE FUTURE
by
Kirsten Marie Koeraer
submitted to the
Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences
of American University
in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts
in
Dance
Chair:' Naima Prevots
Rob Esposito
j O t V v - - iela Moore
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Date ^ 2001
American University
Washington, D.C. 20016 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRAS'
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1405484
Copyright 2001 by Koemer, Kirsten Marie
All rights reserved.
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Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © COPYRIGHT
BY
KIRSTEN MARIE KOERNER
2001
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ENRICO CECCHETTI: TAKING THE PAST INTO THE FUTURE
BY
Kirsten Marie Koemer
ABSTRACT
Enrico Cecchetti was both a reflection of the time in which he worked and an
innovator who helped to usher in changes in the world of dance. The purpose of this
study is to investigate and analyze the contributions of Cecchetti throughout his career as
a dancer, teacher, and theoretician, and the lasting impact that is still seen today.
Currently, there are no comprehensive explorations into Cecchetti’s life and career that
analyze his theory and why it was developed, and what makes this training method
unique. With each new generation of teachers and dancers, some of the performance
quality instilled in Cecchetti trained students is lost. Therefore, there is an urgent need to
document these qualities. Research for this project was done not only through collection
of printed material, but also the author’s ongoing personal study of the Cecchetti Method
from Standards A through Diploma level.
ii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to thank just a few of the many individuals who helped
contribute to this project, especially to her coach Pamela Moore and the teachers’ class at
the National Ballet School of Maryland, and the faculty of the American University,
especially Naima Prevots. Thanks also go to the rest of the faculty, staff, and students of
the National Ballet. The author also appreciates the encouragement and contributions of
many members of the Cecchetti Council of America, and in particular the East Coast
Committee. Thank you also to Katherine van den Heuvel, for modeling for the
photographs included in this paper.
m
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT...... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... iii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS...... v
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION...... 1
2. BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND...... 6
3. NON-CECCHETTI TRAINING METHODS ...... 10
4. CECCHETTI PEDAGOGY ...... 16
5. CECCHETTI’S CLASS AS A SYLLABUS...... 28
6. THE USE OF THE CHILDREN’S GRADES...... 34
7. CECCHETTI’S INFLUENCE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE...... 38
APPENDIX...... 50
BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 65
iv
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Figure Page
1. The Eight Fixed Points of the Practice Room...... 50
2. The Five Positions of the Head...... 51
3. Epaulement...... 52
4. Body Alignment...... 52
5. Positions of the Feet and Arms...... 53
6. Derivative and Softened Arm Positions...... 55
7. Hand Positions...... 57
8. Ten Movements of the Foot...... 58
9. Cecchetti Attitudes...... 60
10. Cecchetti Arabesques...... 61
11. Eight Body Positions...... 62
12. Other Cecchetti Positions...... 64
v
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Enrico Cecchetti was not only a reflection o f the times in which he worked, but
was also an innovator who helped to usher in changes in the world of dance. The purpose
of this study is to investigate and analyze the contributions of Cecchetti throughout his
career as a dancer and teacher and the lasting impact that is still seen today
Bom literally into the theatre, in a dressing room at the Apollo Theatre in
Tordinona, Italy following a performance on June 21, 1850, Enrico Cecchetti made an
early mark on the dance world as an outstanding technician. He had studied with
teachers such as Giovanni Lepri and Cesare Coppini, proteges of the celebrated
pedagogue Carlo Blasis. Although Blasis did not coach Enrico Cecchetti, he observed
the young man in rehearsals and predicted a successful future. Another influential
teacher in his training was Fillippo Taglioni, ballerina Marie Taglioni’s father and coach.
Cecchetti first found success as a performer. His career included performing as a
child with his family on a tour of the United States in 1858, and continued with tours
throughout Europe and Russia throughout the 1860s and 1870s. He formed his own
small troupe in 1882. This group continued to tour through 1887, when Cecchetti, at age
37, was invited to join the Maryinsky Ballet as a principal dancer and assistant ballet
master to Marius Petipa.
Through his career as a performer, Cecchetti was celebrated as a partner for his
pas de deux lifts. He performed such feats as lifting and carrying the ballerina over his
l
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head on the palm of his hand. He was also appreciated for his own technique, with his
exciting performance quality and superior technical prowess, which included the ability
to perform multiple pirouettes and entrechats. His talents are credited with re-
popularizing the role of the male dancer following the Romantic era, during which the
ballerina reigned supreme.
While not celebrated as a great choreographer, Enrico Cecchetti did leave his
mark. Marius Petipa, ballet master of the Maryinsky Theatre, was not known for his
talents in choreographing men’s variations, so it is almost certain that Cecchetti, as
second in command and the originator of the role, was left to his own devices in the
Bluebird variation ofSleeping Beauty. With the numerous brises voles and multiple
pirouettes, the solo carries many of Cecchetti’s trademark steps. Later in his career with
Serge de Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Cecchetti was appreciated for his talents as a mime.
Young choreographers such as Leonide Massine and Michel Fokine created character
roles specifically for him.
Enrico Cecchetti left a significant impression on dance through his work as a
teacher and theoretician. He developed his method based upon what he learned from his
teachers. Marie Taglioni saw similarities in his teachings to her own father’s approach.
Cecchetti developed this method, which was later codified and published in 1922 by his
former students, while teaching at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, Russia. It
was there that Cecchetti trained dancers of such magnitude as Mathilde Kschessinska,
Olga Preobrajenska, Vera Trefilova, Agrippina Vaganova, Tamara Karsavina, Anna
Pavlova, and Vaslav Nijinsky, to name a few. While stressing strict classicism,
Cecchetti was a pioneer in the analytical approach to pedagogy. He knew exactly what
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each step was for, why it was practiced, and what it developed in the dancer. He was
well aware that each of his students had a unique physical build, distinct personality, and
individual technical difficulties and artistic requirements. Each day, he stressed different
movements, re-arranging the basic steps to form enchainements that challenged the
students both physically and mentally. To further tailor his lessons to his students’ needs,
Cecchetti attended performances almost daily and based the next day’s class on the
difficulties encountered in performance. The current training method reflects his
awareness of anatomy and safely builds strong dancers who adapt well to different styles
of ballet and other techniques of dance.
While in Russia, Cecchetti taught daily company classes not only for the
Maryinsky dancers, but also for the future dancers who were trained at the Imperial
Ballet School. In 1909, when Serge de Diaghilev first brought a troupe of Russian
dancers to Paris, Cecchetti was invited to travel with the fledgling company. While the
stars of the performance came from the Maryinsky Theatre, the members of the corps de
ballets were obtained wherever they could be found. Young dancers of various
nationalities were found in the countries to which the company traveled. Cecchetti’s
teaching methods evened out a company of uneven abilities. In 1911, when the
company developed into the Ballets Russes, a full-fledged touring group, many dancers
refused to join unless Enrico Cecchetti was also hired as the company teacher, because
they would miss their classes with him. With the exception of a brief tour during the
1913-1914 season with Anna Pavlova’s company, Cecchetti remained a part of the
Ballets Russes until 1918. Together with the best dancers, artists and musicians,
Cecchetti and Diaghilev ushered in a new era of dance. The tradition of classical ballet
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formed the foundation for progress toward a more contemporary art. The discipline and
technical proficiency of the dancers trained by Cecchetti allowed for a freedom of
expression in the new contemporary forms with which the Ballets Russes experimented.
Following his retirement from the Ballets Russes in 1918, Cecchetti opened his
own school in London where members of the Ballets Russes and Anna Pavlova’s
company studied whenever possible. That same year, a London bookseller, author, and
balletomane named Cyril Beaumont had the opportunity to observe some of Cecchetti’s
classes. He recognized the highly personal, yet systematic method of teaching and
wished to preserve this method before Cecchetti was too old to teach anymore. With the
help of one of Cecchetti’s students, Stanislas Idzikowski and Cecchetti himself^
Beaumont prepared the first comprehensive discourse on dance since Carlo Blasis. The
resulting work, A Manual o f the Theory and Practice o f Classical Theatrical Dancing
(Cecchetti Method) was first published in 1922. Another more thorough book, the
Manual, was published in 1966. Yet another manual,Classical Dance: A Complete
Manual o f the Cecchetti Method, written by his son Grazioso Cecchetti was published in
1995. None of these works are, by any means complete, but they are attempts at the
incredibly difficult task of preserving dance by describing a living art in words to be
handed down to subsequent generations of dancers. These writings are still somewhat
controversial in that many feel that dance should be done and not discussed, but with so
few of Cecchetti’s own students still alive, they serve the important purpose of
documenting his high standards and remarkable training methods that are still used today.
Another facet of Cecchetti’s legacy is that he gave his name to the societies who preserve
his work and the classical ideals they represent. Members of these groups are found all
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over the world: including in the United States, Canada, England, Australia, South Africa,
Jamaica, and Haiti. Cecchetti’s exercises are preserved not only in the various manuals
used by teachers and students of the method, but live on in the training of new
generations of dancers. The societies regulate and maintain standards of dancing through
the use of exams for both teachers and students based upon Cecchetti’s methods and
ideology.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 2
BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND
At first glance, the agricultural port town of Civitanova Marche, on the coastline
of the Adriatic Sea, seems an unlikely spot for the birthplace of an enduring ballet
dynasty. This is, however, the ancestral home of Enrico Cecchetti, second generation in a
family of dancers and the man for whom a worldwide dance training method is named.
Nicola Cecchetti, Enrico’s great grandfather, moved to Civitanova Marche from
Fermo in the early 1700s in an attempt to build a better life for himself. Although poor,
Civitanova Marche was not without its cultural influences. The Cesarini Sforza family
that had ruled the town for centuries founded the Argentina Theatre in Rome, and in 1769
Buranello composed the operaII Filosofo in Villa for the town. In addition, the town is
identified with the Salterello, a popular medieval dance, and, with the Mattaccini, a
Renaissance court dance drawn from the Mattacino songs by the poet Annibal Caro.
Nicola’s grandson Cesare did not initially have an interest in dance until he met
Serafina Casagli, a beautiful ballerina who captured his heart. Cesare studied with the
celebrated ballet teacher Carlo Blasis and went on to a successful career after his
marriage to Serafina. His career included a production oLa f Sylphide as the witch
Madge with Marie Taglioni as the Sylph. Cesare’s sister Maria was also a dancer, and it
is believed that Antonio and Raffaella Cecchetti, whose names appear in documents
related to productions such asII Diavolo Innamorato, Manon Lescaut, Rodolfo, La
Favorita e las Schiava, and Cleopatra, are also siblings o f Cesare and Maria. Following
6
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their marriage in 1847, Cesare and Serafina had three children who survived infancy to
go on to become dancers. The middle child, Enrico, is of primary interest due to his
accomplishments as a teacher. It should be noted that two of his children, Riccardo and
Grazioso, and Grazioso’s son Riccardo carried on the family tradition of dancers.
Continually travelling with his parents, Enrico made an early debut in the theatre.
In 1855, he appeared with his father in II Giucatore as the gambler’s son. One scene
called for his father to throw him to the ballerina playing his mother and for the son to
cry. One night Signorita Santaticante, one of the foremost ballerinas of the time, dropped
Enrico, causing him to hit his nose and to cry real tears. The audience demanded several
curtain calls for what they thought was such a natural performance.1 In 1857, when
Enrico was seven years old, he performed in the United States of America with his family
in Domenico Ronzani’sIIBirchirino di Parigi, which featured Enrico as the urchin.
The family returned to Italy by 1859, at which time his parents decided it was
time for Enrico’s itinerant life to end, so they arranged for him to attend an academic
school in Fermo, Italy. Rather than study, Enrico spent most of his time practicing
dancing and stayed at the school for only one year. His parents relented to his begging
and enrolled him in classes with Giovanni Lepri, a contemporary of Cesare and protege
of Carlo Blasis. Enrico’s parents once again tried unsuccessfully to give Enrico a more
stable life by enrolling him in a seminary when he was age thirteen. Enrico’s second
attempt at an academic education came to an end quickly after a master whipped him for
something he hadn’t done. In a fit of rage, Enrico threw an inkpot and hit the man. He
1 Livia Brillarelli,Cecchetti: A Ballet Dynasty (Toronto: Dance Collection Danse Educational Publications, 1995), 13.
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was expelled from school, never to return. His parents gave up for good and re-enrolled
him in Lepri’s school.
Although Blasis was officially retired from teaching, he often observed Giovanni
Lepri’s classes and rehearsals at La Scala. One day, he inquired about Enrico and
predicted a great future and successful career for the boy, encouraging him to continue
working hard, no matter how great the applause and praise he received from the public.
After performing annually in Lepri’s student performances and occasionally in children’s
roles in the ballets at La Scala, Enrico made his professional debut at age 16 in his
father’s ballet Nicolo de Lapi, performed at the Pagliamo Theatre in Florence, and
partnered his sister Pia, who was, by then already a prima ballerina. At age 20, he made
his debut at La Scala in Milan, the most prestigious theatre in Italy. With a lead role in
La Dea d el Walhalla, this opportunity was one that could make or break his career as a
dancer. Although ultimately a success, the evening was not without its difficulties. In his
first entrance, he miscalculated his landing from a leap and fell. Later in the same act, he
ran too close to the greasy candles at the proscenium and fell again. He also had to
partner a rather unpopular ballerina, which would not help him gain favor with the
audience. At the end of the pas de deux, Enrico discovered that a large container of oil to
be used during the second act fell to the stage as it was being hoisted up the back of the
scenery. In light of the disasters that had already struck, Enrico began to question
whether or not he should do the turns he had planned for the second act. Previously,
executing three or four turns in the second position had been seen as tremendously
difficult, but Enrico had planned thirty-two turns in succession! He made the decision
that if he failed, he would quit dancing and enlist as a soldier the following day. Luckily
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for the sake of dancers everywhere, he succeeded at the turns and was declared a great
talent.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 3
NON-CECCHETTI TRAINING METHODS
Enrico Cecchetti’s method of training dancers was not the first method of dance
training, nor will it be the last. Cecchetti was influenced by Carlo Blasis, the teacher of
his own teacher Giovanni Lepri, who, in turn, influenced one of his own pupils,
Agrippina Vaganova. In theory, the methods have much in common. In interpretation
and execution, however, the methods have their variations.
Carlo Blasis, Italian dancer, teacher, and choreographer, also authored theCode o f
Terpsichore, the “backbone” of classical dance, in 1828. He trained under Jean
Dauberval, and later worked with Salvatore Vigano. Blasis enjoyed a long and
distinguished career first at La Scala in Milan, then at the King’s Theatre in London, and
later at the Maryinsky in St. Petersburg. Eventually, he was appointed to be the director
of the Royal Academy of Dance at La Scala.
Carlo Blasis’ Code o f Terpsichore does not offer daily lessons, as do the methods
of Cecchetti and Vaganova, but offers sound advice to dancers on their training and
undertaking of daily exercises. His influence on Cecchetti’s theories is readily apparent,
especially in the discussion of the carriage of the torso and arms, the importance of the
equilibrium of the body, and the relationship of the arm movements to the leg movements
of a dancer. Blasis warns that a dancer’s movements should be “energetic and strong,
but, at the same time [to] beware lest these qualities degenerate into faults, by stiffness
10
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and a painful tension of the nerves.”1 He was adamant that the arm movements should not
reflect the same qualities as the movements executed by the legs. In the training of a
dancer, Blasis felt that special exercises needed to be done specifically for the arms and
torso to allow them to remain pliant, no matter what the movements of the legs. The
arms should be the frame that sets off the “picture” made by the legs. He also warned
that these positions and movements are different for every dancer according to his or her
stature and build. It is from these theories that Cecchetti based his eight port de bras
exercises.
Blasis’ theories also address the issue of equilibrium of the dancer’s body, not
only while standing upright, but also while turning, moving the arms, etc. When Blasis
was teaching, multiple pirouettes were a new development in ballet, and the turns would
not be possible without the exact placement of the body over the legs and the legs over
the foot. He taught that the body’s weight must be placed fully over the entire front of
the foot with all five toes spread on the ground. As turns are performed not only
perfectly upright, but also in attitudes, arabesques, a la seconde, and in any other position
imaginable, the torso and the arms should also balance the body and leg, and in their
positioning, add to the impetus of the turn. From these theories, it is likely that Cecchetti
developed his many “medicine turn” exercises that involve rotating anywhere from once
to eight times in any prescribed position with many different endings.
Carlo Blasis devoted a section of theCode o f Terpsichore to the discussion of the
history and importance of mime to theatrical dancing. At the time that he wrote the work,
pantomime was an integral part of telling a story through dance. Not only did he
1 Carlo Blasis,The Code o f Terpsichore, 2nd ed , trans. R. Barton (London: Edward Bull, 1926), 206.
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emphasize the importance of clearly conveying meaning through gesture and mime, but
also the historical background of the Italian Commedia del’Arte characters in Italian
traditional pantomime. The Commedia del’Arte characters included Harlequin,
Columbine, and Pantalon, among many others. The pantomimes performed by these
characters were popular, and dancing was eventually added to the performances. As
ballet developed, the mime was passed down to the dancers and continues to be very
much a part of the tradition of classical ballet. While the Cecchetti method of dance
training does not specifically address pantomime, Enrico Cecchetti was considered to be
a superb actor in his character roles, such as the wicked fairy Carabosse Sleepingin
Beauty. Surely as the ballet master first for the Maryinsky Ballet and then for the Ballets
Russes, he would have coached his dancers and students in their acting as well as in
Just as Cecchetti derived his theory from his teacher’s teacher Carlo Blasis, one of
Cecchetti’s own pupils from the Imperial School derived her theories from his work. As
a teacher, Agrippina Vaganova was dissatisfied with what she called the “old school” of
dancing, largely due to her own admitted lack of progress1. She rose through the ranks of
the ballet to the level o f ballerina, but only a year before her retirement from the stage.
She did, however prove to be a great teacher of ballet. She began to teach only after the
Russian Revolution of 1917 when there was a high demand for teachers. In 1921, she
joined the faculty of the Leningrad Choreographic School, formerly the Maryinsky
School, and began to try her own theories about dance. Among the dancers whom she
trained were Marina Semyonova, Natalia Dudinskaya, Galina Ulanova, and Irina
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Kolpakova, among scores of others. In 1957, six years after her death, the Leningrad
Choreographic School was named in her honor and a bust was placed in her honor
opposite that of Marius Petipa in the school’s Rehearsal Hall.
Agrippina Vaganova took what she felt worked well for her in her own training,
and built upon that. Just as Cecchetti had done, she had fixed points of the stage, set
arabesques and attitudes, and set arm positions, but she simplified them for her own
purposes. Like Cecchetti and his predecessors, she recommended tailoring the lessons,
even the set exercises, for the needs of each individual student, and treated the body as a
whole in the attempt to bring out each dancer’s assets while concealing his or her defects.
Where an accomplished student of both the Cecchetti and Vaganova methods of
training will find the biggest differences will be in the arms and head movements and in
the stretch of the legs in jumps. Rather than using the stretched, balanced, and sometimes
deliberately vague arm positions, Vaganova preferred to set positions of a la seconde and
en haut and positions, using these arms a bit higher on the body to assist with the lift of
the body. Where Cecchetti’s arms a la seconde follow the natural slope of the
shoulder, Vaganova’s were held at just below shoulder level. Cecchetti’s arms en haut
are held at a height where the dancer can look up with just his or her eyes and still see the
little fingers. Vaganova’s arms are held higher over the crown of the head in the position
Cecchetti considered to be “Spanish fifth.”
Another major difference noticed by pupils of both methods is the use of the
arms. One difference is in the facings of the arms as they travel from a la seconde to
arms en bas. For pupils o f Cecchetti, the arms will rotate naturally, without turning the
2 Aggripina Vaganova,Basic Principles of Classical Ballet (New York: Dover Publications, Inc, 1969), vi.
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palm or allowing the wrist to bend. For pupils of Vaganova, the arms will rotate to face
the floor, and the wrist is allowed to “give” slightly as the arms reach en has. The largest
points of contention between the two methods are in how and when the arms are used in
the classroom. The Cecchetti method is unique in that the arms are kept simple in the
class work, and are often just held in a low fifth position, such as they are at the barre and
au milieu. This allowed the dancers to concentrate on their placement and technique, and
helped to give them an overall “clean” appearance. The Cecchetti method is often
criticized for the simple arms, but those who study the method find that they must be well
placed and use the body properly, because they cannot compensate for any shortcomings
by using their arms. Rather than use the inclined head and epaulement of Cecchetti’s
work, Vaganova preferred to turn the body at an angle to the audience and turn the head
back to face the audience. Very rarely would she have her dancers face the audience
straight on as Cecchetti’s did. The overall effect is a stronger quality to the movements
than the flirtatiousness of the quality of the Cecchetti work.
Vaganova also discusses the stretch of the legs in a jump. She insists that the legs
should always be thoroughly stretched in a jump, and objects to the Italian method of
bending the knees to create the illusion of jumping higher.3 It is likely that this is due to
her interpretation of the relaxation of the knee and the passing of the soles of the feet in
these jumps. When performed correctly, this method of jumping showing the plie ecarte
does indeed create the illusion of staying in the air longer. Despite the differences in
3 Aggripina Vaganova,Basic Principles of Classical Ballet: Russian Ballet Technique, trans. Anatole Chujoy, (New York: Dover, 1969), viii.
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approach, both the Cecchetti and Vaganova methods allow for and encourage the
individual artistic interpretations o f their ideals.
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CECCHETTI PEDAGOGY
Just as the rules of grammar govern the use of language, Enrico Cecchetti’s work
has rules for the use and placement of the head, arms, hands, torso, feet and legs. Rather
than creating stiffness in the dancer, the practice of carefully planned exercises involving
every part of the body instills these rules in the dancer so that all the movements and
positions become second nature. In addition, he assigned numbers to certain fixed points
of the practice room and stage 1 to allow the dancers to follow precisely instructions as to
where they should face or travel. Once the dancer is able to relax, he or she is able to
dance instead of concentrating on exactly where the body is placed and how and where it
must move. There are five basic positions of the head 2 in the Cecchetti work: erect,
raised, lowered, turned, and inclined. They are usually used in combinations on top of the
epaulement to give depth to the movement, especially as the dancer faces flat to the
audience. Not only does this allow the dancer to look three-dimensional to the audience,
1 Figure 1 2 Figure 2
16
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but this also adds stability and control to the dancer. The use of the head and the
shoulders in epaulement places the weight o f the body in the optimal position to keep the
movement of the body continuously flowing.
According to Molly Lake3, a pupil o f Cecchetti, the use of the torso and head, and
what she describes as the Cecchetti “stance” is what allowed the flow of movement that
Cecchetti desired. In general, as the dancer travels forward or backward with lateral
movements such as glissades, jets, and assembles, the head is inclined over the side of the
body that finishes in front. When traveling forward, epaulement is used, rotating the
upper body while keeping the dancers’ body alignment; traveling back, the shoulders are
left square and only the head is used.4 If a dancer were to perform a series of assembles
dessus, or forward, the head would incline over the foot that finishes in front, and the
shoulder on the side that finishes front would be turned slightly forward. With the head
over the side of the body that is front, there is slightly more weight on the foot of the
front leg even though both feet are relaxed on the floor. This allows the back foot the
freedom to degage for the beginning of the next assemble. In assemble dessous, or
backward, the head still inclines over the foot that finishes in front, but the shoulders do
not move. In movements that travel forward or back, however, the head inclines into the
movement to assist the dancer with balance and control. In a series of polkas, for
example, the head inclines over the front foot while traveling forward. Traveling
3 Toby Bennett, “Cecchetti, Movement, and the Repertoire in Performance”Twenty-First in Annual Conference, by the Society of Dance History Scholars (Oregon: Society of Dance History Scholars, 1998), 206. 4 Figure 3
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backward, the head inclines over the back leg, which is the weight bearing leg, on each
step.
The Cecchetti work is not, of course, limited to facing the audience. When the
body turns to the diagonal, according to theM anual5, the main source of Cecchetti
theory, the head usually inclines away from the audience as if to show the neck and the
profile of the face. The primary exceptions to this rule are, of course, croise devant,
efface, and high elegant peer positions*. In these positions, the head is turned and inclined
toward the audience. There are also exceptions to these rules based on the desired quality
of movement, but the rules are considered to be a general guideline. In an exercise such
as a series of entrechats facing on the diagonal, the head inclined over the back shoulder
may give a quality of softness, shyness, flirtatiousness, or playfulness, the erect head
turned to the audience as is found in the Vaganova work, gives a stronger, more direct,
regal quality.
It should be noted that no matter what head movements are prescribed by each
method of working, all of the training methods use the same theory of head movement
when spotting a turn. As the body turns, the head is the last to leave and the first to
arrive. What sets the Cecchetti method apart, however, is the used of a “timed” or
“controlled” spot to help control the turns. This is not actually included in the teachings
of Cecchetti, but is widely used as a teaching tool among teachers of the method. Some
dancers will instinctively use the timed spot, while others may need to be taught. The use
of this spot, combined with the use of the feet and the plie, allows the dancer to turn once
5 Cyril W. Beaumont and Stanislas Idzikowski,A Manujal ofthe Theory and Practice o f Classical Theatrical Dancing. (New York: Dover Publications, 922), 29.
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or many times, and finish while remaining on half, three-quarter, or full pointe. In order
to turn many revolutions, the head must move quickly, whipping around so that the
momentum of the body is not lost. For one turn, or the last turn in a series that finishes
“up” still on one foot, the head remains behind just a little bit longer than on the multiple
turns and is slowed and thereby slowing the momentum of the turn. When the body and
head return to the front, the speed is sufficiently slowed so that the dancer can control the
turn and finish where he or she wishes.
Enrico Cecchetti was very exacting about where he wanted the arms placed for
every movement of the body and had one arm position, more for fourth and fifth position,
for each basic position of the feet.6 Building on these basic arm positions, there are also
demi positions and derivative positions.7
Choreography for the stage was, of course, not limited to Cecchetti’s set arm
positions, but in the classroom, they were a useful tool to prepare the dancer for fluidity
of movement in performance. The basic positions of the Cecchetti work, including the
fourth positions en avant and en haut and the fifth positions en bas, en avant, and en haut,
can be further adapted to include the half positions such as demi seconde, a position that
is halfway in between first and second position that is reached as the “breathing” arms are
used. Other commonly used half positions are the “hover” or “bird” arms of demi en
haut and the demi en bas that resembles a low fifth position en avant and is used mainly
used in pirouettes. These positions are seen in other methods, but are not specifically
taught as variations of basic arm positions. The Cecchetti method also utilizes softened
6 Figure 5 7 Figure 6
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positions such as the pas de chat arms, which are unique to the method. Other training
methods generally use positions identical to the Cecchetti fourth en avant or the Cecchetti
third position. Enrico Cecchetti, however, developed a pas de chat position of the arms
that when performed correctly, gives the entire step a unique grace. In this position, the
body is rotated toward the direction in which the dancer is travelling, and contracted
slightly forward at the waist, leaving the pelvis upright. The arm that curves in front of
the body is held at ninety degree angles with the focus of the head and eyes out over the
forearm, and the arm that is left behind extends back into an arabesque line. The low
elegant peer is similar in nature to the pas de chat position of the arms and body, but
without the rotation at the waist. Nearly identical are the gargoulliade and high elegant
peer positions, but with the body tilted up and back with a high focus over the shoulder.
Although these positions of the arms and body are very similar, they are used for
different purposes. The pas de chat and gargoulliade positions are used in movement,
especially allegro movements. The low and high elegant peers are sustained poses that
appear mainly in port de bras and adage work. These positions can be difficult for the
student to learn at first, but with some practice, the body’s muscle memory can find them
easily. On stage where lights often flatten movement, these positions on top of the
choreography for the legs and feet keep the dancer appearing three-dimensional.
No study of the Cecchetti work is complete without mention of the theory of the
movement of the arms in port de bras. When the arms pass from a low position to a high
position, they pass through the middle fifth. As they move from a high position to a low
position, they pass through second position, demi second, first, and low fifth. This is not
to say that there are not exceptions. The arms are nearly always balanced, even in
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symmetrical positions such as third position and its derivatives. It is important to note
that the arms should not reflect the quality of the legs. Where the legs appear strong and
often athletic, the arms should be quiet and soft for women, and quiet with strength for
the men. Above all is the importance of the beauty of the line. Cecchetti allowed for
physical differences between the dancers. Dancers with particularly long or short arms
would make adjustments to the way that they used their arms in order to achieve the same
look as the dancer with average length arms. The dancer with the long arms might round
them more, whereas the short armed dancer would extend his or hers more. The art is in
the illusion of appearing the same. Ease of movement of the arms is especially important
for the dancer as he or she moves and is expected to use the full port de bras. Rather than
taking the most direct route from one arm position to another, Cecchetti taught that the
arms pass through all of the positions in between two points. In other words, a dancer
passing from a second position of the arms to the fourth en avant would take the arm that
will finish in front of the body down through half second, first, fifth en bas, and then up
to the middle of the body. Knowing exactly where the arms are and how they get there
allows the dancer to appear clean without sacrificing depth of movement.
The primary purpose of the hand in the practice of the art of ballet is, of course,
to serve as the extension of the arm to complete a line of the body. Depending on how
the hand is placed8 and used, the arm positions and movements can take on different
qualities. In the pas de chat position, for example, a soft, feminine quality is achieved by
allowing the wrist to soften and the hand to curve down to the floor. A man taking the
8 Figure 7
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same position of the arms would want to support his wrist allowing the hand to extend
straight off the arm for a more masculine, stronger look. For either gender, allowing the
wrist to break slightly as the arms sweep from one position to another allows the arms to
appear to be floating from one place to another, whereas a held wrist would appear to
slice the air.
Contrary to classical ballet’s stiff reputation, the Cecchetti method is quite elastic
and makes full use of the torso’s ability to move. While at the barre, the body does
remain upright with just the feeling of epaulement in the torso. In a non-syllabus class, a
dancer might expect to include cambres forward and back, and side to side, but these
were only occasionally done by the Maestro, according to his students. In the center of
the floor, however, the body twists and spirals and contracts and releases as is evidenced
in movements such as the renverse or the degage en toumant. The Eighth Port de Bras,
alone, makes the use of the full range of movement of the torso. With all of the
movement going on in the body, one can easily forget that these movements were
developed and practiced daily during a time in history when women were still wearing
stiff undergarments such as corsets. Cecchetti began his First Port de Bras exercise with
small movements in the torso, and added more movement with each one until the
exercises culminated with the largest possible movement.
As is seen in the Manual, Cecchetti built upon and further defined the five
positions of the feet9 as they were defined by Pierre Beauchamps.10 Cecchetti further
9 Figure 5 10 Anatole Chujoy and P. W. Manchester, ed.The Dance Encyclopedia. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1967). 120.
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classified first, third, and fifth positions as closed positions, and second position and his
three variations or fourth position as open positions. In the open positions, the feet are
separated from each other by a distance of one’s own foot length, not to exceed one and
one-half of one’s own foot length. In regular practice, the relatively short distance helped
the dancer to keep the foot and ankle limber. Wider positions can come into play on
stage and for certain movements in regular practice. For example, as a dancer takes
increasing numbers of rotations on a pirouette, the distance between the feet should
increase to allow the dancer more plie in the preparation and subsequently more power in
the turn. The fourth position will also vary in distance as the dancer utilizes different
“lunge” positions ranging from a relatively small lunge for a pirouette en dedans, to a
very large lunge as is seen in the Eighth Port de Bras. In addition the five positions of the
feet and legs, Cecchetti defined ten movements of the foot.11 These are actually positions
that the foot can assume as it moves. The positions o f pied a terre, pied a quart, demi
pointe, pied a trois quart, and pied sur la pointe are all used as means of control of speed
and balance as they are seen in rises in adagio exercises in various turns. Full pointe is,
of course, also used as the ballerina is seen on her toes. When the leg is extended, the
foot will assume two different positions in classical ballet. In an extension to the side, as
in a tendu, the toes are pointed down with the instep arched and turned outward. When
the leg is extended to the front or back, in addition to pointing the toes downward and
forcing the instep outward, the heel is extended forward and the toes are pulled back in
the direction of the outside of the ankle. To the back, this results in a “winged” foot,
giving the arabesque line a polished finish. In this position to the front, the tip of the big
11 Figure 8
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toe makes contact with the floor. The other three foot positions, a “sickled” foot, a
relaxed foot with curled toes, and a “flexed” foot, as defined by Cecchetti are not
considered to be appropriate to classical theatrical dancing, but often appear in character
dancing. It should be noted, however, that the “clenched” foot does appear in some
pointe work, such as when jumps are executed on pointe.
The legs on their own can assume three positions, pointe tendue a terre, pointe
tendue demi en Pair, and pointe tendue en Pair. Pointe tendue a terre is, of course, the
tendu position. As soon as the toes leave the floor, the leg is considered to be en Pair.
The leg, however, is not truly en Pair until it reaches hip height (ninety degrees). At knee
height (forty-five degrees), the leg is defined as demi en Pair. The divisions of height of
the leg assist the teacher and the dancer in being clear about exactly where the leg is to be
placed. Different heights of the leg en Pair serve different purposes. In a degage, the toe
does just what the name of the step describes; the toe is disengaged from the floor and
does not reach any higher. In Cecchetti’s day, the leg en Pair would not have reached
higher than about hip height, due to the weight of costumes and conservative morals. A
leg higher than ninety degrees would have been considered vulgar. Now, the leg above
ninety degrees is desirable and acceptable as long as proper ballet technique is utilized
and the arms and body can balance the line of the leg.
It is the combined use of the feet, the legs, the body, and the arms that make ballet
an art form rather than a series of pretty poses. O f special importance is the use of the
plie as most movements begin and end with the bending and stretching of the legs. The
timing and use of tension and relaxation in the plie can make all the difference to the
number of pirouettes, the elevation in a jump, and the softness of a landing from a jump.
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This working plie may be used instinctively by many dancers, but only Cecchetti
specifically addressed the mechanics of the movement. The plie should be supple and
move continuously downward until the dancer is ready to spring into action, whether
turning or jumping. Unlike the plies at the barre which are used to warm, strengthen, and
stretch the large muscle groups of the legs, the working plie does not have the same
timing on the way up as it does on the way down. The ascent must happen much more
quickly than the descent. The plie cannot be stopped at the deepest point or the muscles
lose their elasticity and control. The depth of the plie is controlled by what follows.
Multiple turns and/or quick turns require a deeper plie than a single turn or slower turns,
just as a high jump requires a deeper plie than the terre a terre jumps.
The working plie combined with the use of the feet are well demonstrated by
pirouettes in Cecchetti’s work, especially as performed by men. While the women often
spring up to full pointe for a turn, men in soft ballet slippers have the full used of the foot.
Not all pirouettes are spinning movements, and the speed at which they are done will
vary in speed from exercise to exercise. Cecchetti’s “medicine turns” consisted of a
series of anywhere from one to eight rotations and were all done on one-quarter
pointe. In the soft slippers, men are able to give themselves a wider base of support by
spreading their toes inside the shoe. With a wider base, the men have more control and
are able to stay up for several turns. A combination of the heights of the supporting foot
can also be used. The spiral pirouette comes out of a grand plie in which the heels
generally rise to somewhere between quarter and half pointe. As the knees straighten, the
heel of the supporting foot lowers slowly to finish on a flat foot and the working leg lifts
to a developpe.
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One of Cecchetti’s pupils, Tamara Karsavina, felt strongly that a ballerina must be
brilliant in her terre a terre technique, and that elevation on jumps was even more
important.12 In addition to the brilliance of a high jump, a well timed push off of the
floor aids a partner in the illusion that the ballerina is weightless. While some dancers
have the innate ability to jump high, others must learn through well planned lessons. It is
not enough to simply urge a student to jump higher. Karsavina draws a comparison to an
animal crouching before a spring. The lower the animal crouches, the higher the spring
will be. The same can be said of a dancer in demi plie. The tension of the plie is released
upwards as the legs unfold and the feet push off the floor. The muscles of the spine hold
the back up, and at the same time, well-timed arms can give additional lift in the jump
(not to be confused with using the arms to get the dancer in the air as he or she jumps).
She makes a point of how breathing is to be used specifically in the jump, but mentions
that the same principle can be applied to all movement. The inhalation of air through the
nostrils should take place at the same time as the effort of jumping and exhalation should
take place with the relaxation on the landing. She states that “[in] paying attention to
correct breathing a dancer saves much of his strength.”13
Although it is presumed that most jumping steps finish in a plie upon landing,
there are patterns in the adage work in which the dancer gives the illusion of landing on a
straight leg. As always, the dancer lands through the foot, descending through the toes,
the ball of the foot, and the heel, and then bends the knee in a plie. In a jump such as the
12 Tamara Karsavina, Classical Ballet: The Flow of Movement, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1962), 68. 13 Tamara Karsavina,Classical Ballet: The Flow of Movement, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1962), 70.
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fouette saute in the “Glissade Cecchetti” adage, the dancer has such control over the
landing of the fouette saute that he or she slows the descent enough to see each separate
component of the landing.
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CECCHETTI’S CLASS AS A SYLLABUS
As a teacher of ballet, Enrico Cecchetti worked only with professional-level
students. He did not work with children or lower-level students. Beginning in 1892, he
taught formally in St. Petersburg at the Imperial Ballet School and the Maryinsky Ballet,
giving daily classes and rehearsing. When Diaghilev first formed the Ballets Russes in
1910, Cecchetti was invited to go with the troupe as well because the dancers would miss
their daily classes with him. He continued to work with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes until
1917. Rather than return to a Communist Russia, Cecchetti returned to London where he
opened a school in 1918. As the dancers that he once worked with traveled through
London, they often stopped in for class with the Maestro. He continued to work in
London until 1924, then “retired” to Italy where he taught until his death in 1928.
As he taught a “set” class, Cecchetti divided his work into days of the week. On
Mondays, the dancers would dance through assemble exercises; Tuesdays were jetes;
Wednesdays were ronds de jambes en l’air and gargouillades; Thursdays were big jumps;
Fridays were entrechats and other beats; and Saturday was for any other type of allegro
that may have been neglected during the week. Each day’s theme built upon the day
before. Not every set pattern was performed each day of the week, but the patterns were
set and known by the dancers so that Cecchetti would only need to tell them which
pattern they were to do. He gave many of the exercises, especially the adagios, titles by
28
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which they were known. The barre was always set in the same manner; only the number
of repetitions would change according to the needs of the dancers. Just like most ballet
classes anywhere in the world, Cecchetti’s barre work began with plies. His plies,
however, were done in second, first, fifth in front and back, and fourth in front and in
back, usually twice in each position. Battements tendus with battements degages and
battements releves followed with all repetitions done to the side for simplicity and speed
of warm up. Ronds de jambes a terre and ronds de jambes jetes were usually the next
two exercises with either four or eight repetitions of each. Grands battements came next,
quite unlike many other methods of dance. The reasoning behind grands battements
appearing relatively early in the barre was that the hip joint was now warm and the
muscles of the upper leg were ready to be stretched and strengthened. The idea of the
grands battements was not to kick the leg up as close to the head as possible, but to have
the power and speed necessary to grand allegro. The rest of the barre consisted of
battements frappes, fouettes a terre en dehors and en dedans, petits battements, single and
double ronds de jambes en l’air, fondus movements, and adage movements.
During the au milieu section of the class, in addition to port de bras, many of the
barre exercises were repeated for the dancer to gain stability before going onto the more
complicated patterns. On occasion, the ports de bras would be combined with grands
battements. The rest of the au milieu contained battements tendus, battements degages,
battements frappes with petits battements, ronds de jambes a terre, and ronds de jambes
en 1’air.
For the adagio, one or two basic adages for strength and stability were practiced
before going onto one or two of the more complicated, artistic choreographed patterns.
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The pirouettes were practiced in much the same way with the basic turns followed by the
choreographed patterns. There are so many allegro patterns that what was done from
week to week would vary. What did remain constant, however, is the practice of the
basic steps first, followed by a simple pattern, followed by a slightly more difficult
pattern, and concluding with a grand allegro of the same type of step. Following
Cecchetti’s program, the dancer could receive a balanced class and a balanced week with
one day off to rest and recover.
Examples of Cecchetti’s classes are found recorded on posters preserved in the
Dance Collection of the New York Public Library and on widespread reprints of these
posters. A Monday class began with the long exercises at the barre and au milieu. The
class continued with the “Trois Releves,” “Grand Rond de Jambe en Dehors et en
Dedans,” “Grand Fouette,” and “Coupe et Fouette” adages. The pirouettes for the day
were “Quatre Pirouettes en Dedans,” and the preparation for the allegro exercises was as
follows: ‘Trois Petits Changements et Deux Grands, Trois Petits et Deux Echappes sur
les Pointes.” Since Mondays were for assemble exercises, Cecchetti gave his dancers
smaller, simpler exercises such as “Assembles Soutenus avec Deux Changements et de
Suite,” and “Assembles et Temps Eleves.” The exercises got bigger as the class
continued, and he gave” Glissade, Assemble, Pas de Bouree Courru en Arriere et Grand
Assemble en Toumant;” “Assemble Brise, Assemble et Entre-Chat-Trois;” “Assemble et
Entre-Chat-Sept a 1’Attitude;” and “Assemble, Jete, Pas de Bouree et Pas de Chat.” He
finished his class with a series of “Petits Changements et Grands Changements” and
“Seize Grands Battements.”
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As Enrico Cecchetti taught classes, he did not divide his work into levels, but at
the urging of a bookseller and balletomane Cyril Beaumont, Cecchetti’s work was written
down and preserved by several of his students, including Stanislas Idzikowski, Margaret
Craske, and Derra de Moroda. The work of these individuals became theM anual, The
Theory and Practice o f Allegro in Classical Ballet (Cecchetti Method), and The Theory
and Practice o f Advanced Allegro in Classical Ballet (Cecchetti Method). These three
books have become the “bibles” of the Cecchetti method of training. While Cecchetti did
not divide his work into separate levels of dancers, the societies that preserve his work
have adapted his lessons and divided them into levels to aid in the teaching o f students.
As Cecchetti’s work is currently organized as a syllabus, with a few exceptions, his work
is not seen until Intermediate (Grade VI). Cecchetti’s work is divided into levels
(Intermediate, Advanced and Diploma levels I and II) that are not divided as the Maestro
did, but into artificial levels divided by difficulty of exercise. Although an imperfect
system, in the training of students, it is the best and most reasonable way to manage the
sheer amount of material in a system that has more than two hundred enchainements.
The Intermediate level of the syllabus is a transition for both students and teachers
from the work in the Children’s grades and the Elementary syllabus. This is the first
level in which most of the work was actually created by Enrico Cecchetti. In the
Intermediate syllabus, the students learn the basic patterns upon which Cecchetti built his
choreographed patterns, and it is expected that once a student masters the basic step
and/or pattern he or she will be able to utilize the steps in more complicated situations
with ease. The syllabus at this level also contains a second “choreographed” barre and
several patterns in the center that utilize non-Cecchetti ideas and choreography to ensure
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that the students are exposed to choreographed patterns outside of the actual Cecchetti
work. It is questionable as to whether or not the additional patterns are necessary in a
level this advanced. Teachers training students to become dancers should have been
exposing the students to non-syllabus work from the very beginning of their training.
The Intermediate level already has plenty of basic patterns and enchainements for the
student to learn.
From the Intermediate level through the Diploma levels, the work is divided into
men’s and women’s work. While there is much overlap, there are patterns that only men
will learn and patterns that only women will learn. Enrico Cecchetti, however, did not
divide his work along gender lines. Both men and women would dance the same
patterns. Men would dance the “pointe work” in their slippers; women would dance
“men’s work” on pointe, and all would dance certain patterns on the half point regardless
of what kind of shoes they were wearing. A few exceptions were made, allowing the
men to dance a pattern in a more “masculine” way than the women, substituting a
cavalier walk for a bouree or a saute in place of a pose sur les pointes. Just as in non
syllabus work, allowances were made for men and women in the tempos at which
patterns were danced according to the needs of the dancers.
The Cecchetti method in this form has proven itself sound in building strong,
sturdy dancers in what is popularly considered to be a “highly unnatural” dance form, and
has been used by the National Ballet of Canada, the Australian National Ballet, and the
Royal Ballet School, to name just a few. While turning the legs out, lifting the legs, and
bending the body can take its toll physically, the number of fine dancers with long careers
produced by the method is a testimony to how the method works with, rather than against
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the dancers’ bodies. Enrico Cecchetti had a reason for each movement and exercise,
which is reflected throughout the entire syllabus.
The Cecchetti system of training is based on a set syllabus, allowing the dancer in
training to be so familiar with the patterns that he or she can concentrate on the technique
itself without having to worry about the “choreography” of an unset class. There are
arguments from those unschooled in any particular syllabus that this is “boring,” but
many serious ballet students are willing to do what is necessary to achieve their goals
find the work to be beneficial. Enrico Cecchetti himself also insisted that the set study be
supplemented daily with unset exercises to develop the students’ abilities to pick up new
material quickly. The ability to learn is an essential skill for anyone contemplating a
career in dance. The benefit of studying this particular method is that students are not
taught to think about movements of the arms, legs, feet, head, and body as separate
entities, but as an overall feeling of lines and shapes of the body and the way the parts
relate to the body as a whole. Just as in grammar and spelling, there are certain rules,
which usually hold true, with just a few exceptions. In this way, the movements of the
body become a vocabulary upon which the students may build, just as a child learns to
read and write.
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THE USE OF THE CHILDREN’S GRADES
Children’s syllabi for the early training of a dancer have been developed based
upon Enrico Cecchetti’s theories of movement. These levels range from the “Standards”
through Elementary (Grade V) the first year of the professional work. Most of the work
in these grades is not made up of Cecchetti’s own patterns, but was derived by breaking
his theories and patterns down into their most basic forms and by teaching simple
combinations of steps.
Standards A begins the young student on the fundamentals of ballet: how to stand,
how to bend the knees in a plie, how to stretch the leg in a tendu, how to lift the leg to a
retire, how to use the arms in a port de bras, and how to move to different types o f music.
Although technique is taught, it is not the most important lesson at this level. The student
should learn to listen and dance to the music, not just moving at the same time that the
music is playing. The student also learns proper classroom etiquette and how to work in
a ballet class. Most importantly, the student learns a love of dancing. Standards B build
upon the fundamental learned in Standards A. By this time, the student has learned how
to stand, how to breathe and has a grasp of the basics. Standards B prepares the student
for the more serious work of Grade 1. These two levels are for children ages five and six,
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and it is the aim of this work that the children learn to enjoy dance and how to use their
bodies. These are usually the first year or two o f study.
Grade I is often the first exam a student will take. Patterns are more complicated
and less repetitious than in the previous two grades, and the patterns are less open to
individual interpretation by the teacher. In order to instill the Cecchetti “style” in the
students, there are standards of movement that the students should adhere to, with room
for individuality within the framework of the method. By this time, the student should
have developed sufficient strength and understanding to make corrections regarding
placement and use of the body and legs. While the corrections might be far from perfect,
the children can understand what the movement should look like and how it should be
done. With practice, the children will begin to feel the movement correctly.
While each grade builds upon the knowledge of the one before, the next milestone
comes in Grade IV. The patterns of movement are still relatively simple, but at this point
artistry is expected of the student. It is no longer sufficient to simple execute the steps
accurately. The student may also be graded on his or her “style” or “quality” of
movement. In addition to the set patterns, the student is asked to choreograph a short,
one-minute dance to be performed at the end of his or her exam. The dance allows the
student to show his or her own particular preferences in style of movement and should
allow the student the most opportunity to exhibit quality of movement.
Elementary (Grade V) builds upon the quality and style that the student has
achieved by Grade IV, but the students are, by this time, into their teenage years. They
are expected to be able to dance more complicated and artistic patterns with feeling
behind the movement. They should be capable of presenting themselves before an
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audience. Patterns are longer at this level and demand more strength and endurance from
the student. This is considered to be the first of the professional grades and is followed
by Intermediate, Advanced, and Diploma, which are comprised almost entirely of the
Maestro’s work. These lower grades contain the basic ingredients for building a strong
dancer. In looking at both the professional and the children’s work as a whole, each
element of what is danced in Diploma can be traced back to where it is first introduced to
the student. For example, the complicated pirouette exercises in the Intermediate,
Advanced, and Diploma work had their beginnings in the work of the Standards, when
the student is first taught the idea o f spotting a turn as he or she rotates slowly in first
position. The idea is expanded in Grade I when the student must rotate more quickly in a
bouree en cinquieme as a part of an exercise. In Graden, the student learns to make one-
quarter turns on a flat foot while lifting the other leg to the pirouette position. Spotting is
also reinforced with an exercise that requires the student to rotate quickly and smoothly
on two feet, with no bouree. In Grades HI and IV, the students actually perform single
and double pirouettes, and must be able to turn from fourth or fifth position. In
Elementary, the student is introduced to the “Grand Preparation for Pirouettes en
Dehors,” a preparation used for many enchainements through the remainder of the work.
Intermediate contains the Grand Preparation for Pirouettes en Dedans,” which is also
seen throughout the rest of the work.
In looking at the children’s grades, it should be noted that the counts provided in
the books that are used in the children’s grades should not be taken as the absolute
authority of how the student is to move. The aim of the children’s work is not to teach
the children to move exactly the same way on exactly the same counts. While this
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approach could be useful in training a corps de ballet, it is more likely that the teacher of
ballet is training the student to be a dancer who could rise through the ranks to soloist or
principal. It is advisable that the counts provided for the student and teacher in the book
should be taken as a guideline to help the student to feel the natural rhythms of the music
and develop an individual style.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 7
CECCHETTI’S INFLUENCE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
Rather than being an outdated, dead ballet tradition, the Cecchetti work continues
to build strong dancers that adapt well to modem dance. While Cecchetti worked at the
end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, he helped to usher in a
more contemporary look to the ballet. His ideas about how the body should move
continue through contemporary work. At the same time, the look of an earlier era of
dance is preserved in the Cecchetti method and is rarely seen anywhere else and is worth
of preservation. This preservation effort continues today through the work of the
Societies formed in his name.
The work of the Ballets Russes can hardly be considered “classical” ballet, as
most individuals think of it, with short tutus and pink satin pointe shoes. Serge de
Diaghilev’s company helped to usher in modem dance as we know it today. Isadora
Duncan, a pioneer of the modem dance, was an admirer of Vaslav Nijinsky and his
ballets L ’Apres M idi d ’ime Faiine, and Les Sacres chi Printemps. These ballets were not
only performed in soft shoes, but the dancers rarely hit an upright, classical pose as one
would expect of classical ballet. Instead, the dancers often crouched and contracted,
moving through their entire torsos.
A number of modem dance personalities were trained in the tradition of the
Cecchetti work. Others were influenced by classical ballet, and parallels are seen
between the Cecchetti work and their own teaching. Antony Tudor and Frederick
38
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Ashton, known for their contemporary choreography, were trained by Margaret Craske
and Marie Rambert, two of Cecchetti’s pupils. Paul Taylor, one of today’s most
respected modem dance personalities, was also trained by Margaret Craske.
Many parallels are easily drawn between modem dance and the principles of
Cecchetti, especially the idea that the movement should work naturally with the students’
bodies, with adaptations made for each individual to show them at their best. Certainly,
Joanna Kneeland’s Concept of Motivation1 with its circular movements well describe
Cecchetti’s work. For Kneeland, the concept is explained as “going up, to go down, to go
up.” In other words, lifting the body with a breath so that the preparation for movement
has someplace to go. The image of a roller coaster climbing the first hill, and then
rushing down a steep incline before making its loops and spirals comes to mind. Tamara
Karsavina explains the same type of concept with breathing inThe Flow o f Movement.2
In conversations with Jacqueline LesSchaeve, Merce Cunningham discusses the
influence of classical ballet on his work, especially moving the body as a whole entity,
and not a collection of separate body parts.3 He bases his classes on classical work, and
adapts the movements for his own purposes. Especially important to Cunningham was
the use of epaulements, which eventually led to his choreographyTorse. of In
Cunningham’s class, unlike the Cecchetti work, the torso is used from the very beginning
of the plies, but included in his class is a series of port de bras, similar in structure and
1 Jo Anna Kneeland, “A New Approach to Principles of Movement as Applied to Ballet Pedagogy,”Dance Magazine, June 1966, 69. 2 Tamara Karsavina, Classical Ballet: The Flow o f Movement, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1962), 70. 3 Jacqueline Lesschaeve and Merce Cunningham,The Dancer and the Dance: Merce Cunningham in conversation with Jacqueline Lesschaeve, (New York: Marion Boyars, 1991), 62-63.
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form to Cecchetti’s. The port de bras starts out small, and grows in size to include the
movement of the torso in every possible direction.
Other common movements in modem dance also have their reflections in the
Cecchetti work. A renverse is nothing more than a turn with a changing center of balance
ending in a pitch to the side, using the supporting hip as the fulcrum. Modem dance does
not have a monopoly on the concept of contraction and release. In Cecchetti’s work, the
“Pas de bouree, pose, arabesque, tombe, pas de chat” allegro is an example of the
necessity of using this concept. The dancer would otherwise not be able to achieve such
a large range of motion in the short amount of time it takes to execute these steps. In the
pose, the body must contract over the raised leg, followed immediately by a release as the
leg swings back into arabesque. After the tombe, the body contracts again in the
direction of travel. A parallel may be drawn to Martha Graham’s leg swings. The torso
is also fully used though the use of the epaulement throughout all of Cecchetti’s work,
whether it is in the relatively small movements of the upper body in the full contretemps,
or the deeper movements as they are seen in the seventh port de bras exercise
Enrico Cecchetti’s work is not seen only in the classroom. It is, of course, the
goal of any method of dance training to produce dancers. Cecchetti was the teacher for
the Maryinsky Ballet and for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and worked with dancers such as
Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, and Vaslav Nijinsky. In London, England, the Vic-
Wells Ballet (later the Royal Ballet) was founded by Cecchetti trained dancer Ninette de
Valois, as was the Ballet Rambert, founded by Marie Rambert. Cecchetti’s work is also
seen in other companies through the work of other Cecchetti trained dancers, such as
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Peggy van Praagh, who trained under Cecchetti student Margaret Craske. Ms. Van
Praagh became the first Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet in 1963.
As Cecchetti worked closely with Marius Petipa in St. Petersburg, it is natural that
he would have used pieces of the Maryinsky repertory in his daily classes. Cecchetti did,
in fact, watch each performance closely to see where the dancers’ weaknesses were, and
how he could help them in class. As a result, pieces of several of the major ballets are
seen in the method. Both Giselle’s and Myrtha’s assembles enchainements from Act H
ofGiselle appear in the Monday exercises of the Diploma work. From the female
variation in Act III ofLe Corsaire, the exercise “Jete, releve pose, coupe” appears in the
Thursday exercises. Part of the original choreography for the female variation from
Sleeping Beauty's Bluebird pas de deux appears as supplementary pointe work in the
exercise “Echappe, releve to quatrieme devant croise, trois jetes piques assemble devant.
Some of the Ballets Russes repertory also appears in the Cecchetti work, such as the
Valse from Michel Fokine’sLes Sylphides. The exercise “Pas de bourree courru, jete in
deuxieme arabesque four times, pas de bourree grand jete en toumant en dehors three
times, soutenu turn” appears in the Advanced work of the syllabus. Traditional virtuosi
enchainements, such as series of fouette turns and coupe jete en toumant are also seen in
the Cecchetti work.
While Enrico Cecchetti was not known for his choreographic abilities, he
originated the role of the Bluebird inSleeping Beauty and is credited with the
choreography for the variation. The brises voles and multiple pirouettes were steps for
which he was celebrated. He also originated the role of the wicked fairy Carabosse, and
his pantomime interpretation of that character has been the basis for interpretations since
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then. Cecchetti also left behind a manuscript for a never produced ballet,After the Ball4,
to the music of Ernesto Kohler. The story was of a peasant is saddened because he had to
leave his fiancee to become a soldier. He was jealous when she attended a ball at the
Mayor’s house and flirted with a Captain in the Army that her fiance was to join. He
challenged the Captain to a duel the next morning and was mortally wounded. In its
1933 staging of Coppelia, the Vic-Wells ballet revived the choreography and staging of
Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti. In this version, which is still performed today,
reflections of Cecchetti’s work are still seen in the quick tempos, the expressive mime,
and the complicated footwork of principal dancers as well as the corps de ballet.
As dancers are increasingly trained in an amalgamation of styles, ballets that were
created in particular styles are being changed and, in some cases, simplified. Today, the
Sugar Plum Fairy variation of theN utcracker is rarely performed with the gargoulliade
enchainement on the diagonal, and now usually contains pas de chats, if the
enchainement is performed at all. In recent history, Patricia Wilde was the last of the
great ballerinas to perform the variation with the gargoulliades. In the repertory of many
companies, the original choreography has been abandoned for something different
altogether.
In his comparison of different performances ofSleeping Beauty, Toby Bennett
explores the differences in the Florestan pas de trois in recordings from 1963 and 1994.5
With the exception of one female variation by Marius Petipa, the pas de trois is attributed
4 Olga Racster, The Master of the Russian Ballet (The Memoirs of Cav. Enrico Cecchetti), (New York: Da Capo Press, 1978, 299-303 5 Toby Bennett, “Cecchetti, Movement, and the Repertoire in Performance”Twenty-first in Annual Conference, (Oregon: Society of Dance History Scholars, 1998), 208
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to Sir Frederick Ashton, an admirer of both Petipa and Cecchetti. In 1964, the official
training method of the Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School was the Cecchetti
method. Bennett’s impressions upon comparing the two performances were that although
the steps were nearly identical, but the appearance of the performances were entirely
different. Among the differences was the tempo at which the pas de trois was performed.
The 1994 version was considerably slower at approximately 122 beats per minute, as
compared the 131 beats per minute in 1963. The 1963 Cecchetti influenced version also
appears to travel more and use more of the stage space than the 1994 performance.
Interestingly, although the 1963 version is faster, the arabesques in the sissonnes tend to
have higher leg extensions. Although some of the differences may be due to individual
performers’ interpretations, Bennett goes on to say that the two performances reveal
significant differences throughout, and that the earlier version reveals “a use of space and
freedom of movement which speaks very differently to the more controlled and withheld
nature of the contemporary ones.”6 From this statement, one can infer that the strength
and artistry instilled in Cecchetti trained dancers lend themselves to a unique and exciting
style of performance, which is most certainly the goal o f most dancers.
As ballet enter the twenty-first century, many of the qualities of the generation of
dancers trained by one of the greatest pedagogues in dance history, Enrico Cecchetti, are
being lost. These qualities of artistry in the use of the head, port de bras, epaulement, the
feet and the plie are often referred to as the “lost steps,” and are characteristic of and
unique to the Cecchetti method of training. If performed correctly, they are not stiff, as
6 Toby Bennett, “Cecchetti, Movement, and the Repertoire in Performance”Twenty-first in Annual Conference, (Oregon: Society o f Dance History Scholars, 1998), 208.
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many dancers misunderstand, but are beautiful, supple movements that represent the era
of Marius Petipa’s and Serge de Diaghilev’s dancers. Without a correct understanding of
these movements, the feeling of an entire period of dance that producedThe Nutcracker,
Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake, and dancers such as Tamara Karsavina, Anna Pavlova,
and Vaslav Nijinsky will be lost.
Some steps and qualities that were common in Cecchetti’s time with the Imperial
Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes de Diaghilev are now being lost. Many dancers
today perform all jumping movements with the quality o f bounding as high as they
possibly can. The Boumonville technique does call for many of the “petit allegro” steps
to be elevated, but Cecchetti’s work classifies jumps into two categories: steps of
elevation, and terre a terre jumps. The steps o f elevation, such as the grand changement,
do call for the dancer to jump high up into the air. The dancer must also show plie ecarte,
in which the knees are relaxed and the soles of the fully pointed feet pass by each other.
An exaggeration of this movement is seen in what many dancers call the “Italian
changement” with the feet pulled up close to the body. The plie ecarte has all but
disappeared, even among those trained in the Cecchetti method. Without the use of the
plie ecarte, the tendency in an assemble is for the legs to bounce off of each other
resulting in a beat. In the Cecchetti work, most all o f the batterie, whether a simple
royale, an entrechat six, or a beaten pas de basque the jumps stay very close to the floor
so that the feet must move quickly and brilliantly.
Also disappearing is the gargoulliade. The best-known variation where the
gargoulliade appears is in the Sugar Plum Fairy variation in theNutcracker. Toward the
end of the variation, as the ballerina travels across the stage, the gargoulliade are now
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usually performed as pas de chats. The Cecchetti work, however, contains several
exercises for the dancer to perform gargoulliades both en dehors and en dedans, changing
direction, with a soutenu, or de suite.
Yet another step that is now unique to the Cecchetti work is the renverse en
toumant. In the renverse en toumant, rather than simply turn the head to spot, the upper
body tips as the body rotates, giving the illusion that the eyes remain focussed on one
point without having moved. Most often, this turn is en dedans with the foot placed at
the knee as in a pirouette. The momentum of the port de bras with the tipped body allows
the dancer to rise up to a full pointe without the use of a plie, and the turn finishes with a
develope to the second position, supporting foot still on full pointe, and body tipped away
from the raised leg. This can be an extremely frustrating step for the dancer not
accustomed to the Cecchetti work, yet it was a very common step in classes of one
hundred years ago and is very similar to the off-center turns of many modem techniques.
In the Cecchetti work, a repertory and the steps in the repertory of an earlier age
are preserved. Now that most of Enrico Cecchetti’s pupils have died and many of their
pupils are dying, much of the work is being changed and adapted by the newer
generations of dancers. It is important to remember that Cecchetti based his work, which
was eventually written down as a syllabus, on what the dancers he worked with needed in
terms of the repertory they performed. Many exercises and the music used for those
exercises appear in what is now the Diploma level of work came from the balletGiselle
as the Imperial Maryinsky Ballet performed it. An exercise in the Advanced work came
from Michel Fokine’sLes Sylphides, using the Sylphides music. Now that much of
Cecchetti’s work being simplified and adapted, it is a certainty that dancers are much
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different than they were a century ago. The other systems of work that can be found
now, the English Royal Academy o f Dance (which began as an identical school as the
Cecchetti work as it was founded by some of Cecchetti’s students), the Russian
Vaganova system (again, founded by a Cecchetti observer), the Danish Boumonville
work and the French work, have all “evolved” and much of the work of earlier eras are
gone. The ballerinas of those eras did not wear the stiff pointe shoes that dancers now
have available, instead rising onto pointe in just slightly reinforced slippers. Men were
challenged to perform entrechat douze as Nijinsky could. Those dancers lived in a time
when it was considered vulgar to lift the leg too high, especially if it disturbed the line of
the tutu. Rather than allow the hips to adjust slightly, the hip had a range of motion that
allowed the dancer to lift the leg to the arabesque line at a forty-five degree angle without
allowing the tutu to stray from its horizontal line. Although the Cecchetti work is now
being adapted by younger generations of teachers, there are still some first-generation
and second-generation teachers who still teach the Maestro’s work as he intended it and
continue to educate dancers in the effort to preserve what is left of that period of ballet.
It is also argued that changes are necessary to keep pace with the demands of
today’s ballet. While these changes may help a student of the maestro’s work to
understand today’s ballet, Teachers and students alike should strive to understand the
work and how and why things were performed the way that they were if they are to study
the “Cecchetti Method.” Otherwise, they may be studying any method of classical ballet.
Several of today’s most popular ballets are still those created by Petipa during the era
when Cecchetti taught in Russia. There is certainly no better way to understand one’s
roles in Petipa’s ballets than to study as his dancers once did. There is so much flexibility
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in the method as it was taught by Cecchetti to adapt for the individual needs of dancers,
why not use that flexibility to keep up with the demands of today’s ballet companies?
Cecchetti intended that his set work be supplemented with “unseen” enchainements to
keep the dancer sharp and able to pick up new material quickly. In keeping with the
tradition of Cecchetti, teachers are free to give unseen work that addresses other styles of
ballet and ways of moving that do not necessarily follow Cecchetti’s theories of
movement.
The effort at continuing Cecchetti’s work began during Cecchetti’s lifetime.
Following his retirement from theBallets Russes in 1918, Cecchetti opened his own
school in London where members of theBallets Russes and Anna Pavlova’s company
studied whenever possible. That same year, a London bookseller, author, and
balletomane named Cyril Beaumont had the opportunity to observe some of Cecchetti’s
classes. He recognized the highly personal, yet systematic method of teaching and
wished to preserve this method before Cecchetti was too old to teach anymore. With the
help of one of Cecchetti’s students, Stanislas Idzikowski and Cecchetti himself,
Beaumont prepared the first comprehensive discourse on dance since Carlo Blasis. The
resulting work, A Manual o f the Theory and Practice o f Classical Theatrical Dancing
(Cecchetti M ethod) was first published in 1922. Another more thorough book, the
Manual, was published in 1966. Yet another manual,Classical Dance: A Complete
Manual o f the Cecchetti Method, written by his son Grazioso Cecchetti was published in
1995. None of these works are, by any means complete, but they are attempts at the
incredibly difficult task of preserving dance by describing a living art in words to be
handed down to subsequent generations of dancers. These writings are still somewhat
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controversial in that many feel that dance should be done and not discussed, but with so
few of Cecchetti’s own students still alive, they serve the important purpose of
documenting his high standards and remarkable training methods that are still used today.
Cecchetti’s legacy is now preserved by the societies to which he gave his name.
Members of these groups are found all over the world: including in the United States,
Canada, England, Australia, South Africa, Jamaica, and Haiti. Cecchetti’s exercises are
preserved not only in the various manuals used by teachers and students of the method,
but live on in the training of new generations of dancers. The societies regulate and
maintain standards of dancing through the use of exams for both teachers and students
based upon Cecchetti’s methods and ideology.
Even with these societies, there is the danger that Cecchetti’s classical ideals are
being “changed.” It is essential that the disciples of the work understand that these
changes cannot possibly be part of the “Cecchetti method” as the maestro is deceased and
cannot revise his own work. Some of these discrepancies occur because the Maestro’s
students who formed the first societies each learned Cecchetti’s patterns in a manner that
best suited their own bodies and disagree about how the Maestro wanted them to
perform. As Cecchetti’s students, they may have interpreted his words and work in
different ways. There is room for individual interpretation of the work, just as Cecchetti
allowed his students, but teachers of the work must be careful not to demand that their
own way is the only way to dance the work.
In conclusion, no matter to which Cecchetti society teachers and pupils belong,
each individual should realize that he or she is ultimately striving to reach the same goal.
Each student and teacher continues to carry Enrico Cecchetti’s work forward, allowing
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each pupil of the work to achieve the highest level of dancing that he or she can. The
students of the work receive a sound foundation upon which they can build a career in
dance, whether in ballet or modern dance. Members of each society continue to work
together through Cecchetti International and other Cecchetti societies to share what they
can in order to pass on the Maestro’s work in its many interpretations to future
generations of teachers, dancers, and students. Each society, in turn should continue to
examine Enrico Cecchetti’s teachings and works to instill this masterpiece of pedagogy in
future generations of dancers.
In the course of her own study of Maestro Enrico Cecchetti’s work, the author of
this thesis has found an appreciation of and passion for not only the class work, but also
for the history behind Cecchetti’s work. In rehearsing roles for the ballet, the
understanding of the time in which Cecchetti worked, as well as a deeper understanding
of the steps in the choreography has better prepared her for performance. In addition, the
author has found herself not only physically a stronger dancer, but also artistically
stronger. With the work of Enrico Cecchetti, dancing becomes more than a kinesthetic
activity; it is also an intellectual activity. Furthermore, the author firmly believes that the
study of the Cecchetti method does not end with the Diploma level exam, when the
dancer is expected to have a complete knowledge and understanding of the method. With
the openness to individual interpretation, the exercises that comprise the method can offer
the dancer continual training in the attempt to better him or herself as an artist.
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Comer 4 Wall 7 Comer 3 (Upstage Right) (Upstage Center) (Upstage Left)
Wall 8 DANCER STANDING AT Wall 7 (Center Stage Left) CENTER STAGE (Center Stage Right)
Comer 1 Wall 5 Comer 2 (Downstage Left) (Downstage Center) (Downstage Right) AUDIENCE
Figure 1. The Eight Fixed Points of the Practice Room
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Figure 2.B head raised Figure 2.C head lowered
Figure 2.D head turned Figure 2.E head inclined
Figure 2 The Five Positions of the Head
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zm
Figure 3.A using Figure 3.B without epaulement epaulement
Figure 3 Epaulement
•i'-tty-Si
Figure 4.A body in Figure 4.B body out of alignment alignment
Figure 4 Body Alignment
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Figure 5.A first Figure 5.B second Figure 5.C third position position position
Figure 5.D fourth Figure 5.E fourth position croise with arms position croise with in fourth en avant arms in fourth en haut
Figure 5 Positions of the Feet and Arms
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tSa^sStii; ■K-hvV m &S5:'? m sm s:.i~
Figure 5.F fourth Figure 5.G fourth Figure 5.H fifth position ferme with position ouverte with position with arms in arms in fourth en arms in fourth en avant fifth en has avant
Figure 5.1 fifth Figure 5.J fifth position with arms in position with arms in fifth en avant fifth en haut
Figure 5 Positions of the Feet and Arms
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Figure 6. A arms in Figure 6.B arms in Figure 6.C arms in demi seconde with demi en bas demi en avant palm turned in as if for allegro work
Figure 6.D arms in Figure 6.E arms in Figure 6.F arms in demi en haut demi en bas en arriere Spanish fourth
Figure 6 Derivative and Softened Arm Positions
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Figure 6.G pose Figure 6.H pas de Figure 6.1 pas de position bouree position chat position
Figure 6.J low Figure 6.K Figure 6.L high elegant peer gargoulliade elegant peer position
Figure 6 Derivative and Softened Arm Positions
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 7.A hand for allegro and adage work
Figure 7.B hand with a relaxed wrist as it is held in arabesque or pas de chat positions
Figure 7.C side view of Figure 7.D hand as it is the hand held at the barre
Figure 7 Hand Positions
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 8. A pied a terre Figure 8.B pied a quart Figure 8.C demi-pointe (flat foot) (one-quarter pointe) (one-half pointe)
Figure 8.D pied a trois Figure 8.E pied sur la quart pointe (full pointe) (three-quarter pointe)
Figure 8 Ten Movements of the Foot
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Figure 8.F foot Figure 8.G foot Figure 8.H a extended with the extended with the “sickled” foot- instep forced out, instep forced out incorrect execution the pointe down and the pointe of Figure 42. with and back, and the down as seen in the heel dropped to heel forward as tendu to the side the floor. seen in tendu to the front
Figure 8.1 a flexed Figure 8.J a Figure 8.K the foot-not usually “clenched” foot- “clenched” foot used in classical often an incorrect may be used on ballet, but is seen execution of occasion in in character dance Figure 43 classical ballet, as in sautes sur les pointes
Figure 8 Ten Movements of the Foot
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Figure 9. A attitude croise Figure 9.B attitude efface
Figure 9.C attitude en face
Figure 9 Cecchetti Attitudes
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tiltt L’e -~- B lit'S sm bim 'S&88&F.
Figure 10.A first Figure 10.B second Figure 10. C third arabesque arabesque arabesque
Figure 10.D fourth Figure 10.E fifth arabesque arabesque
Figure 10 Cecchetti Arabesques
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Figure 11 .A croise devant Figure 11 .B a la quatrieme devant
Figure ll.C efface Figure 11 D ecarte
Fig. 11 Eight Body Positions
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Figure 11 .G a la quatrieme Figure 11 .H croise derriere derriere
Figure 11 Eight Body Positions
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Figure 12. A plie ecarte
Figure 12.B first Figure 12.C second meditation meditation
Figure 12 Other Cecchetti Positions
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ambrose, Kay. Ballet Lover’s Companion. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1949.
Beaumont, Cyril W. “The Cecchetti Method of Teaching Classical Ballet Dancing.” In Ballet Annual Second Issue. London: A & C Black, Ltd. Reprint Cecchetti Council of America.
Beaumont, Cyril and Stanislas Idzikowski.A Mamial o f the Theory and Practice o f Classical Theatrical Dancing. New York: Dover Publications, 1922.
Beaumont, Cyril and Stanislas Idzikowski.The Manual. London: Imperial Society of Teachers o f Dancing, 1966.
Beaumont, Cyril W. A Primer o f Classical Ballet (Cecchetti Method) for Children. London: C.W. Beaumont, 1955.
Beaumont, Cyril W. A Second Primer of Classical Ballet (Cecchetti Method) for Children. London: C.W. Beaumont, 1953.
Beaumont, Cyril W.A Third Primer o f Classical Ballet (Cecchetti Method) for Childi'en. London: C.W. Beaumont, 1941.
Brillarelli, Livia. Cecchetti: A Ballet Dynasty. Toronto: Dance Collection Danse Educational Publications, 1995.
Bennett, Toby. “Cecchetti, Movement, and the Repertoire in Performance,”Twenty- in First Antmal Conference, by the Society of Dance History Scholars, 203-209. Oregon: Society of Dance History Scholars, 1998.
Blasis, Carlo. The Code of Terpsichore, 2d Translateded. by R. Barton. London: Edward Bull Holies Street, 1926.
Cecchetti Council of America.By-Laws Rules and Regulations. Cecchetti Council of America, 1981.
Cecchetti Council of America.Basic Theory for Teachers. Cecchetti Council of America, 1983.
Cecchetti Council of America.Syllabi fo r Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, and Diploma. Cecchetti Council of America, 1987 65
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