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Cecchetti
Repertoire Course
"Lose
no opportunity of adding to your knowledge of your art"
- Enrico Cecchetti, ‘Manual of Classical Theatrical
Dancing’, 1921.
With that in mind a group of Cecchetti teachers and
dancers gathered at Gillian Robinson's house in Berkshire
for a day of learning classical repertoire.
It is important not to lose sight of the fact that Cecchetti
devised his syllabus to train ballet dancers to perform.
It was a joyous day of pretending to be real (if creaky)
ballerinas and my Genre Essay had an extra boost when
some of Cecchetti's specific movements appeared in the
choreography. “That's from Grand Fouetté!”
exclaimed Gillian as we posed de coté into arabesque,
palms drawing apart into 2nd position.
Accompanied by the excellent Stuart Marsden and tutored
by the inspiring Gillian Robinson, we worked on repertoire
solos from Coppélia and Giselle. Then, fortified
by a delicious lunch prepared by Alan (Gillian's husband),
we embarked on the Friends' Dance. Gillian gleefully
decided we should 'audition' for the part of SwaniIda
and the one who had the best brisés should have
the part. We all lined up and had a go but as Andrea's
were so brilliant I managed to vote loudly enough to
ensure she would be cast. The vote was unanimous and
we all sighed in relief!
It was such fun to work together on this dance, though
I think I have done enough brisés to last all
year. (My husband initially misread this as 'having
enough bruises to last all year', perhaps not entirely
inappropriate.) The DVD of the day we received a few
days later – rehearsals, mistakes, laughter and
all – is invaluable for passing on the dances
accurately to our students and endorsed what a enjoyable
time we all had. More, please!
Andrea Young and Yolande Parkin
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