Ballet Teacher and Ballet Accompanist

This course is designed for BFA students of the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance and Herb Alpert School of Music, and will be credited as part of the Pedagogy Minor for students enrolled in the minor.

The foundations and history of ballet include live accompaniment by a skilled musician who understands the curriculum, as well as the shape and purpose of each element of the ballet class, and can support the instructor and students, and in many instances pertaining to musicality, co-teach with the instructor. Many ballet Instructors including the legendary CalArts founding ballet teacher Mia Slavenska consider the live accompanist to be just as important as the instructor to the success of the class in reaching its pedagogical goals.

The ballet teacher and accompanist form a team in a tradition that goes back over 300 years to the origins of the art form. Music is often the driving force and inspiration for dance. In a ballet class the musician, though hugely important, takes a back seat to the needs of the dance students and the class.

The class will familiarize students from the dance school with communicating anatomical underpinnings of ballet training, the structure and objective of each exercise that constitutes the progression of the ballet class, and how to compose effective exercises, analyze students' alignment and execution, and provide constructive and effective corrections.

Students from the music school will be familiarized with commonly used repertoire for ballet class accompaniment, and principles of class structure and its progression.

Together, the faculty will demonstrate how to effectively communicate between teacher and accompanist to establish tempi and dynamics, and which music is optimal for each exercise, as well as familiarizing the students with the terminology of the ballet class.