Tag: Technique

Emancipatory Dance – Dancing Intersectional Feminism

This article was originally part of my Theory and Criticism work for my MFA in Dance in 2014, and critical pedagogy and artistic practice continues to be relevant to my teaching, coaching, and creative practice over a decade later.

My perspective has continued to expand with my maturation, experience, and ongoing education, so articulating my philosophy and approach is an ongoing challenge.

Since my graduate school years, I’ve made updates based on my qualitative in-studio encounters and from others who wish to honor the tradition of dance, including classical ballet, while also supporting the whole dancer and society in a contemporary context.

Sourcing Ballet Somatically – Pedagogical Approaches to Integrating Movement Techniques

This paper takes the approach of critical pedagogy to investigate practices in integrating somatics into teaching ballet technique.
Originally part of my MFA in Dance research methods work in 2012, the conversation continues about how to best train dancers to honor the tradition of classical ballet while also educating the whole dancer and person in contemporary society.

Tourner – Turning, Rotation, & Revolution – Spinning Right Round in ballet & life

In her seminal collection of wisdom on classical ballet technique and pedagogy, Basic Principles of Classical Ballet: Russian Ballet Technique of Agrippina Vaganova, she states: “The first condition of good tours is an absolutely straight, held-together body. One should not lose the spot of the finish, and should always ‘feel’ the front so as not […]

Relever – Rise Up! in ballet, movement, & life

Post author By Blythe Stephens
Post date 25. July 2022
Categories In Creative Living, Dance, Mindful Movement
1 Comment on Relever – Rise Up! in ballet, movement, & life

Looking at the news today can make me feel like the world is in a downward spiral. Sometimes our individual lives feel this way as well. And maybe we’d like for things to take a turn for the better, and just continue along a linear path towards perfection. Well, life seems to follow a more […]

Tempting Tendus – Basic Ballet Theory & Technique

Post author By Blythe Stephens
Post date 18. July 2022
Categories In Dance
1 Comment on Tempting Tendus – Basic Ballet Theory & Technique

Building Blocks of Dance Welcome to the latest installment of my series on the “Seven Basic Movements” of ballet and classical dancing. Thus far, I have explored Plier/to bend, Sauter/to jump, Glisser/to glide, and Élancer/to dart in blog articles, videos, and podcasts, and created a Playlist on YouTube about the 7 Movements to support learning […]

Creative Ballet Port de Bras – Arm Artistry Exploring Nature

Post author By Blythe Stephens
Post date 22. April 2022
Categories In Dance

Joyful movement in general, and ballet in particular, is one of the great passions of my life. I find the movements of the arms particularly captivating, and in recent times it has become more relevant than ever that they are accessible with little available space. As I age, I also appreciate how I can continue […]

Adaptive Adult Summer Dance Intensive 2021

Post author By Blythe Stephens
Post date 3. July 2021
Categories In Dance
3 Comments on Adaptive Adult Summer Dance Intensive 2021

Summer can be a fruitful time to advance our craft, with warm weather and time off from school or (sometimes) work to focus on developing dancing strength, flexibility, balance, endurance, skills, & repertory. Even famous ballet pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova remarked on the particular value of working on your ballet technique in the summer months. Back […]

Shapeshifting Dancers: Forms & How We Get There

Post author By Blythe Stephens
Post date 7. June 2021
Categories In Dance
2 Comments on Shapeshifting Dancers: Forms & How We Get There

What do a carpenter swinging a hammer, an office worker closing a drawer, a police officer directing traffic, and a ballerina’s storytelling have in common? All of their movements are traveling through space in relationship to other objects (concrete or abstract), taking specific pathways with particular attitudes. The hammer arcs up and then down to […]

Do the Locomotion OR Walk Like a Dancer: walking, running, & other techniques of travel

Post author By Blythe Stephens
Post date 23. April 2021
Categories In Dance
2 Comments on Do the Locomotion OR Walk Like a Dancer: walking, running, & other techniques of travel

How I do love to travel! Sadly due to the global pandemic, I am not able to travel as far afield at present as I ordinarily like to do regularly. Thankfully, I am still able to walk around the city of Cologne, and also dance! Walking, strutting, marching, sliding, under-curves, over-curves, crawling, turning, rolling, grapevines, […]

Arts of Allegro – Types of Jumps in Ballet, Modern Dance, & other forms

Post author By Blythe Stephens
Post date 14. April 2021
Categories In Dance
3 Comments on Arts of Allegro – Types of Jumps in Ballet, Modern Dance, & other forms

Given that I’ve been thinking and researching about this blog for a while, it’s serendipitous that I also just learned a new German saying: “Gehüpft wie gesprungen.” It means literally “Hopped as jumped,” or more-or-less “It doesn’t matter if you hop or jump to get there.” Sort of like the English “six of one, half […]