Independent Study Paper - DukeSpace - Duke University

Training Bodies/Training Minds:
A Model of Ballet Education for the 21st Century
By Caroline Griswold
(Advised by Tyler Walters, Duke University Dance Program Independent
Study and Distinction Project, Fall 2008-Spring 2010)
This paper is dedicated with admiration to my parents, for their
unending love, support, and encouragement through the ups and downs of my
ballet training, with hope that other parents, and students, will be spared
some of those challenges in the future.
Thank you.
I would also like to thank the wonderful ballet teachers I have had
over the years, the ones who have shown me unequivocally that good ballet
teaching does exist and can be extremely effective. Thank you for your
caring, your energy, your excitement, and your dedication. Table of Contents
Part I: Introduction, and the
Tradition........................................3 Introduction..................................................................
..............3
Tradition and
Syllabus...................................................................7
Part II: The
Now......................................................................45
What we have accomplished, and Case
Studies...................................45
Nature of the Teaching Profession and Docile
Bodies............................58
Authoritarian Teaching Styles and Autonomy
Support.........................69
Coach-Athlete Relationship and Effective
Feedback.............................86
Body Image and Eating
Disorders....................................................98
Learned Helplessness and Self-
Handicapping....................................104 Part III: What's
Next?.......................................................................
.......106
Mirrors and Dress
Code...............................................................107
Making Dance a Large Part of a Larger
Life.....................................117
Intellectual Growth, Mental Skills Training, and Mental
Toughness.........128
Training Efficiently, Imagery, and
Somatics......................................136
Recognizing each student as an Individual, Competition, and
Cohesion....146
Developmentally Appropriate
Training............................................172
Preserving Creativity and Fostering
Artistry.....................................181
Role of the
Teacher.....................................................................
187
Brain Compatible/Psychologically Sound
Pedagogy.............................191
Establishing environments conducive to self-efficacy and self-
confidence..196
Making Learning Relevant and
Thematic.........................................213
The "Ideal" Conservatory Program, Conclusions, and Implications for
Future
Research...............................................................
.218 Bibliography..................................................................
.....................229
Appendices..................................................................
........................242 Part I: Introduction, and the Tradition
Chapter 1: Introduction
"As dance educators, we have a responsibility that is greater than
training bodies." (Hankin)
I have been taking ballet since the tender age of two, and while I
fell in love with it pretty much the moment I stepped foot into a dance
class, there have also been many things about it that I have found less
than palatable. As I got older, I found that the incessant pressure to be
thin, the anti-intellectual atmosphere in many ballet classes I took, and
the favoritism and politics of various institutions stifled my own
creativity and love of the art form and that of those around me. I noticed
that while people were certainly willing to complain about the challenges
they faced and share horror stories about ballet training, few seriously
questioned why it had to be this way. The pervading attitude seemed to be
that the more you had suffered or been abused in the name of ballet, the
more legitimate a dancer you were. I have encountered precious few people
who are both technically skilled and have managed to escape the various
cruelties of the ballet world, and this bothers me. Sylvain LaFortune, as
quoted in Not Just Any Body: Advancing Health, Well Being, and Excellence
in Dance and Dancers, sums it up well when she says, "We don't become
dancers because of our current training system-we become dancers in spite
of it. The lucky ones get through. All the others end up injured,
discouraged, and unmotivated" (LaFortune qtd. in Jowitt et al. 85). I love
ballet, and I am committed to its growth and believe that it has the
potential to flourish and stay relevant in this day and age. It is for
these reasons that I write this: I believe that there must be better way to
teach ballet, a way in which we can foster dancers who are both highly
technically skilled and also physically, emotionally, and intellectually
nurtured. I don't claim to have all the answers about how to accomplish
that, but I endeavor to present various theories about ballet training that
I believe could ameliorate the system as it stands.
While ballet training may seem like a niche world in this country, in
reality every year thousands of little girls put on tutus and tights and
participate in what could loosely be termed a ballet class. Even if they
never go further than those first few classes, these girls have now been
exposed to ballet training. What if that were an empowering experience for
them? What if ballet training fostered creativity, joy of moving, and love
of one's body? There is no doubt that there are schools that do that for
their students, and I commend them, but I don't think that the majority of
ballet schools in this country achieve this. As part of my research, I
surveyed about 70 ballet students and several teachers, asking them about
their training experiences and their beliefs on ballet training (see
Appendix A for survey information). Only 43% of student respondents agreed
or strongly agreed that ballet training improved their self-esteem.
Similarly, in another study, "Ballet dancers scored highest on measures of
emotional instability compared to other performing artist groups, and lower
on self-esteem measures...13- to 17-year-old female dancers described their
personality as less beautiful, pleasant, attractive, confident, lovable,
and good than the nondancing girls did," (Ackard 486). Finally, in the book
Fit to Dance, the authors write, "Two thirds of the contemporary dancers
felt that, on balance, their teaching had been positive...by contrast, two-
thirds of the ballet dancers felt that their teachers' criticisms had
affected them negatively. They gave many more instances than the other
dancers of 'damaging' comments made by their teachers, who were accused of
being unconstructively critical and giving no help with the individual
needs of the dancers' body" (77). These statistics clearly indicate that
ballet training is not altogether a positive experience for all students.
Even if most little girls do not go on to study ballet seriously, they not
only deserve a good experience but the ballet world should have a vested
interest in giving them one: these are tomorrow's audience members,
patrons, and advocates. If for that reason alone, ballet teachers should be
invested in making sure every child, not just the "talented" ones, has a
positive experience in ballet class.
I don't think anyone would argue that things are perfect in ballet
training. However, many people might believe that the negative aspects of
ballet training are "necessary evils." I do not believe this is so: the
ballet world can, and must, do better than a culture of authoritarianism,
eating disorders, low self-esteem, and militaristic training methods.
Further, while I know that the dance world tends to protect its own (Lakes
2), we do ourselves a disservice by ignoring the need for change within it.
With that in mind, I present the central tenets of my beliefs about ballet
training, culled through research and synthesis of sources. I do not
pretend to offer an exhaustive list of methods or strategies and I
absolutely acknowledge that there is a huge array of possibilities for good
teaching. Here I offer merely core values, with the guiding principle of
respecting and nurturing the student as a whole person, not just as a body:
1. Teachers who work to improve student efficacy and self-esteem will
allow students to achieve their full potential. In this vein, teachers
should strive to create an effective relationship with their students
in which the teacher has authority but the students have autonomy and
in which the teacher pushes but also encourages and respects the
student. It is possible to be both honest and kind: a teacher need not
"sugar-coat" the realities of the dance world in order to avoid
shattering a students' self-confidence.
2. Teaching should not be a default career for professional dancers.
Instead, it should be undertaken only if a person really wants to be a
teacher, and it should be a respected profession within the dance
world. Further, teachers should receive pedagogical knowledge as well
as content knowledge.
3. Intellectual life can be integrated into the dance classroom: dance
class need not be an anti-intellectual experience.
4. Students should be encouraged to have lives outside of dance and bring
them into the classrooms. Students' lives can be rich with experience,
and this richn