TYR Posted February 22, 2018 Author Share Posted February 22, 2018 Special moment: he wanted to make a point about the Balanchine/Bernal thing of deliberately putting weight on the barre. So he had us all take 1st while he ran between us and the the barres on hands and knees making cow noises 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate_N Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 I can just imagine! I sometimes had to control my laughing in his class as I couldn’t balance while giggling. I wonder what they make of him in Germany? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted February 22, 2018 Author Share Posted February 22, 2018 If they could handle Pina Bausch, Klaus Kinski, and Blinky Palermo I reckon they can deal with him. Like us, they are conformist enough to appreciate eccentrics 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Red_Shoes Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 My teacher passed on some thoughts on pull-up from a (somewhat eccentric) teacher she had as a student. "Imagine you have weed yourself and you are trying to avoid contact with your wet knickers." I don't believe I have wet my knickers in many, many years, but I found that I had a very strong sensory memory of avoiding the clinginess of those soggy pants.And, yes, instant engagement of the pelvic floor/lower abdominals. She often uses the reminder "wet knickers" in class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted May 11, 2018 Author Share Posted May 11, 2018 RP: "Everyone feels horrible in coordination class...I've seen brilliant dancers destroy their careers like that...it's like Napoleon in Russia or the Germans in Russia...or....the *Russians* in Russia" Also RP: "Racehorses look front!" Actually useful from Nina: "If it's too fast, your core isn't tight enough" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted June 18, 2018 Author Share Posted June 18, 2018 "Push down into the earth with one foot and into destiny with the other" "It's easy to be a saint in a convent...but it's not so easy on Copacabana" Guess who. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Ha ha copacabana is a bit of a give away and would almost certainly agree with him there!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted August 26, 2018 Author Share Posted August 26, 2018 Not RP: "Imagine there's an eye in the back of your neck and it wants to see the whole landscape. Not the sky, not the ground...." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 (edited) I skimmed through this thread and discovered a post I'd made about a correction a tutor had given us at an RAD course a couple of years ago. Funnily enough she came back again this summer and mentioned the same thing and I told her that I always use that now! She was very pleased! It's the one to help alignment - standing in croise or efface remember it should be 5 minutes to 12 or 5 past 12 ànd not 10 minutes before or after! Edited August 31, 2018 by Dance*is*life 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted August 31, 2018 Author Share Posted August 31, 2018 From last night at CSB: "The opposite hip is like the other side of your personality. It's the one that's really important..." I.e. don't let your turnout slacken in en dedans turns. Not actually Renato, but someone dear to his heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 "Your plié is like the US and China. In tension. Divided by the whole Pacific. If they get too close it's war. Or diplomacy. But maybe war and we don't want that." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 "When you go forward you should be dragged upwards by a rusty meathook here [points to the coccyx]" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted November 20, 2018 Author Share Posted November 20, 2018 [Tendu dégagé] "Reach forward but resist...offer your foot to the fetishist...but deny him it at the last moment possible. Ballet is a sensation and it's that sensation. In fact, it's a moral sensation. Like all art, ballet is a moral act. You'll probably not understand this unless you've watched Barry Lyndon. You know the Reverend? The moment when the guy comes back from the wars missing a leg? [mimes a strange gurning wink] It's just a bit wicked." Who else could it possibly be but RP? He followed up by baring his operation scar like a gorilla in order to demand greater effort from us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 "Stand on it!" ("It" is the supporting leg; if you don't you will be not quite in balance and losing turnout as you close 5th.) "Think condor!" (you're dancing in centre. open your arms more and wider and engage the back.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 TYR I am really enjoying these! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Beelam Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 Me too! ❤️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted January 22, 2019 Author Share Posted January 22, 2019 Not sure if it counts as a correction or just general exhortation, but it's from Niki Tsiskaridze so it probably qualifies: http://melmoth.blog/post/182213550753/news-segment-about-vaganova-ballet-academys-2019 "La Garde meurt mais ne se rende pas!" (the guy who said it swore more and went on to surrender a couple of hours later but never mind) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted February 1, 2019 Author Share Posted February 1, 2019 "Don't wait - close the arm. God doesn't exist and even if He did...he'd have better things to worry about than your pirouettes." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 First is infancy. Fifth is adolescence. Centre is adulthood. Jumps are second childhood. After class is death. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richieN Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Relayed to me 2nd hand from a pas-de-deux workshop: "Put her down gently.... she's a dancer, not a bin bag." Sage. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted April 8, 2019 Author Share Posted April 8, 2019 "Are there any Brazilians here? No? I want you to think of the lady of the house and her maid. *Shrieks in a hoarse, high pitched voice* ISAAAUURA!! ...a beat.... ..another... ...[as the maid, with an extreme, overdone accent, taking as long as possible, and sounding completely pissed off] senhora? It's class consciousness...better than Marx." the point was about rocketing up to passé and delaying on the way back down. he kept yelling "ISAUUURA!!!.....Senhora?" through the next barre exercise. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted April 15, 2019 Author Share Posted April 15, 2019 "The capacity to endure is very similar to happiness." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted April 15, 2019 Author Share Posted April 15, 2019 100th anniversary special Now That's What I Call A Correction from Merce Cunningham. Trust the contemporary world to stand the whole concept on his head: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/apr/15/merce-cunningham-dance-centenary-pupils-recall-teacher Quote Merce did not talk to anyone, ever. He gave no corrections, no communication. He’d walk in the room, say, “We are doing this piece”, turn on the stopwatch and comment at the end, “Two seconds too slow”, or, “Two seconds too fast”. In the course of five years of rehearsing – all day every day – he said two sentences to me. The first was: “You need more tensile strength.” I was 18 and I didn’t know what he meant. The other one was: “Thank you for the cheese.” Because I gave him a selection of French cheese. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted July 31, 2019 Author Share Posted July 31, 2019 "If you leave the fish in the boiling water, and then you pull them out, the flesh stays in the soup". OK Renato, what does that have to do with my port de bras? "Has someone written one of those articles? Ballet is for everyone?" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted September 16, 2019 Author Share Posted September 16, 2019 Arthur Mitchell at Dance Theatre of Harlem: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-49648768/everyone-said-i-was-crazy-the-black-ballet-pioneers The correction drops at 02mins 05 seconds. a version of "hit my hand!" but kicking it up a notch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dopedeedoo Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 This such a great and funny thread! Thanks for sharing 😀😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 Today's beautiful thought: "I don't believe in God but ballet is all about reaching for the divine! And the divine is up there! [*allongé 3rd arabesque*] It certainly ain't down here." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted September 30, 2019 Author Share Posted September 30, 2019 "What I want from you is fearlessness, and only speed teaches fearlessness." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted October 31, 2019 Author Share Posted October 31, 2019 "The thigh should start off cylindrical, but then...you know how you find balloons under the sofa three days after the party? It should go flat like that as you rotate." 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 This one was a little baffling, thanks to Enrico Montes: "Back up! Back up!" I was doing a penché to 1st arabesque and then an arabesque balance in relévé. I did think of hopping backwards but realised he meant keep your back higher until the leg is up 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted April 5, 2020 Author Share Posted April 5, 2020 John Clifford on his YT channel: "TOENAILS!" // lead your enveloppé out and back in with the toenail "Pick something up and then throw it over your other shoulder" // this for circular port de bras "And George said...it's the lights" // placement of the head with arms in 4th - should be inclined to catch a beam from the lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted April 5, 2020 Author Share Posted April 5, 2020 Surely what with all the super famous online teaching there should be a crop of these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted April 12, 2020 Author Share Posted April 12, 2020 I can report the circular port thing really does work (got a call-out on zoom with NTM today). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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