Learning Experience 3

            During the rehearsal process for Giselle, the classical ballet piece in which I was cast this semester, I had a discussion with one of the rehearsal directors about my work as a partner in the piece. I have always prided myself on the amount of care I have for my partner and her safety over mine and on my ability to generally keep my partner on balance and safe. However, I have far less experience in classical partnering than I do in other areas, and this was showing to my professor as she informed me that I was making both her and my partner nervous, a sentiment of which I was most definitely not aware. My teacher began to outline what I needed to fix, which principally involved being firmer in the way in which I held my partner, and I began to reflect upon my work in relation to her corrections.

            For me, this was a turning point in the way I partnered. Up until this point, my philosophy of ballet partnering was to be delicate with the woman so that I wouldn’t bruise her with my hands or harm her in any way—my guess is that this premise simply stems from gentlemanly conduct and thought process that is valued in our society. Unfortunately, this way of thinking and working simply does not work in the classical partnering environment in which the woman needs to feel fully secure that you will keep her on her box (the fancy paper maché portion of the pointe shoe on which the woman stands in ballet). Thus, it becomes especially important to handle the woman (since the male is essentially in charge of how her weight is being shifted in partnering) with a firmness that both functions to keep her on her leg as well as to keep her confidence in you high.

            Unfortunately, this learned technique does not translate directly to my everyday life outside the classroom, but it does directly feed into the work I do on a daily basis. After this point in time, my partnering in class and in rehearsal improved immensely, and I feel more confident in my ability to work with an array of different partners of differing levels of ability because of this epiphany. I also have found that I am able to focus on how I look more in partnering now that I can securely hold my partner in a position with greater consistency, which essentially means I get to work more artistically within the partnering regime than I could before, the exact opposite of what one would expect when told to approach material with greater firmness (and thus, an increase in bodily tension that naturally accompanies giving more strength to a movement).