Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance
December 1, 2020
As I sit down to write about my process as a ballet teacher, it occurs to me that this will be just as challenging as writing about my choreographic practice. So much of what we do is about the body. What we create springs from each individual’s mind-body relationship. As a result, a great many things emerge from intuition and innate creativity and are not necessarily translatable to words.
What is important to me? What do I hope to achieve? Where do I begin as I develop a curriculum for training gifted aspiring professional dancers?
The starting place is the body and its motion – alignment, coordination, movement sensibility, individuality, and musicality.
My pedagogical approach to ballet technique is built on the many years of personal research and practice in several somatic techniques, contemporary and classical dance, and my choreographic explorations.
I am interested in ballet training that emphasizes sound skeletal alignment, mechanical efficiency, and
gravity. These principles can enhance each dancer’s structural support, to encourage an economy of effort, physical freedom, and a deeply considered presence. Through the release of personal and physical tensions, dynamic and expressive range is continually developed to enhance an honest, vulnerable level of performance. As the dancer strips away any affect or unneeded tension, the unique individual is revealed through their movement and expression.
In addition, I ask that each dancer address musical and performative complexities as they deepen their practice.
What emerges is a fully-physical, engaging dancer that is able to impact the audience through technical expertise and a vulnerable, open performance ability.