An ART form for everyone

Educating children in dance is artistic, athletic and fun

BY BETSY HOLCOMB

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TYLER SCHANK

It happens every performance of the Minnesota Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker.” Scores of the youngest audience members twirl in the aisles at intermission, inspired by the dancers on stage.

Some of these children go on to study ballet, which traces its origin to the elegant dance in Renaissance courts of Europe. The School of the Minnesota Ballet emphasizes that whether or not students pursue dance as a career, they will deeply experience a performing art. They’ll develop physical strength, artistry and graceful perfection; gain confidence to reach goals; and develop discipline to apply to their lives.

The guiding principle of ballet training is preparing students for what is to come, starting with 3- to 5-year-olds, who while marching, leaping or “flying” like butterflies are introduced to dance. Six- and 7-year-olds are ready to work on movements such as bourrées (quick little steps on the toes), movement patterns and rhythms. By age 8, children are usually ready to begin the rigorous study of ballet, each year advancing from basic to more difficult movements.

Girls work toward their rite of passage in ballet: getting their first pair of pointe shoes. At the ballet’s school, female ballet students at age 12 may be approved for pointe work only after taking pre-pointe classes to strengthen feet and calves.

At age 10, boys at the ballet’s school are encouraged to take Athletic Dance for Young Men, which specifically trains them in men’s technique and men’s variations (excerpts from classical ballets). Boys are also encouraged to do weight training to be ready to safely lift their female partners.

Liam Colclough, 14, a student in the highest level, especially appreciates the athleticism of ballet. “Ballet can be quite masculine, and it’s also an art form that you need to be very physically and mentally strong to do well,” he said. “You get the opportunity to express yourself while you’re dancing and to get away from all of the troubles of everyday life.”

A primary concern for the school is sequencing elements of the basic ballet class, watched over by LilaAnn Coates White, the Minnesota Ballet school’s principal teacher and an assistant professor of dance in the Department of Theatre at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She earned a master’s degree in physical therapy from the College of St. Scholastica, and to stay current with the latest medical findings impacting dance, she is a member of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science.

“Every movement from the first plié (bending of the knees) at the barre is set up to help the dancer safely land the last jump in class,” Coates White said. Each ballet class begins with warm-up exercises. Students keep one hand lightly on the barre while doing movements such as rond de jambes (high circling of the legs), in slower and faster tempos. No two classes are the same. Teachers vary the sequence of movements to make them mentally and physically challenging.

Then, as Coates White explained, movements are repeated away from the barre, adding balance to training. The last element of the class is jumping, first in place, next in alternating landing on one foot and two, then across the floor in patterns requiring the largest range of movement.

Kirsten Rye, 17, this year a junior apprentice with the Minnesota Ballet company, said she’s grateful for her supportive and helpful teachers and for her roles in performances, such as a lady of the court in “Swan Lake.”

“The opportunity to perform with the company as a student not only solidified my passion for dance, but also taught me respect, the value of hard work, and what it is like to work in a professional company,” she said.

Kathy Rye, mother of Kirsten and her two older sisters, Kelsey and Carrie, who also have studied at the school, can claim triple experience seeing ballet training up close. She said she worried about ballet’s time commitment.

“Sometimes I thought that they were too busy, but the girls said they could plan around the schedule,” she said. “Ballet has given them structure and taught them to have control in their movements, which have helped them in all other aspects of their lives.”

The summer term offers additional dance styles to round out training, including character (European folk dance) and musical theater dance. Guest teachers enhance training. One of the favorite summer classes is choreography, which allows students to create their own works-in-progress and perform them in the Student Summer Showcase outdoors at the Duluth Public Library Plaza.

Believing that dance is for everyone regardless of ability, the school has offered Creative Dance, an adaptive ballet class on two levels for children with physical or developmental challenges. These classes also dance in the annual Student Performance at the DECC Symphony Hall, and some Creative Dance students have performed in productions of “The Nutcracker.”

The Teen/Adult Division welcomes students who have had no dance training and those at a point in their lives that they want to resume dance instruction, be it ballet, jazz, modern or tap. Many teen/adult students take the opportunity to dance in the Student Performance.

To allow the children and adults to experience dance up close, every spring the school presents Dance Day at the Depot, a free public introduction to ballet and other styles in the Great Hall of the St. Louis County Heritage & Arts Center. One chilly, rainy May Day, upper-level students created indoor spring with their maypole dance of intertwining ribbons.

Beginning at age 8, students at the school may audition for young dancer roles in “The Nutcracker,” over their training progressing from carolers to mice and soldiers to gingerbread children to party guests to geisha and Spanish dancers. The most advanced students earn places in the corps de ballet of “Waltz of the Snowflakes” and “Waltz of the Flowers,” and some even tour with the production to such sites as this year’s Houghton, Mich., and Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The Minnesota Ballet will perform “The Nutcracker” 7 p.m. Dec. 8 and 9, and 3 p.m. Dec. 10 at DECC Symphony Hall. The production has delighted thousands … and the impromptu intermission entertainments in the aisles are special, too.

Betsy Holcomb works for the Minnesota Ballet as a writer and editor. She wrote this for Moms & Dads Today.

Dancers from the School of the Minnesota Ballet dance to the song "The Greatest Show" from the opening act in the movie "The Greatest Showman" at their Student Summer Showcase at Duluth Public Library Plaza on July 27. The group performed 15 dances with techniques including modern dance, tap and jazz.

MANY STUDIOS IN THE TWIN PORTS OFFER STUDENTS THE BENEFITS OF DANCE EDUCATION HERE ARE A FEW:

Cuzzo Stocke Dance Studio Duluthdancestudio.com

Dream Dance Academy Dreamdanceacademy.wordpress.com

Elite Dance Productions Elitedanceduluth.com

Just For Kix justforkix.com/danceclasses/duluth-mn

Madill Performing Arts Center Madilldance.com

School of the Minnesota Ballet minnesotaballet.org/school

Stacie Juten’s Duluth Dance Center Duluthdancecenter.com

Sterling Silver Studio

Sterlingsilverstudio.com

Stacey's Studio of Dance Education staceysstudioofdance.com