Cecchetti method: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:08, 11 January 2018

Revision as of 22:22, 20 January 2018

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The other key influences on the Cecchetti method came from his own professional career as a dancer, which exposed him to many different techniques and styles of ballet. When he began to gain a reputation as a teacher, he experimented with these various styles, fusing the best elements of each to create his own ballet technique and training system, the eponymous Cechetti method. Such was the success of Cecchetti's teaching, he is recognised as one of the key contributors to modern classical ballet, his method credited with significantly improving the teaching of classical ballet throughout Europe. Where previously ballet teaching had been haphazard and reliant on the preferences and style of the individual teacher, the Cecchetti method established the model of standardised teaching which is the basis of all professional ballet teaching today.

Initially, Cecchetti passed on his method by teaching it to his pupils and professional dancers, including some of the most famous dancers of the early 20th century, such as [[Anna Pavlova]], [[Alicia Markova]], [[George Balanchine]] and [[Serge Lifar]]. Many of his students become notable teachers of the Cecchetti method, including [[Ninette de Valois]], [[Marie Rambert]], Laura Wilson, [[Margaret Craske]] and [[Olga Preobrajenska]]. A number of well known professional ballet schools were also founded teaching a curriculum based on the Cecchetti method, including the [[Royal Ballet School]], [[Rambert Ballet School]], [[National Ballet School of Canada]], and the [[Australian Ballet School]].

In 1922, British writer and dance historian Cyril W. Beaumont collaborated with Cecchetti and Stanislas Idzikowsky to document the method in print, producing the ''Manual of the Theory and Practice of Classical Theatrical Dancing''. This continues to be the standard resource for the Cecchetti method throughout the world and it has been replicated in numerous forms, including [[Benesh Movement Notation|Benesh]] and [[Labanotation|Laban]] notation. The method was further documented by Grazioso Cecchetti, one of Enrico's sons, in his treatise, ''Classical Dance''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cicb.org/pioneers/pioneers-grazioso-cecchetti/ |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2013-08-29 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823060326/http://www.cicb.org/pioneers/pioneers-grazioso-cecchetti/ |archivedate=2013-08-23 |df= }}</ref>{{Relevance-inline|date=February 2013}}.

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The Cecchetti teaching method was vital in the development of Classical Ballet in the United Kingdom and contributed heavily to modern-day British teaching methods. Enrico Cecchetti and his wife opened a ballet school in London in 1918, and his pupils included some of the most influential names in British Ballet, many also influencing ballet throughout the world.

[[Dame Marie Rambert]] was a former pupil and colleague of Cecchetti, who also established a professional ballet school teaching his methods. This led to the formation of the UK's first ballet company, which survives today as the country's oldest established dance company, although it is now known as [[Rambert Dance Company]] and specialises in [[contemporary dance]]. The school also remains and is known as the ''Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance''. [[Ninette de Valois|Dame Ninette de Valois]] was a colleague of Cecchetti during her professional career with the [[Ballets Russes]]. She established [[The Royal Ballet]] in London, with many of the companies early dancers being pupils of Cecchetti. The Cecchetti method was also favoured by de Valois when she formed the [[Royal Ballet School]]. [[Phyllis Bedells]], another Cecchetti pupil, would also play an important role in the teaching of ballet in Britain, as a founder member of the [[Royal Academy of Dance]], which today is thea world's largest classical ballet teaching organisationexamination board.

The British writer and dance historian Cyril W. Beaumont was a close friend of Cecchetti and, in 1922 he collaborated with Cecchetti to codify the training technique into a printed syllabus, ''The Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet'', which has become the foremost reference for Cecchetti method teachers worldwide. Cecchetti also gave Beaumont permission to established the Cecchetti Society to maintain the method and ensure that it would be passed on to future ballet teachers in its original form. Branches of the Cecchetti Society were subsequently established around the world, most notably in Australia, South Africa, Canada and the US. The original Cecchetti Society still exists in Britain, although against the wishes of Enrico Cecchetti it was absorbed into the [[Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing]], which continues to maintain the Cecchetti method as a separate entity from its own ''Imperial Classical Ballet'' syllabus.

Today, the [[Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing]] promotes the Cecchetti method as a syllabus-based series of dance examinations, which are taught by registered teachers around the world in both pre-vocational and vocational dance schools. The syllabus is a progressive series of graded and vocational graded examinations, which are accredited by the [[Qualifications and Curriculum Authority]], the government appointed regulator of qualifications in England and Wales. Successful exam passes in the Cecchetti method can therefore be submitted for credit towards other nationally recognised qualifications, however this only applies in England and Wales. These qualifications are in reality usually taken by the amateur rather than the professional dancer.

There are a few ballet teachers, such as Gavin Roebuck, who can trace their knowledge of the Cecchetti method in a direct line from pupils of Enrico Cecchetti, including generations of dancers trained at the Royal Ballet School, the Rambert School and Canada's National Ballet School.

== Examinations ==