Studio 1- Ballet
-
- Every morning for nintey minutes, the mens’ class practice Ballet techniques under different instructors. The same perspiring funk lingers in the studio as it does everywhere else in the school. The floor is quite bubbly from time and falls of ballet.
-
- Eric has been in the ballet for twelve years. It shows in his poise and aura. It is cliche to say ballet dancers are like swans. Ballet dancers are fluid performers. Eric is an inspiring professional ballet dancer. He was chosen to be the Prince in Cast A of the Nutcracker performance.
-
- A freelance instructor, Alexandre is a often at the Joffrey Ballet School. He is a walking accomplishment of a ballet career, his elocution and instruction encourages the students to be prepared for the “real world.”
-
- The most energetic, he gives extra umph to his spinning and jumps. Here he is performing a simple ballet technique, sickling ( pointing) your foot away, and returning your foot sidways against the other.
-
- “A product of the Bejing Academy of Fine Arts,” he says without hesitation. “My mom made me dance and do ballet as a child because nothing else interested her, I had no say.” Then he smiles and says ” Now I love the ballet, I hated it as a child, but famous actors and dancers come from Beijing. Someday, I will too.”
-
- It was a strenous effort to photograph the dancers, their legs would occupy several square feet of space around them, the several square feet of space I needed to photograph them more efficiently. I was too close to Eric, and his foot, which I prefer to be the whole top right corner, is a way of saying ” you’re not welcome yet, but keep knocking.”
-
- Precision with hips idle and legs moving independent from the body, ballet is succinct with physical prose.
-
- Alan and Eric have their time in the air. With regular instructor Cammy, students were told to propel in the air and perform double heel clicks. Some with ease, others fell and stumbled and laughed it off.
-
- After photographing this class, I tried my own windmill.
-
- There were times when students would practice unsatisfied techniques during the five minute intermission. Most of them stretched out their limbs, Stephen decided to spin.
-
- Extending one leg then stopping to spin three times seems as rigorous as it looks.
-
- Two weeks from the Nutcracker Performance, the womens’ class joined the mens’ class in morning exercises. Women performed their precision with minimal effort while the men seemed to strain on several exercises.
-
- Eric, a cavalier in both plays in Casts A and B, whil Stephen ( red overcoat) plays the prince in Cast A and the second cavalier in Cast B. Cory, (far left), is one of the menacing cats in Cast A, then the prince in Cast B.
-
- Eric, the cavalier, with sugar plum fairy, Caroline.
-
- Stephen , as the Prince, kisses Clara,the heroine and owner of the Nutcracker doll, with Alexandre, ( Clara’s godfather, a magician)
-
- George, the artist director of the Joffrey Ballet School ( Center), sits with Stephen discussing subtleties and performance.
Abraheme Hassan
Studio 1
Tchaikovsky, Victorian, leotards, bulges, glutes, pink slippers, poise, and power. My initial thoughts of the ballet could be anonymous with anyone else – superficial. My time at the Joffrey Ballet School is insufficient; I’ve only scratched the surface. However, my preconditions have advanced and matured dramatically.
I grew up frolicking to Michael Jackson and MTV tunes, sparred with my older brothers in martial arts and wrestling bouts, and played every sport I could get my hands on. The performing arts (if you consider wrestling or martial arts – performing arts) were and are a significant part of my life. Ballet was the void and stagnant part of my curiosity. Ask any boy about the ballet, ‘ballet is for girls and sissies!” said my seven year-old cousin. “Sissies” in my neck of the woods were not respected nor harmed. Men who dance professionally other than hip-hop were like steel bubbles, floating in grace but with a macho exterior.
My curiosity of the ballet was reignited once again by the film “Billy Elliot,” a boy in a Northern England coal-mining town finds his true calling in ballet, a stark contrast to the his father and brother’s lifestyle. This project is my first glimpse of the ballet. Specifically, male ballet dancers, who testosteronal grace repulses many but intrigues and captivates me. Syncopated in classical composure is a delight you can enjoy and experience other than the clashing in sports.
More »
