Basic Principles of Classical Ballet (40 page)

5
  
Zhizn’ iskusstva
(Art Life), 1927, No. 6, p. 6.

6
  
Rabocbii i teatr
(The Worker and the Theater), 1926, No. 9, p. 13.

7
  N. Dudinskaya, “Unforgettable Lessons,” in
Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova,
“Iskusstvo,” 1958, p. 191.

8
  A copy of the third edition of Vaganova’s book with her emendations for a fourth edition is preserved in the Leningrad State Theater Museum, No.
KII
10372/3.

For her assistance in my research I wish to thank L. A. Rozhdestvenskaya.

9
  See Supplement, note i.

10
  See Supplement, note 2.

11
  See Supplement, note 3.

12
  See Supplement, note 4.

13
  See Supplement, note 5.

14
  See Supplement, note 6.

15
  See Supplement, note 7.

16
  Current usage in the Soviet Union favors the pointed position sur le cou-de-pied.

17
  See Supplement, note 8.

18
  See Supplement, note 9.

19
  Special attention must be paid not to bring the foot forward in a half-circle. It must cut a straight line from 2nd to 5th position. By exercising this you will avoid sloppy execution in the future. In doing pas de bourrée en tournant with this detail, the pupil will involuntarily learn to control her back, which will then turn not abruptly, but with the correct slow speed.

20
  See Supplement, note 10.

21
  See Supplement, note 11.

22
  See Supplement, note 12.

23
  See Supplement, note 13.

24
  See Supplement, note 14.

25
  The white footmark indicates that the foot is raised sur le cou-de-pied. Ed.

26
  This practice is true of the Soviet ballet. In America and Western Europe, however, the term
pirouette
is considered good usage. In order to be as close to the original as possible, the author’s preference for the use of the term
tour
has been retained in the translation. The reader will realize that he may substitute the word
pirouette
for
tour
without any change in the meaning of the term, except, of course,
tours chaînés, tours en l’air,
etc. (Translator).

27
  See Supplement, note 16.

28
  See Supplement, note 17.

29
  See Supplement, note 18.

30
  See Supplement, note 19.

31
  
En tire-bouchon
is the position of the leg raised to 90° and bent in the knee; the pointe of raised leg is pressed closely to the knee of the standing leg. A
pirouette
in this pose gives the impression of a corkscrew, hence the name.

32
  See Supplement, note 20.

33
  See Supplement, note 21.

34
  Each movement of every exercise at the barre is always done from one foot and then from the other.

35
  All musical examples, with the exception of excerpts from the ballets of Tchaikovsky, Glazounoff and Minkus, are the working improvisations of S. S. Brodskaya.

36
  In executing
ronds de jambe par terre
in rapid tempo the description on p. 39 of this book should be followed.

37
  The designation of groups of dance divisions with the musical term “adagio” does not necessarily require the musical tempo adagio; other slow tempi may be applied: andante, moderato etc.