At this time of year with new people coming to the school and company I am often amazed at how few
have a solid base of technique.

While I enjoy the challenge of helping those who have years of inadequate training it is so unnecessary.  So
much frustration could be avoided with proper training at the start.

Many dancers are trained by so-called professionals who themselves never actually had good training, or
careers. In this country it is very hard to find correct, compassionate development of dancers.

Recently I had one parent who called and told me that she wanted her daughter to have my training. She
said maybe her daughter would want to be a dancer.

She was coming from a “recreational program” better known to professionals as a good place to be baby
sat till mom gets back from the grocery store.

When I told her that Ballet I is two times a week she balked. At her old school they only came once a week.
She then said she wanted her daughter to lose weight and get in shape. The mother decided to stick with
the recreational school and in a few years they might come back.

By that time she would have even more bad habits and wasted years.

The “dance world” just rolls their eyes when these victims audition. Many times when the students are
rejected parents don’t know why, and imagine many reasons.

It’s hard to explain that they were in “play ballet” too long to save, as most teachers see it.

The body and mind are not like an “Etch a Sketch” that can be shaken, erased, and a new design started.
Under performance pressure the old habits surface again.

My second observation is abuse addiction. There are teachers who think “being tough” will help their
students be resilient. Students brought up with negative stress, distain, insults and rude comments from
teachers internalize these feelings, and then exhibit the results for all to see on the outside: excess tension,
fear, and a lack of flow.

After a while this treatment becomes associated with the attention and help they need, and when they don’t
get the negativity, these students feel that something is missing.

One fabulous retired dancer and a fine teacher I know, told me about going to take a class at one such
school.

She over heard the teacher telling a student how to “psyche out “ other dancers, so that they couldn’t do
their best. This is a sickening attitude.

This should be purged from our concepts of what is good, not only in dance but in all fields of endeavor.

What we do to others and for others has a ripple effect that goes on forever.

I urge all teachers and dancers to seek goodness, love and knowledge.

Best wishes for a happy and productive new dance year.

Virginia B. Britton