Pirouettes, Plies and Pas De Bourrés

Switching gears this week to talk about my dance journey and all of the abundance that has sprung from it, and what a winding road it is, full of lessons and love and life.

Thankfully, my mom had the idea to put me in dance at a young age - having worked in theater alongside Denise Vitali - the owner of Sudbury School of Dance - and seeing dancers in her studio do the dancer slouch, which is still quote upright posture - she decided that posture and grace, things instilled in ballet, were something she wanted her daughter to have. And so began my love affair with ballet.

I spent many happy years learning ballet at the Sudbury School of Dance under Denise, who taught me to love dance and ballet and embrace its energy and beauty. However, at the age of eight, my family moved to Niagara. My incredible family made sure I could finish my year of dance at the studio and drove me each week back to Sudbury to take class and prepare for the year end recital, for which I will forever be grateful.

It was the transition to Dancemakerz in Waterdown under the instruction of Irena that gave me the technique and the tools to understand how deep my love of dance went. Denise helped us to find a Russian ballet school down south, as most other schools in the area are Cecchetti technique. Before we transitioned Denise told my parents that if I found the change too much, or harsh or different and wanted to quit dance, to let me do so; she said I would come back to what I love with time, so long as I wasn’t forced to endure it. Though I never found the need to take a break from dancing, since I learned of this conversation I have been indebted to Denise for seeing that love for dance in me and encouraging it, even when she was no longer my teacher.

While with Irena I was able to advance my technique and learn the focus and discipline of ballet. Although intense, Irena moved classes around my second year at the studio to allow me to take more classes. Again my parents were commuting over an hour each way just so I could dance in the familiar technique every Saturday. But when I was twelve, we decided that if I truly wanted to dance more, I had to move to a studio closer to home, which meant switching ballet techniques to Cecchetti.

This was my final move, to Ballet Etc… Studio for the Arts, and where I found several incredible teachers and one mentor who has become a friend. At a studio much closer to home I was able to take more classes and join the competitive team. My wonderful teachers gave me the opportunity to learn solos, take varied disciplines and participate in exams in the Cecchetti technique. One of my clearest memories from the summer I transferred studios was the day we learned pas de bourres for the first time in Cecchetti syllabus. In the Russian technique a pas de bourres (step of the stuffed) is done in pique (to the knee), while this is known in Cecchetti as pas de bourres pique, with the initial step being done a terre (on the earth) - I’ll attach a video at the end distinguishing the two. My confusion when I was told I was doing the wrong step was immense, but with these bumps in the road and changes in technical understanding, dance became a conduit for adaptation, growth and expression.

My favourite part of dance was the examination process; although we got feedback from our instructors regularly in class, and don’t worry, I’m getting to my mentor, exams were a time to get written feedback from an outside source to help us improve and find our blind spots - at least, that’s why I always enjoyed them.

My second solo choreographer was the first one to help me truly understand a dancer’s connection of movement to emotion to music. Her musicality was a gift to learn from and she imparted strategies to gain deeper connection and give more expression while executing choreography. This journey of growth in musicality continued throughout my dance education with the studio.

Through all of my years there, one teacher became a mentor, and that was Miss Eva. Ballet mistress, now legend at BE, she has been teaching for 40 years, and at the end of this season retired - most well deserved. However, in my years there, I often said I would have taken a two hour class with her, followed by ballet history classes. She introduced my year to pointe and after one year in the discipline, invited myself and my friend to do a pointe quartet for competition with two older students. This woman took me to her family home in Montreal for Cecchetti day at their ballet school because she saw something in me worth nurturing.

Our last year at the studio, myself and a close friend went to exchange farewells with Eva and we got a little emotional, as you do with big endings with huge people in your life, and she looked at us and said, “It’s just another day to dance. We get to dance. That’s all.” This was later, my first tattoo; Eva’s words, written by Denise. Over the years of exam prep, choreography and thoughtful opportunity, Eva had become my mentor and was the one who invited me back into dance, after I graduated and moved onto college.

My first year of college I didn’t dance and it was the worst year of my life. Although I knew dance was an important part of my life, I thought that part was over, but as Denise said all those years ago, let her come back to it in her own time, and I did. I began taking class again with Eva, and that year she had one other student who wanted to challenge their Advanced 1 exam, and invited me to challenge it as well… in six months time. Typically this exam preparation takes two years, and I was about to undertake the process with only six months. With her guidance, belief and incredible teaching I was able to successfully challenge this exam and come back to the studio, now as a teacher.

This transition was surreal and difficult. I had always preferred the technical side of ballet and dance in general, but now I was expected to choreograph recital pieces for my classes; the creative component was coming to the fore. I had to confront many narratives around my own ability to create, break down those barriers of resistance and safety I had built around myself to truly have the drive to choreograph and create pieces that were fun for the dancers, technically sound, and meant something for the dancers as well as myself.

Now I’ve been a dance teacher for five years now, and I can’t imagine ever stepping away; granted, I only do a few hours each week, but that tether to the world of dance keeps me grounded and sane. I also take the occasional adult class, just to keep in shape and give my body a chance to revel in the art of dance.