Customer Reviews

Basic Principles of Classical Ballet

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Madame Vaganova (1879-1951) is justly considered the best teacher of classical ballet this century. Her book, first published in the West in 1946 and translated by Anatole Chujoy, deals with the intricate steps of ballet in a matter-of-fact way. The drawings, though, are plain awful, dull, uninspiring, but informative. The chapter "Construction of a lesson" ought to be compulsory reading for every teacher of dance. The order of the exercises, what faults to look out for and how to remedy them. There is great emphasis on the use of the arms, the secret that gives ballet its eloquence. If I should recommend only one single book on ballet technique, this would be the one. Every step - from the barre exercises to the most spectacular jumps and turns are described in detail, great emphasis is put upon the correct placing of the head and arm movements as aids to perfect execution. The Vaganova system is used by the Maryinski - formerly the Kirov - dancers; she was ! also honored by having the former Leningrad Choreographic School renamed the Vaganova Institute.

I first received a copy of this book when I was 9 years old...it was recommended by one of my first ballet teachers. I loved looking at the illustrations, and discovering the spelling of terms that I was learning in class. I loved looking at the more advanced steps and their complexity. I still have that copy 20 years later. Now, I use it as a wonderful reference for teaching, and recommend it to my students. A valueable book that every dancer should have!

As a student dancer I usually like to brush up on things that I wish I could at school or on the bus. It's a great book emphising on Russian Technique and basic steps. For eight bucks it was one of the most cheapest ballet books I have boughten. It goes straight into the positions of the feet. It tells you of what are the correct ways and what are the incorrect ways. It gives little drawings of a ballet practicing the step. If you can remember those little diagrams of the silloutte of feet for ballroom dancing, most of the diagrams are like that. In the drawings when a leg is suppose to switch or the body, little lines are drawn and it is almost impossible not to understand what the steps are drawn out to be. The only thing I wish was more of introduction to pointe. There are only a chapter dedicated to pointe work, clear and understandable on how to develop strength with echapes and releves. Even in the diagrams they give you Russian and French and Italian for some to show you the possible difference. This is a very detailed book, the only problem you would have if you didn't live in the ballet world at all. If your looking for an introduction I suggest the Royal Academy Ballet Book, but if you know your ballet terminology and learning how this manual will save you steps, get it. It helped me understand really what I was suppose to do. Visually you don't learn everything but it breaks it down perfectly to really know what your doing physically than visually.

Agrippina Vaganova is legendary in the world of Russian ballet and, in fact, the Russian style of ballet is usually called the Vaganova style(the term "school" is usually used instead of style). The reader should keep in mind that this is a classic and not a modern tutorial; nevertheless, it is so well written that it is still useful to today's students. In these pages we can learn many little tips not found elsewhere. The book is amazingly complete, despite its small size. The book will be most appreciated by the more mature sudents of ballet. This classic is ALWAYS included in any serious ballet library!

It would be extremely difficult to add anything to the comment of Pamela Moberg below, exept that I would also like to recommend this book for musicians who are involved with ballet. As a (former) accompanist, I can tell you that the more you know about ballet the better you will do in classes. The book obviously is a great one or it would not have stood the test of time, but let's face it, I really bought it because it has a sample lesson at the end of the book that has music written out for each exercise! I did not end up using that music, but it really gave me a better understanding of what was going to take place in the class since I had never accompanied before. Musicians, do yourself a favor and buy the book.

This book does well as a student resource for those studying Vaganova Methodology. Simple sketched pictures assists well those individuals whom really want to know what soviet dance instruction is all about.

It is very informative, specially for students of dance, as well as instructors. It made me appreciate and perform ballet (and technique)better.It's worth all the cents you will pay and more.

This book describes all details of ballet movement with great clearness.
It's a good option for ballet students and teachers who want to reach perfection.
The method of Agrippina is famous and efective, so...
Get one for your practice and grow up.

Because my own dance education was rather inconsistent (spent time under teachers who each used Cecchetti, Vaganova, Balanchine, and Neumeier methods), i ordered this book to help me once i myself began to teach. After reading it, i will forever be a Vaganova fan. Her method is, well, methodical. Very detailed, well-thought out and well-planned. It's easy to see why she was so successful. My first struggle was that some of the names of steps she uses are now archaic, so i had to do some research to figure out what she was talking about! I also found this book more helpful when combined with another book, called The Perfect Pointe System, which was developed by a dance physiotherapist in Australia named Lisa Howell. Vaganova's way of teaching artistry is excellent, but i found it necessary to incorporate more modern/scientific ideas about how to use the muscles safely and effectively, which is where Lisa Howell's book came in. I also bought this book together with 100 Lessons in Classical Ballet, which showed how to fit Vaganova's thoughts into an actual lesson. Put together, i definitely learned more from reading these three books than from all my years of "dance education" combined!

It dose a wonderful job showing how each movement is suppose to be done step by step and showing all the names of each movement. Even if you do not know how to read you can look at the pictures, which show how, do every movement. The one thing I was disappointed the translator did not explain about the expression of each movement such as effacee expression is proud. The expression of each movement is something unique to the Vaganova Syllabus.