Vaganova system

In the XVIII-XIX centuries, representatives of the European ballet were invited to work on the Russian imperial scene. Their school was creatively assimilated by Russian performers, enriched by Russian national style, emotionality, high grace and freedom. All the best from the French and Italian schools was taken. The representative of the French was Christian Johanneson , a student of Augustus Bournonville , who, in turn, studied under Auguste Westris . The Italian school, which flourished in the last quarter of the 19th century, was represented in St. Petersburg in the pedagogy of Enrico Cecchetti , in Moscow in the pedagogy of Jose Mendes .

A certain teaching style and the classical basis of the Russian school at that time did not have a definition of “Russian school”, despite the significant successes of some domestic teachers.

In the 30s, when the task was to systematize knowledge in various fields, A. Ya. Vaganova took up the generalization of the data that ballet teachers and her accumulated experience have used for decades, thereby laying the foundation for the academic teaching methodology. The unification required from educational institutions led to the writing of unified programs that all teachers should follow, to the development of a unified terminology (which was not required before the revolution, when the French language was widely used for communication, but was necessary in the new reality, when due to different the reasons had to mainly use the Russian language). Similar processes took place in other disciplines taught in the ballet school - in the 30s, the Leningrad Choreographic College laid the foundations of the methodology and generalized the principles of teaching characteristic and ballroom ( historical ) dance.

Vaganova remembered the school lessons of Catherine Wazem , who knew how to develop softness and strength plié from her students, listened to the advice and comments of Olga Preobrazhenskaya regarding the Italian exercise . She closely watched the work of her peer, choreographer Mikhail Fokin , who achieved the spirit of dance in his performances and, not without the influence of Duncan , a laid-back and poetic plastic of hands. This allowed her to select step by step the most characteristic features of the Russian dance style. Not being particularly gifted by nature, Vaganova was a technically strong and virtuoso dancer. According to the ballet critic L. D. Block , she "managed to understand the very essence of the forms of classical dance"; "At the end of her artistic career, she took up teaching and was gifted with exceptional pedagogical abilities."

The achievement of the Vaganova system that provides her vitality and continuous development is the scientifically based sequence of the entire educational process. Strict adherence to the inductive method of transitions from simple to complex, from particular to generalized — such is the principle of the progressive development of the student’s artistic consciousness and dance technique. Vaganova systematized her pedagogical experience in the theoretical work “ Fundamentals of Classical Dance ”, published in 1934. The structure of the book is a description of movements according to specific concepts: for example, batmans , jumps, tours , etc., which does not correspond to the order of instruction, but systematizes the material. At the same time, within each chapter, movements are considered in increasing order - from simple to the most complex, that is, a system is built. A. Ya. Vaganova established the order of movements in the lesson, which was significantly different from the order of other schools; developed the position of the hands , their coordination in movements, which gives harmony to the dance. Plié - with him, according to Vaganova, one should begin an exercise . Here the author made a digression, explaining why you first need to execute it while standing in I position. Then Vaganova listed the order of movements that everyone knows now: rond de jambe par terre, battement fondu, battement frappé, rond de jambe en l'air, petit battement, developpé, grand battement jeté . Nevertheless, she wrote: “I will not give any firm schemes and firm norms for building lessons. This is an area in which the experience and sensitivity of the teacher play a decisive role. ”

A special merit of Vaganova should be considered the methodological rules developed by her about the role and importance in the dance of the coordinated movements of the hands, body and head. The working role of the hands, which not only serve as a decoration of the dance, but also help the execution of the most complex movements, is Vaganova’s technological discovery, which facilitates the mastery of classical dance techniques and does not impoverish the plasticity or expressiveness of hand movements.

• N.P. Bazarova
• V. M. Krasovskaya
• V.P. May
• Ballet terminology

• Gromova EV, Shivrinskaya S. Ye. PEDAGOGICAL HERITAGE A. Ya. VAGANOVA AS THE BASIS FOR THE FORMATION OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCES OF TEACHERS IN CLASSICAL DANCE