Lina Basquette
Ned Wayburn’s Modern Americanized Ballet Technique
I have invented a method of teaching the ballet that eliminates the long and tedious training formerly considered necessary, and fits the pupil for a stage appearance in the briefest possible length of time. That my method is a perfect success is evidenced in the best theatres everywhere. I have taken amateurs who never did a ballet step in their lives, put them in training by my personally devised method, and made perfect solo dancers of them in a few months’ time, secured them engagements, and their fame as ballet dancers par excellence is today world-wide. Elsewhere in this book I shall name several of these whom you know best, and you will admit that I am right in what I have just said when you peruse their names.
I am assuming that you are aware of the fact that in all foreign countries the ballet student is taught for years before she is allowed to attempt a public appearance or permitted to consider a professional engagement. This ultra-conservative custom has been brought across the water, and the idea has always held here in America that the four, six, ten year apprenticeship was a necessity; that no dancer could qualify for a professional appearance in a shorter period. It was taken for granted that there was no short cut to this trade, and up to the recent present there has been none. But our American girls who are gifted with a talent for this superb form of graceful dancing will not consent to devote the best years of their lives to unproductive labor. The idea of signing away several years of their happy lives in order to become entitled merely to a critical teacher’s approval, and all this time without compensation of a financial nature, does not appeal to any, and least of all to that very person, the young person who would make the best dancer.
Yet there was an increasing demand for capable ballet dancers, and the supply was limited and dwindling. So, in order to make a world happy, I put my wits to work and evolved a plan that has revolutionized the entire industry. And I have called it Ned Wayburn’s Modern Americanized Ballet Technique; and it is a Ballet Technique at its very best. If I had done nothing else in the years of my theatrical experience, I should still feel that I had accomplished much that is worth while.
And, really, it is all very simple. The wonder is that others did not figure it out before I did. And it is no secret. I am going to tell you all about it, and what the results have been, and then you can see for yourself why it is no longer best or necessary to go to foreign lands and take lessons the old way, for years and years.
There is what is called the Universal Ballet Technique. It is the standard of the dancing world, recognized and observed everywhere that the ballet is taught or danced. My method follows this Universal Technique closely, and is identical in many of the essentials. The chief difference between the old way and my new method is in the preparatory work. Now, this will never become a world full of ballet dancers, because not everyone could learn this graceful undulation if they wanted to. (All the more reason, I say, why those who have the talent should profit by it.) Not all of my pupils, nor all of my best pupils in other forms of the art, can hope to become solo artistes in ballet work. I can glance over a class at work in any of my studios, and select the few who may hope to perfect themselves in the ballet. I have had to discourage and no doubt disappoint some of my ambitious ones who have aspired to master the great art of ballet dancing; but I know I did what was best for them in advising them as I did. These same girls will be topnotchers in other fields of stage dancing, and I would rather direct their pathway to sure success than to let them wander into byways where their feet might stumble. So first of all, the candidate for ballet dancing must have my approval, she must be qualified according to my high standards, and when I say “Yes,” and the student enters faithfully upon the work as I lay it out, she is going to make good.
And the first instruction she will receive in my courses is in the nature of a muscle culture, a foundation technique that consists of exercises, on the felt floorpad, in limbering and stretching. It is very beneficial to everyone in every way, and unqualifiedly essential to the beginner in stage dancing in any of its forms. The prospective ballet dancer, by going through these exercises in the studio for a series of twenty lessons or so, and practicing three hours or more at home daily during the same period, develops strength in the muscles of the back, legs, ankles and feet that fits her for the ballet technique; and it is this foundation work that enables her to eliminate the antiquated exercises and some combinations of steps, and the unduly long, tedious and once necessary trials that fell to the lot of the old-country ballerina. So the secret is out; it is our special foundation work in limbering and stretching combined with my Americanized Ballet Technique that builds our American pupil into a strong, healthy, flexible, graceful person, well prepared for advancement into the beautiful art of the ballet.
This does not mean that the entrant for ballet honors has nothing to do but go at once upon the stage, a completed artiste. If this statement of my easier plan suggests such a thing, let me hasten to correct so erroneous an impression. There is work, and hard work, too, and lots of it, before our pupil becomes a ballet dancer, even under our less strenuous and much shortened course of training.
Grace of the entire body is sought and taught, graceful movements of the head, arms, legs and torso. In addition to grace and poise, there is need of great muscular strength, and this we are able to develop in our pupils without bunching the muscles of their calves, thighs or arms into unsightly knots. And this fact is not one of the least of the recommendations of our system. We insist upon symmetry and beauty of figure. This is really more important to the professional dancer than beauty of face. To possess both, a beautiful face and form, is the ideal condition, of course, but the figure is susceptible of being made attractive by our development technique, and any imperfections of the facial contour or features, and any defects in the complexion, are easily disguised or corrected by my method of teaching stage-makeup.