By Publications Class
When the seniors left at the end of April, some high school classes were left with reduced numbers wondering how to fill the last two weeks of school. Sophomore Christine Holliday didn’t let the depleted ranks in Ms. Fogarty’s P.E. class get her down–she took the opportunity to teach the rest of her class something she has loved since she was three years old.
Holliday asked Ms. Fogarty if she could teach the class ballet–and not just any ballet. Her peers in P.E. would get a highly coveted Vaganova method (Russian-style) training for a day. Holliday has been studying various styles of ballet for 12 years at Lelia Haller Ballet Classique in Mid-City. Although she was trained in the French style more typically taught at American schools, she has been taking a Vaganova class lately, and she wanted to share what she’s learned.
She got the idea because Ms. Fogarty had mentioned that a previous student had taught a yoga class once before. “Automatically I thought to myself, if someone can teach yoga during P.E., I could totally attempt to teach a ballet class. I decided to do it on my birthday (May 3rd), so I could use my birthday as an excuse to get everyone to participate. And it worked!”
But the class was rather chaotic compared to one at Lelia Haller. “I guess that’s what to expect from people that have never danced a bone of ballet,” Holliday, who has never taught ballet before, said. “We started with a Vaganova barre to warm up. For me, a regular barre can get very boring, which is why I decided to pick out music from famous ballets, make up my own barre combinations, and do a Vaganova barre!”
Did it matter?
“Not really. The students still did not like barre,” Holliday said.
After barre, Holliday had everyone learn the Four Little Swan Variation from Swan Lake (what some of the P.E. students called the “line dancing” part). The most challenging thing of the lesson, Holliday says, was teaching them this famous choreography.
“Everyone was so tired from the barre, they couldn’t retain the choreography. That was very crazy. I tried so hard to keep a straight face. They weren’t really Four Little Swans but Eight Little Geese. Yes, it was very sloppy and messy, but they gave it their all. I was so proud!”
Even if her peers in P.E. quickly forget the steps to Four Little Swans, Holliday hopes they came away with just a bit of her love of dance. “I love dancing to the music. I love how I can animate the notes through my steps and choreography. You can be graceful, you can be fast, you can add character. The whole purpose is to tell a story through your dancing.”
