Cecchetti method

The Cecchetti method is a ballet technique and rigorous training method devised by the Italian ballet master and pedagogue Enrico Cecchetti (1850–1928). It is specifically concerned with Hilton's law of anatomy, especially within the confines of classical ballet technique. The method seeks to develop the essential skills of dance (e.g., balance, poise, strength, elevation, elasticity, and ballon) in students through a meticulously designed training regimen. Its goal for students is to learn to express themselves through dance by studying and internalizing the basic principles, in an effort to become self-reliant rather than imitating the movements executed by their teacher.

Cecchetti-trained dancers have achieved places in ballet and dance companies all over the world. Well-trained Cecchetti dancers have a purity of line and simplicity of style which enables them to take their places in dance companies of other genres of classical ballet.

The greatest influence on the development of the Cecchetti method was Carlo Blasis, a ballet master of the early 19th century. A student and exponent of the traditional French school of ballet, Blasis is credited as one of the most prominent ballet theoreticians and the first to publish a codified technique, the 'Traité élémentaire, théorique, et pratique de l'art de la danse' ("Elementary, Theoretical, and Practical Treatise on the Art of the Dance"). Reputedly a very rigorous teacher, Blasis insisted on his students conforming to strict technical principles when learning to dance, a philosophy which Cecchetti learnt from his own teachers, who were all students of Blasis (Giovanni Lepri, Cesare Coppini and Filippo Taglioni). Consequently, the key characteristic of the Cecchetti method is the adherence to a rigid training regime, designed to develop a virtuoso technique, with the dancer having a complete understanding of the theory behind the movement.

The other key influences on the Cecchetti method came from his own professional career as a dancer, which exposed him to many different techniques and styles of ballet. When he began to gain a reputation as a teacher, he experimented with these various styles, fusing the best elements of each to create his own ballet technique and training system, the eponymous Cechetti method. Such was the success of Cecchetti's teaching, he is recognised as one of the key contributors to modern classical ballet, his method credited with significantly improving the teaching of classical ballet throughout Europe. Where previously ballet teaching had been haphazard and reliant on the preferences and style of the individual teacher, the Cecchetti method established the model of standardised teaching which is the basis of all professional ballet teaching today.

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