[Music]
Hi
I'm Miss Penny from KidVision Pre-K and
we're here to spend a day with a dance
instructor.
Hello Miss Penny it's so nice to be here
with you today.
My name is Stavi Kaburakis.
I teach
ballet
at Dancers Gallery in Cooper City.
How
did you start dancing?
I started dancing in a neighborhood
school that my mom took me to.
I was very inspired by the teacher and I
think about
seven years old I said to myself “I want
to be a ballerina.”
My parents took me to a school of American
ballet where I
auditioned.
So I trained there for seven
years.
There was no thought about it.
I was
going to be a ballerina.
And eventually I worked professionally.
I
was invited to Greece
where I became a prima ballerina with
the Greek National
Opera.
What’s a prima ballerina?
A prima
ballerina
is the lead role.
Oh, that's very exciting!
Can you tell us a little bit about the
history of ballet?
Ballet originated in the Italian
Renaissance courts
eventually influenced France where
King Louis XIV, he loved to dance, and he
created the first
professional ballet company which is now
known as the Paris Opera ballet.
And then the influence went into Russia
with the ballet ruse
and so forth.
It's had a long, brilliant
history.
Yes.
What classes do you teach at Dancers
Gallery?
I teach the classical ballet and I teach
children
all levels starting from five years old
to 18.
What happens during a typical ballet class for a younger age group?
We emphasize technique which builds
strength,
posture and flexibility even musicality.
Technique is very important.
And we do it
even as a professional
every day.
We do a technique class.
We
start off at the bar
helping our balance.
Eventually we move
into the center
where the steps become more elaborate
but we start from a very
foundation principle.
So everyone learns
the same foundation and you build from
there.
Yes, yes.
Technique is very important.
That's why ballet is considered the
foundation of all dance
because it's the most disciplined.
I can
see that.
What is choreography?
Choreography is a
sequence of movements
that are put into form.
Well that sounds
exciting
and excellent and I would love to learn
some ballet.
Would you teach me something
today?
Of course Penny, we can do a little
choreography.
Great.
[Music]
Ballet is the most demanding and
disciplined dance form because of the
technique.
So technique is the foundational
principles of body movement.
Where the body alignment and the
placement have to be correct as well as
the under or which is the turn out.
Technique is also
the conditioning of muscles
and muscle memory.
It's a process of
repetition of body movement which causes
body awareness.
So good technique is very important
because it ensures the dancer to have
longevity.
As well as preventing injuries.
It builds
flexibility and strength.
[Music]
So we will start with the most basic
step in ballet and that's the plie.
So you bend your knees.
Plie means to
bend,
and then you stretch.
So what happens is
you rotate
you rotate the legs out and then back up again.
So here is where technique is
important because we do the alignment of
the knee
over the toes which protects our knees.
So the plie it builds strength and
conditions the muscles and it's our
landing.
So we work a lot of plies to keep that
balance.
So we plie and we straighten this is the
most basic step.
Another step is the tendu which means
straight.
We tendu out, we tendu in.
Now you see how I use my arms called the
port de bras movement of the arms.
We coordinate the arms with the legs
with the head
with the shoulders the aplomb so it's
multi-tasking.
Another basic step is the surla demi
plant,
which is a releve we also call it releve.
it's where we push
up to the balls of the feet and back
down again.
That's a releve it's done with straight
knees always.
And let's do one more.
A saute which is a jump so to jump we
will never jump with straight knees
because that's just gonna
traumatize our knees.
So we start with
our plie.
Our landing.
From the landing
we push and land back again to plie.
Beautiful!
Now did you see how you fell
forward?
Yes.
Okay that's because it's an imbalance.
We use the turn out to balance
knees over toes and that's how you
balance.
And
the body alignment is very important we
call it a plumb line it's an imaginary
line that goes through the body
and this keeps you centered.
So this way
you don't
fall and then you pull up and you're on
balance.
[Music]
Thank you so much Stavi for teaching us
so much about ballet and I want to thank
Dancers Gallery for giving us the whole
day to spend with a dance instructor.
Thank you Penny the pleasure was all
mine I hope to meet again.
I hope so too.