The Cecchetti Legacy: An Analysis and Description of the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet

The Cecchetti Legacy provides a more detailed account of the Cecchetti Method, one of the great classical methods of teaching ballet, than has yet been published. Both word descriptions and Labanotation are used to describe style and technique (body integration, dynamics and space, the use of the head and torso, the use of the arms and the use of the leg and foot) and the enchainements (barre work, port de bras, center practice, adage, center pirouettes, allegro, des pas sur les pointes, steps for men, tours en diagonale and tours round the room). For those teachers and students who cannot read Labanotation there is much in the written text that will both supplement and clarify a great deal of what is already available in the Cecchetti manuals, although an ability to read Labanotation would be very helpful in using this book.This complete Labanotation score, drawing on wide sources of information, as well as exploring more detailed descriptions of movement texture and timing (those "extras" that give the style its character and exceed mere word instruction), will enable future dance students and scholars to access an even more comprehensive account of Enrico Cecchetti's legacy.

Toby Bennett is a Senior Lecturer in Dance at Roehampton Universiry, London.