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| Senior lecturer Malgorzata Kucharska-Nowak |
Ballet Pedagogy
In 1971 the Educational Centre for Artistic Educational System and the Artistic Educational System Executive Board at the Ministry of Culture and Art developed a syllabus for 3-year Vocational Extra-mural Training for Dance Teachers. The authors of this project sought the help of the College of Music, now the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music. Thanks to the kindness of the then Rector, Professor Tadeusz Maklakiewicz, and the Dean of the Department of Music Education, Professor Antoni Szaliński, a new section responsible for the training of dance teachers, "Unit D", was opened at the Department of Music Education in 1972. Zbigniew Korycki, ballet educator and choreographer, was appointed Head of the Unit.
In 1973 the syllabus was greatly expanded and the 3-year vocational training course was transformed into the 4-year Extramural Graduate Course for Dance Teachers (giving an M.A. degree).
Today, 25 years later, the syllabus differs greatly from the one which was introduced when Unit D was created. Initially, the course was meant to be a form of education addressed solely to dance teachers working at ballet schools, most of whom were dancers themselves, with considerable performing and teaching experience. However, it soon became apparent that this unique form of further vocational training was attracting not only ballet teachers but also people wanting to be choreographers or ballet theoreticians as well as amateurs and young beginners in the dancing profession.
As co-operation with secondary ballet schools became more intense and the schools began to press for teachers of various dance forms, the syllabus underwent further metamorphoses. As a result, the initial practical part of the syllabus, restricted to methods of teaching classical dancing (main subject), characteristic, folk, historical and modern dances (to which fewer hours were devoted) was greatly extended and the entire structure of the course was altered. Today students spend much more time than before studying e.g., various forms of modern dancing. For several years now they have also been given the opportunity to attend courses devoted to the dances of different nations, led by invited specialists from the respective countries. The present syllabus also includes more theoretical, humanistic subjects as well as a four-year English language course. Thanks to these improvements every fourth-year student can now make an informed choice of special graduate courses.
Co-operation with ballet schools also includes practical training: for four consecutive years students train at one school under the supervision of a tutor (teacher) who remains in systematic contact with the Academy faculty. One of the effects of this co-operation is the principle that students sit their final practical examination at their training school.
From 1976 on, every year several to over a dozen students finish the 4-year Extramural Graduate Course for Dance Teachers, most of them with an M.A. diploma. The M.A. dissertation library is a mine of knowledge on ballet history and aesthetics, folk dancing, psychology and sociology of the dancing profession and the anatomy thereof (a very specialised area of knowledge).
Ballet Pedagogy graduates now teach at all Polish ballet schools, operatic and music theatres, dace theatres and folk dance ensembles where they often hold managerial positions. Many of them are greatly appreciated in Poland and abroad.
The never-weakening willingness to study Ballet Pedagogy allows us to be optimistic about the future. Even if it is not easy to satisfy the postulates to offer new courses, e.g., ballet mastery or theory of ballet art, which Polish ballet circles are expressing more and more openly, it will be necessary to make yet another effort to make these dreams come true.
ll high school graduates may apply for the Course but they must pass an entrance examination testing the practical and theoretical competencies normally taught at ballet schools. Future students must pass an examination in classical, folk and characteristic dancing, dance history and foreign language. During their four year course they will prepare for their final examination which includes conducting a lesson at ballet school, presenting a dance composition and defending a Master's dissertation. Ballet Pedagogy graduates who pass this examination successfully receive a Master of Arts in Dancing degree.
Compulsory subjects at the Unit of Ballet Pedagogy fall into three groups:
Two other extremely important subjects are anatomy and corrective gymnastics.
Unit of Ballet Pedagogy starts in 2001/2002 with a Postgraduate Dance Theory Course.
Unit Faculty:
Senior lecturer Malgorzata Kucharska-Nowak - Head
Professor Roderyk Lange
Professor Ewa Wycichowska
Beata Ksiazkiewicz, Ph. D.
Krystyna Swiderska, Ph. D.
Senior Lecturer Danuta Piasecka
Joe Alter, M. A.
Lidia Anczykowska, M. A.
Danuta Borzecka, M. A.
Klaudia Carlos-Machej, M. A.
Teresa Memches, M. A.
Joanna Sibilska-Siudym, M. A.
Compiled by: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music