Walking

My method of teaching the younger student, not the already professional dancer and partner, is as follows.

First, teach the young man to walk, to lead in his partner and to present her, to walk on to the stage as a man, firmly and with well-measured gait. No need to walk as a prizefighter or slouch as one does in shorts along a country lane. A dancer's grace, line, and stance by all means, but with a feeling of pleasure and manly pride at the presentation. It is no easy matter to be able to walk well on the stage whether one is an actor or a dancer; it can and should be taught. I believe, in fact I have proved, it can be accomplished, or I would not be writing this little book.

I was taught to walk, and no one walked worse than I did in my early student days. Slouched would be a good word to describe my ungainly lack of stance and manner. I corrected this only by careful attention to my lessons and watching others, older and more experienced than myself. Upon my arrival to join the Diaghileff Russian Ballet in 1923 in Monte Carlo at the age of 17, I was taught how to walk and to correct faults of which I failed to realize the existence. Naturally having been a good enough dancer to enter the Russian ballet ranks, it came as a minor shock to have to be shown how to stand even, let alone to walk. I give myself as an example hoping that others to-day, when a set series of exercises for the student is decided upon, are asked to walk, and even to learn how to stand still, they will not be taken aback in astonishment. Not only to be able to stand still, but also--and this is vastly important to realize and understand--to concentrate at the same time upon the ballerina.

Pas de Deux: The Art of Partnering by Anton Dolin. 1969. Pages 14-5.