There are many wonderful training systems in the ballet world. One question that I often hear is, "When should we start introducing other systems to our students?" This question can have a few different motivations: an appreciation for the diversity of approaches and excitement to share that with students, a faculty with teachers trained in different methods, wanting to make sure students show their skills well in various audition settings, etc. There are so many good intentions behind the desire to diversify the styles you teach in ballet but, as a general rule, I stick with just one.
Why wouldn't I introduce my students to more than one method? Because it leads to a lack of clarity. "Well, I only do it with my advanced students," is usually the response. I still don't recommend it very often. Why not?
A) All students' progress is better served by continuing to deepen their understanding of and refinement in the style they have been training in all along. Deep understanding of one method leads to cleaner technique and more artistic freedom than a broad knowledge of many.
B) Teaching a new style is often best done as a summer intensive or with a guest teacher. Not only does that imply having a master teacher in the method, it also separates the event in your students' minds. "Today we are doing Bournonville," compartmentalizes the experience so that the new information can be appropriately filed away in your dancers' brains and bodies. If there isn't that clear "we're doing something different" signal, students will try to synthesize the new information with their old information. So instead of the Danish embrace being part of a unique style, students try to reconcile this new port de bras shape with what they have been asked to do in the past. It leads to confusion when what we want is clarity.
C) Year-round training needs to be so, so organized. While on paper it may make sense to say "On Mondays we have Cecilia. She uses quarter-turn head coordination. On Wednesdays we have Sasha. He uses tilted head coordination," in practice it is not simple at all. Head coordination takes a lot of practice to integrate and flip-flopping between styles slows down progress exponentially. Head coordination is only one example. Another highly-changeable concept is how to appropriately do a first position with hyperextended knees. Extended fourth v demi-plié fourth as a pirouette preparation is another example. I could go on. This is why clarity matters.
Rather than confuse or overwhelm students with stylistic details, it is more beneficial to acknowledge that there is more than one way to correctly perform a step when you first introduce it. Then you spend your class time becoming very, very good at your chosen method. This way students don't get locked into thinking that there is only one way to do things but they also get to focus their attention and effort on one thing at a time.
If your school is very clearly associated with a particular style, that's great! If not, you need a game plan. You need a curriculum that specifies details like is frappé from a flexed or a wrapped shape and when to quarter-turn the head and when to tilt it. The Geeky Ballerina curriculum has already organized those details for you, laid out in an easy-to-follow format.
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