In My CD Case...Cassa Pancho

In my CD case...

November 12th 2001: Cassa Pancho
The very first "In my CD case..." is from Cassa Pancho, a choreographer and dance teacher with her own company, Ballet Black, and her own ballet school in London. She also writes a diary on Ballet.co.

CD: Survivor (2001)
Artist: Destiny’s Child
Columbia: Cat No. 501783 2
I have had more than my money’s worth from this CD. I bought it for myself, but one day, when stuck without a pianist or syllabus music, it was this or nothing. It turned to be the best class the children (and I) had had in ages. Apart from them knowing and loving each song, it was ideal for the settings we were working on. They did their skips to Independent Women, pliés to Survivor and port de bras to Emotions. And Step Close Step and Point has never been as precise as when danced to Bootylicious. It also brought out an enormous sense of enjoyment in every student in the class. I cannot recommend this highly enough for a ballet class with students of any age.

CD: A Night in the Tropics (1859)
Composer: Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869)
Naxos: Cat No. 8.559036
Célèbre Tarantelle, Op. 67, No. 5 (arr. Nicolas Ruiz Espadero, 1874)
Duration: 7:24
I thought this would be an ideal piece of music for teaching ballet to a group of nursery-aged kids, but they HATED it! When teaching such a young age without any assistance, I like to use a long track like this so it can be left to play, whilst you teach. When I put this piece on, they weren’t interested at all. Although the music is lively, it stays pretty much the same throughout, without anything that children can identify as a difference in the music.

II Festa Criolla
Duration: 6:05
This is from the same CD, and had completely the opposite effect. One of the things we do in class is imaginative work, and a favourite is miming various animals (!) This piece has so many differences in it that you don’t even have to encourage the children to listen. They just hear the changes and understand immediately that the difference should be reflected in their choice of mime.

CD: Afro Blue, Vol.2 – The Roots of Rhythm and Jazz (1998)
Artists: Various
Blue Note: Cat No. 4 94031 0
I first heard this in Ray’s Jazz Shop in Covent Garden and had to buy it. It has tracks on it that are made up mostly of African drumming, and every child that’s danced to this in one of my classes has gone off and improvised! Sometimes the speed of it means its slightly better suited to older kids, and the parts with African vocals can send them off into peals of laughter, but its an upbeat, lively CD and, as with Survivor, each child comes across showing that they love dancing. When you hear some of the stuff on this, it’s hard to imagine working out a time signature to it, and it certainly puts the good old 2/4 back in its box…and under the floorboards…of a condemned building. Afro Blue is brilliant for any ballet class.

CD: Nonet (1959), Nonet (Fragment) (1924/25) Flute Trio (1944) & La Revue de Cuisine (1927)
Composer: Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)
BIS: Cat No. BIS-CD-653
Though I love every track on this CD, the one I use most frequently for class is Andante – Allegretto scherzando, from Trio. Its perfect for that strange Sharp Hands exercise, then it changes in mood and tempo, so you can do Sensitive Hands too! The students like this, though only when played in moderation, and if doing something imaginative. This may be due, in part, to the fact that these children are relatively new to classical music (having had syllabus music forever), but Martinů is just weird enough for them to give it a bit more of a chance.

CD: Classic Disney – Volume II (1995)
Artists: Various
Walt Disney Records: 60866-7
This CD was a gift from someone, and I thought it was the worst present on earth until I started using it for teaching. It has 25 original songs from various Disney movie soundtracks and its difficult to say which one is best. The kids adore every single one, but from a teaching perspective, I have a few favourites. There’s an exercise in Pre-Primary called Claps and Marches, and I’ve never really understood what purpose it serves, and the kids I teach never seem too enthusiastic about it either, but when I tried it to One Jump Ahead (Aladdin, 1992) they were transformed. It’s a HUGE, gorgeous, big band piece with all the random sound effects from the film included and they just love it. For port de bras, So This is Love (Cinderella, 1950) is lovely and for the older students, Gaston (Beauty and the Beast, 1991) is great for battement en cloche as it has a cool, swingy feel to it. There is lots of imitation Disney music available, but I’ve found that the children I teach have a certain amount of disdain for those. The only down side to this CD is that if your exercises aren’t engaging enough, you’ll find your class are just as happy to bellow out the songs at the top of their little lungs as dance…

CD: Jazz Masters 2 – Count Basie (1994)
Artist: Count Basie and his Orchestra
Verve: 519 819-2
Like Afro Blue, this CD is stuffed full of rhythm. Its perfect for ballet, tap and Jazz, as once the class gets used to a track, you see them actually settle into a rhythm of their own, and you even see a bit more of their body move! I find this difficult to explain, but maybe this will help: take your syllabus book and open it to the rhythm section. Read through what it says. Now close it and let’s try not to think of it again. Granted, you don’t want to swamp a child with complex rhythms, but whenever I’ve used this CD, everything seems to have come naturally. I also find this the best CD to use when encouraging the class to improvise.

CD: Pribaoutki (1914) Berceuses du Chat (1915/16) Suite from the Soldier’s Tale (1917) Four Russian Songs (1955)
Composer: Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Naxos: 8.554367
This CD has two sections that I use most frequently - Three Easy Pieces for Piano Duet, and Five Easy Pieces… They are perfect for syllabus settings, as none of the tracks exceed 1:50. They are very sweet, simple pieces that are ideal for barre work with older students, and my preferred pieces are Andante for adage/port de bras, Balalaïka for battement frappe and Napolitana for Free Movement. You also loose the whole four count introduction thing, which means that you and your class have to pay attention and stop being automatic about starting an exercise.