There are two other articles I wrote for print magazines: one in Dance International about his work with promising youngsters, and one in Dancemagazine, about the more technical aspects of his approach. Fortunately, Herrault continues to grow as a teacher so that there is always something new to say about his teaching. 

Today at Steps on Broadway, in Fabrice Herrault’s 2pm professional class (it is listed as Adv-Int), Daniil Simkin, Stella Abrera, Savannah Lowery and a number of other pros were at the barre, engrossed in the beautiful mix of musicality and creativity of his challenging combinations. In the center, there were lots of jumps and changes in direction to keep the mind sharp and aware, with the emphasis–continued from the barre–on stretching, using the inner thighs, the “latts” and the back, pointing the feet, the quality of effortlessness, being “light,” and having the body be” in one piece” so that movements are done without strain, and the beautiful port de bras and epaulement that Herrault is known for.

How can one not be thoroughly involved in Herrault’s class? He engages a dancer on so many levels – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. His own energy is infectious; he galvanizes the dancers to give their all, and he explains how to do it, too, so that one has a clear and exact understanding of how to achieve something beautiful in ballet. Then comes the work to make it happen…

As a keen demonstrator, Herrault has no equal, and one can learn so much just by watching him show the steps as well as from his verbal corrections.  His personality as a motivator who is kind and encouraging no matter how difficult something appears is key in this regard – he always says, “It’s fun!” and smiles at everyone to encourage them to try a particularly challenging series of steps. But the sheer joy of being able to accomplish something:  to stretch the upper back more and to “suspend” in pirouettes so that they are easier, to hold a balance in attitude at the barre for longer than usual, to use of the arms for greater ballon during jumps, to match the timing of the crescendos and denouments in the music with the steps–to do a quick fahi (when the music goes “up”) into a good plie (when the music goes “down”) in order to jump into a big assemble (when the music goes “up” again) and not to make dancing “flat” like it’s on one, long note–and to look in the mirror and to see that the quality of the steps are different because of his teachings, is what makes his classes special.

And no matter who is in class, the real star is ballet itself, for whom Herrault is a wonderful channel, a conduit to take you directly to your best work and best performance. His commitment to the art form draws from him such exciting and “make you work” combinations, that it pushes you to go beyond any limits you may think you have.

No matter how I do in class, there is always at least one moment that I can be proud of afterwards, because I did something the way he wanted (or closer to what he wanted), and that gives me the impetus to go home and to work on it to be ready to do it right in class the next time.  Thank you, Fabrice!

Lucky us, in two weeks, Fabrice is teaching at Steps for four days in a row: Thursday and Friday, Nov. 5-6 from 10-11:30am, in addition to his regular Sat and Sun classes. See you there!