Luigi was my first teacher, and I would like to explain why I am teaching his technique; why I am finding such enormous value in a technique that was developed in the 1950’s; a technique that many dance educators feel is no longer relevant.
As I’ve been traveling the country to guest teach and meet more and more people, I’ve received some inquiries from some studio owners and teaching colleagues as to why I’m teaching the Luigi Jazz Technique. It seems as if there is a perception that this kind of traditional jazz is in some way not relevant or helpful in the training of today’s young dancers. So I thought I’d take the time to share some of my thoughts on training dancers in traditional Jazz and why/how I teach what I teach.
I teach both Classical Ballet and The Luigi Jazz Technique and I am based primarily at the Joffrey Ballet School in NYC. I have made it my personal mission to keep the work of my mentor Luigi alive. There are two aspects to this work. Firstly, there is the “Style”. Luigi created an unmistakable, exquisite style of Jazz that seems to have all but disappeared. And here’s the thing: I AGREE that there isn’t a lot of usefulness to teaching the Style for its own sake. There has been very little work choreographed in this style, and there certainly are not many jobs waiting for dancers familiar with the style. BUT THERE IS MORE TO THIS WORK THAN THE STYLE.
The Luigi Technique is a codified training method. And this method has been responsible for the creation of some of the most beautiful, exciting and unique dancers that the stage has ever seen. The technique teaches a beautiful quality of movement; something that I see disappearing from today’s dancers. It teaches how to develop a deeply personal style another attribute that is disappearing as conservatories are turning out dancer after dancer who are maddeningly uniform. The technique teaches how the body works, how to use epaulment, how the torso is carried, how the rib cage is held, how the arms connect to the back, how to create a beautiful port de bras, or a long line that goes on forever, how to feel the music, how to phrase, how to “dance from the inside”, how to “Feel first, then do”, and how to “Never Stop Moving”.
There are a few of us (former students of Luigi) left teaching this work. I, however, refuse to turn the technique into a museum piece. Although I do teach the technique and style exactly as he did, I teach it in a way that allows dancers to apply the training to ANY STYLE. I want the technique to be a living growing evolving and exciting way to train dancers. I want my students to pulse with the excitement that this technique brings, and to come away a more beautiful, more nuanced, more artistic, more individual, more exciting dancer in any and every style they approach be it contemporary, hip hop, lyrical, modern, jazz, ballet…
Every time I teach at a new school or face a new group of students I am always fascinated as I watch dancers explore this way of working. It’s like opening a door for them; a door they never knew existed. Some get it. Some don’t. And to the “nay-sayers” who judge the work after a few classes, my response has always been the same: “You don’t know what you don’t know”.
For those dancers with the patience to acquire the technique, for those dancers with an open heart and an open mind that can see past the noise of the latest Instagram trend, it can be career changing. I have personally experienced the results of this work and I have been privileged to watch what it has done for the students of this technique, decade, after decade, after decade.
“To dance, put your hand on your heart and listen to the sound of your soul.”, Luigi
Classical Ballet and All That Jazz 
Thanks, for all that you do. You are so right about the benefits of Luigi’s technique. ♡
See you in class!
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Donna, thanks for your comment! I haven’t been taking class much (taught 20 classes last week!) but I do try to get to class on Tuesdays. Most of my teaching is Ballet, but the two Luigi Technique classes that I teach at Joffrey are the highlight of my week. Hope to see you at Steps soon😀.
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I’m really curious to know what style of ballet you teach I’m a Cecchetti classical ballet teacher your wonderful blog about Luigi style Jazz is a direct match with how we regard and feel about Cecchetti Ballet this was posted on Facebook by a Cecchetti teacher ex Birmingham Royal Ballet
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So this is actually a rather complicated question. I should point out that Luigi had a full Cecchetti education under Bronislava Nijinska. His jazz technique is deeply rooted in that pedagogy. Everybody that I know who has had a true Cecchetti education has expressed the same sentiment to me. I don’t know how many of these articles you have read, and how much you know about my past, but I was an adult beginner dancer, who trained completely in “open classes”. I never had the benefit of a conservatory education, and I did not train or come up through the levels of a particular pedagogy or system. I trained in New York City, with many teachers, all of whom had different backgrounds, systems, ideas. My first teacher came from the Boston Ballet School. I don’t really know much about what they teach there. She also had a lot of influence from her years training under David Howard. My second regular teacher was Romanian, trained at the Vaganova Academy, but yet taught “her own thing”. I studied under teachers who taught a Cecchetti based class, I studied under teachers who taught a Balanchine-style based class, I studied under a teacher who taught Vaganova methodology, and under numerous teachers, who taught what is often referred to as “a blended American method”. I also started on several teachers, who were disciples of Maggie Black, a well respected teacher in New York City, who had her own method. I never studied directly under her (it’s a long story). I was able to take all of this disparate information, assimilate it into my body and come out the other end, a professional ballet dancer. My ballet classes are based on my experiences, studying under all these drastically different teachers. I have been called “irresponsible“ for not teaching a codified method, but that is a topic for another article. I guess, in short, you can say that I, like many of my teachers before me, teach a blended American style.
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