Advanced Performance and Production

This capstone unit brings together advanced classical technique, repertoire study, performance practices, and dancer health to prepare students for sustained participation in ballet. Building on prior technique and theory units, students refine challenging steps, analyze major works and production elements, and develop professional and wellness plans for continued training or entry into pre-professional settings.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze the choreographic structure, musical elements, and production/design choices of at least three canonical ballets studied in the unit (e.g., Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet) and produce written critiques using appropriate dance vocabulary and evidence from performance.
• Demonstrate advanced classical technique—including pirouette en dehors from fourth, grand jeté, rond de jambe à terre, relevé/retiré balance, glissade, series of fouettés, and double tour en l’air—within combinations, meeting established rubric criteria for alignment, turnout, spotting, musicality, and safety.
• Evaluate common physical and career-related challenges faced by dancers (such as pregnancy accommodations, hip joint health, injury prevention, and early retirement) and create a personalized injury-prevention and career-sustainability plan that incorporates cross-training, medical consultation, and modification strategies.
• Apply professional performance and production practices—backstage protocols, company roles and responsibilities (life in the wings), collaboration with orchestra and production staff, and audience etiquette—by demonstrating these practices in a simulated performance or production scenario assessed for professionalism.