Anne Woolliams

Anne Woolliams (1926−1999), who helped John Cranko build up the Stuttgart Ballet to be an internationally recognized ballet company, was undoubtedly among the most prominent leaders in the 20th-century theatrical dance. This singular ballet teacher founded world-class dance educational institutions in three different countries – the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, the School of Dance at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne and the Swiss Professional Ballet School in Zurich. Many dancers at the cutting edge and, in particular, choreographers – from Pina Bausch to Félix Duméril – emerged form her classes. This book presents theory and methodology of classical ballet that Woolliams had constructed through her whole career. It contains the main components of Woolliams’s teaching materials – such as the use of ballet terminology, analyses of the details of the basic steps, a teaching programme for a nine-year course indicating which steps should be learned and mastered in which year, and examples of étude enchaînements. This book deals with traditional dance technique, but does so from a 20th-century viewpoint and on the basis of what Woolliams wished to achieve with the technique.