Class with David Howard

I just found this wonderful two-part series, Ballet class for Beginners, with David Howard, lovingly preserved by Akira Puthisarnchai, on her YouTube channel.  It is a wonderful video showing instruction by one of the greatest, most widely loved ballet teachers of the 20th Century.

These aren't really follow-along videos, but they are worth watching to witness one of The Greats in the ballet world.  His teaching style was described by The New York Times as "...a kinaesthetic approach, in which dancers were taught to rely less on external feedback from the mirror and more on the minute internal signals that telegraph the position of the head, limbs and torso in space."

PART 1

PART 2

David was a "Teacher of Stars," notably including Gelsey Kirkland, Patricia McBride and Mikhail Baryshnikov.  In her autobiography, "Dancing on my Grave", Gelsey credits David for saving her body from the destruction wrought upon it by George Balanchine's demanding choreography that largely disregarded the health and wellness of dancers.

He always taught with love and respect, both for the art form and for the dancer.