About

Frequently throughout my teaching career, students have asked me to share a video or web link with them so they could practice ballet movements on their own. I would search the web for hours, only to find the movements my students wanted weren’t always available as simply a step or movement, but were often within a piece of choreography. This made them difficult to see, much less break down and study. I along with my students didn’t find these videos helpful, instead they were intimidating and frustrated the students who just wanted to see and study a specific movement.

With this in mind, and encouraged by my students, I created Ballet in Motion: A Moving Visual Guide to Performing Ballet Technique, a collection of 249 individual movement videos, with accompanying written descriptions organized into a webbook.

I wrote, choreographed and produced Ballet in Motion in collaboration with Hettie Stern, the featured dancer, my former student from Carleton College and dear friend, without whose patience and talent Ballet in Motion would not have been possible.

Jennifer A. Bader is a Senior Lecturer in Dance at Carleton College, and was a 2014 and 2020 guest choreographer for the Carleton College Semaphore Dance Company. Jennifer holds a B.F.A. from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, where she had extensive training and performing opportunities. She augmented her training in New York and in San Diego. In 1992, she returned to Minneapolis and joined the Minnesota Dance Theatre Company. While performing, she also taught in the Young Children’s, Adult, and Performing Arts Divisions, and was Assistant to the Artistic Director of MDT for ten years. Jennifer has also taught and performed at the Children’s Theatre, and has performed with Independent Choreographers in Minneapolis. In August of 2002 and 2004 she traveled to Yaroslavl, Russia to participate in Link Vostok’s “International Festival of Movement and Dance on the Volga.” There, she was Assistant to the Executive Director and taught ballet and modern. For eighteen years, Jennifer also taught ballet, and choreographed for the First Year Dance Project at St. Olaf College. She has also taught ballet and variations at Mankato State College, and taught ballet and choreographed for the St. Cloud State University dance department. In addition to teaching at Carleton College, Jennifer teaches ballet, pointe, modern, jazz and choreographs for independent schools in the Twin Cities and surrounding areas, and continues to guest teach at Saint Olaf College.

Hettie Stern grew up dancing with the Hopkins Youth Ballet in Minnesota. She graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College with a BA in Cognitive Science. While at Carleton, Hettie performed with the Semaphore Dance Company and had the great honor of modeling for Ballet in Motion. After college, Hettie trained for a year with the Limón Dance Company and interned with the José Limón Dance Foundation in New York City. Hettie is currently a guest dancer with James Sewell Ballet. She has also performed in projects by Hatch Dance & HoneyWorks and Yuki Tokuda. Hettie recently earned an MEd in Learning Technologies from the University of Minnesota. Hettie would like to thank Jennifer for mentoring and inspiring her. She is proud to be part of this project.

Adeel Ahmad is a software developer and entrepreneur based in Saint Paul. Adeel has known Jennifer for over a decade and is excited to help bring this project to students all over the world. He can be reached at Lab 1908.

Carleton students, Zane Grinde ‘20, Adam Throne ‘19, Joseph Brommel ‘18, Sonja Borgman ‘21, Kira Butz ‘20 under the guidance of Dann Hurbert in ITS filmed and edited video footage, and Doug Bratland in Web Services / College Communications organized the project for the web.

Without the support of grants from Carleton College Dean Bev Nagel, and the support of the Carleton Dance Faculty, my students, Michael Gilliland, Penny Bader, and James Bialke, this project wouldn’t have been possible. — Thank you.

Bibliography
Gretchen Ward Warren, Classical Ballet Technique © 1989
Suki Schorer, Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique © 1999
Vanina Wilson, The French School of Classical Ballet © 2013
Kenneth Laws, Physics and the Art of Dance – Understanding Movement (2007) © 2008
Rudolf Laban, Choreutics (1966) © 2011