Barre au Sol: Floor Barre, with Cati Jean
Dancers of all levels and styles filed into the Santa Monica College (SMC) dance room on Wednesday, Oct. 1 for one of three master classes provided each semester.
SMC offers these classes, free of charge, to anyone interested in learning from professionals in the field. Through the sponsorship of SMC Associates and SMC Dance Department, a variety of experienced teachers have taught classes that may not have had the opportunity otherwise.
Professional dancer and instructor, Cati Jean, commanded the attention to the front of the room as she began to explain what attendees should expect out of the class.
Floor barre, originally popularized in Paris, is a conditioning technique blended with ballet focused on building flexibility and body awareness, while remaining completely grounded on the floor. Cati Jean has studied and perfected this technique since she began dancing at the age of 8-years-old. Jean was born in the south of France, where she trained under the guidance of her mentor, Annie Ogero.
Jean has been a guest teacher at several renowned schools including the Stockholm Ballet Academy in Sweden and the Tokyo Broadway Dance Center in Japan. She has worked in television for five years while performing Alcatraz de Paris and Le Paradis Latin in Paris. Notably, Jean has worked with artists like Ricky Martin and Prince.
This unique take on barre exercises arose from the lack of barres present in the studio of dancer Boris Knyazev in 1953. The cycle is split into four fundamental groups: lying on the back, lying on stomach, lying on the sides, and sitting up.
Floor barre is especially recommended to dancers recovering from an injury that has hindered their mobility.
Jean emphasized the performance aspect of dance,even during floor exercises with no audience. She began the class with a reminder, “Life is beautiful, we are dancing.” Throughout the class, she encouraged dancers to smile through the exercises and to “be a puppet,” in regard to posture and presence.
Pigeon Lee-Spera was pulled to the front of the class to help Jean demonstrate the exercises. Lee-Spera is a current student and dancer at SMC, and has also been practicing since she was 8-years-old. When asked about why she was interested in the class, Lee-Spera said, “Ballet is very foundational to my whole technique and the way that I move… it is something that is familiar; it feels like home to me.”
As Jean moved through demonstrations and observed, each exercise cycle was synchronized with live piano accompaniment. Sitting at the piano was Mark Litver, an accompanist at SMC for over 10 years. Litver alternated between lively, fast-paced tempos and slower, dreamier melodies to help dancers focus on “the journey through the stretch,” as Jean said.
The pain was visible in the dancers’ trembling feet and grimacing faces which quickly pulled into tight smiles once Jean reminded them to “present to the world.”
“I’m going to feel this tomorrow,” Lee-Spera said after the class.
The next master class will be held on Oct. 23 at 12:30 p.m. at the Core Performance Center located on SMC’s main campus. Guest teacher and choreographer Myles Lavallee will be leading a contact improvisation class.
“If you have that (dance) in your heart, you go, you find a studio, find a teacher that you like, or many, and then you just start taking class,” Cati Jean said.
For more information, visit events.php for the list of upcoming events by the SMC Dance Department.