Peculiarities of using the demonstration principle in ballet pedagogy

Demonstration is one of the most important teaching principles. The foundation for the scientific study of this principle was laid by the outstanding pedagogue Ya.A. Komensky, who called it «the golden rule of didactics». Later, Komensky’s ideas were developed by J.H. Pestalozzi, K.D. Ushinsky, and other pedagogues. A special role in clarifying and specifying the functions of demonstration belongs to Russian pedagogues and psychologists developing the ideas of «the unity of consciousness and activity» (S.L. Rubinstein), the theory of activity (A.N. Leontyev), and the theory of gradual formation of mental actions (P.Ya. Galperin). Demonstration has been used in teaching dance since the ancient times, when various visual aids were used to illustrate the teacher’s words. Yet, despite the presence of extensive literature in other areas, in ballet pedagogy the study of demonstration has been limited to just a few researchers – N.I. Tarasov, E.P. Valukina, and A.A. Alferova. This paper presents the first attempt in ballet pedagogy to comprehensively analyse the use of the principle of demonstration in ballet teaching. Drawing on the historical traditions of ballet education, the author shows the leading role of demonstration in teaching professional skills to ballet artists and reveals the essence of the main types of demonstration – figural/«pictorial», verbal, image-based and natural. The paper highlights the leading role of figural demonstration, in which showing of movements is traditionally the main teaching tool. The combination of the four types of demonstration – figural, verbal, image-based and natural – facilitates the visual, audial and motor perception of a movement (or its model, image) by the students allowing them to internalize movements into their psyche and body.