A contemporary of Baryshnikov and Godunov and a pedagogical disciple of Korshkin, Modris
Cers is a renowned and beloved instructor with the National Ballet of Latvia in Riga. As a
dancer he performed more than 75 solo roles, beginning three years prior to graduating
from the school program. Thirty years later, when the company theatre was closed for
renovation in 1991 to 1992, he served as Artistic Director, keeping the company afloat and
raising its international profile by performing the great classics all over the world.
Cers recently shared with CDA his insights about teaching Classical Dance.
"It's harder to be a good teacher than dancer." As both dancer and pedagogue, Cers
is a product of the Classical Dance tradition. He spent some five years in total
supplementing his own formative training as a dancer in St. Petersburg, and his teaching
courses included advanced study at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. His greatest mentor was
Koshkin, in whose instructional syllabus Cers totally immersed himself. As eager as he was
to soak up everything Koshkin knew, Cers discovered that learning how to teach is a
time-consuming and developmental process.
"Every dancer is different and none is perfect." One of the greatest challenges of
a teacher is to gauge the individuality and potential of each student. Really observing
the dancer – the legs, the body, the quality of movement – requires what Cers calls
"getting inside the dancer" and understanding his or her "inside world." A good teacher
must get outside one's own body to "feel" the unique technical and artistic possibilities
of each student, as well as the particular difficulties that student must contend with in
training and performance situations.
"Ballet is an art not of one day but of many years." Cers points out that most
ballet instructors are concerned only with how the student is dancing at the moment and
may therefore overlook a minor technical detail that signals problems ahead. A teacher can
add tremendous value in predicting how such technical issues will adversely affect the
dancer in the near- or long-term. Being alert to every small movement is the key to
identifying these problem signals and making the necessary adjustments.
"Always find the positive." Negative criticism can hurt a dancer's self-esteem,
which is so crucial to success in the classroom and on the stage. To say, "You cannot do
this or that" is not constructive and rarely if ever benefits the student. It is far more
effective to make positive statements whenever possible and offer whatever encouragement
might be needed. Sometimes it's best to say nothing at all but rather express yourself
with your eyes, as if to say, "Okay. Let's try again."
"Most important is trust in one's teacher and belief in oneself." Students must
advance step-by-step in small increments and are always fine-tuning with minor
adjustments. A teacher's patience and attentiveness in this process is essential to
winning the student's trust, and in turn instilling confidence in the dancer. Ultimately,
believing in oneself is the key to succeeding both technically and artistically as a
dancer, and realizing one's full potential.
