Makaretu student Anja Hardy is a very special girl who has learned the value of having a great teacher to help her in her journey.
Like many young girls, Anja loves music and loves to dance and like most mothers, Anja’s mum Hanne, was keen to foster this interest. Both mother and daughter were drawn to the purity and precision of ballet while knowing that it would also serve as a perfect springboard for any form of dancing that Anja wanted to do in the future.
Anja started her ballet training with a ballet school in Dannevirke at age 6 before deciding to make the two hour round trip journey to lessons in Havelock North twice a week. This was a routine that Anja and her mother were to follow for the next 5 years.
Anja met Esther Juon Veitch when she was 7 years into her training. She had started working towards her Intermediate Foundation exams under the ballet syllabus that she was studying and needed to be fitted for a pair of Demi-pointe shoes. Because Esther is one of New Zealand’s leading experts in ballet shoes she was the natural choice for their mission.
As soon as Anja and her Mum entered Esther’s school for the fitting they feel in love. “The whole atmosphere was lovely” remembers Hanne, “there were wooden floors, a professional barre, ballet shoes everywhere, full length mirrors on two walls and chandeliers. It was like a dream come true”. Esther’s passion for her ballerina’s and her craft was evident all around them.
Because Anja had one year of primary school left before starting boarding school in Wanganui the decision was made then and there to stop travelling the 4 hours a week to her current ballet school and to join Esther instead.
But there was a slight setback with this plan.
The syllabus that Anja had been training under was quite different to the British Ballet Organisation (BBO) syllabus that Esther teaches. After 7 years of training and passing exams under her old syllabus, Anja would have to return to Grade 1 in the BBO syllabus.
It was November 2010 and to sit her Intermediate Foundation exam under the BBO syllabus in September 2011 Anja would have to do the equivalent of 6 years work!
Because Anja was determined to carry on dancing and because the syllabus that she would be training under in Wanganui was so similar to the BBO one they decided to press ahead and join Esther.
While most ballet instructors teach the movement requirements of the curriculum, Esther teaches the meaning behind the exercise. This allows her students to visualise the exercise, feel the music and connect with the story they are trying to tell. By doing this Esther finds that the student’s movements while technically correct, also naturally contain the emotions and passions that the dance demands.
Starting with classes three times a week Anja often sat in on other classes to polish what she had learned and to further cement the movements into her psyche. As the exam date got closer Anja’s official commitment expanded to 4 classes a week. But that was not all.
“At first it was really tough” recalls Hanne. “Anja had to do the introductory grades of the BBO syllabus. After the curriculum for each grade had been taught, Anja had to choreograph a dance for Esther using the movements from that grade to show what she had learned.”
“As well as the practice that she did at home, Anja would spend hours making up stories about the exercises that she had learned that week and visualizing the movements in her head” explains Hanne, “she was always thinking about what she was learning and would often spontaneously break into an exercise covered in the lesson that week. You would often see her at the kitchen sink doing little movements with her feet while trying to do the dishes or doing expressive hand movements while doing her regular school work!”
In September 2011 after completing 6 years work in 3 terms, Anja sat her BBO Intermediate Foundation exam and passed with a grade of Honours, the highest attainable under the BBO syllabus.
Although Esther lays the credit for this success firmly with Anja, Hanne has a different story.
“Esther is a phenomenal teacher” says Hanne “She is so extraordinary in her methods. Most other teachers would have taken 3-4 years to teach the same amount of content. But Anja has not only learned the technical aspects of the movement, she has also gained a profound understanding of it. It’s just mind-blowing what she has achieved.”
Sadly in February 2012 Anja will leave the district to join her fellow secondary school pupils in Wanganui, where she will continue her ballet training.
“Anja will always have dance in her life” says Hanne. “Whether it is by becoming a professional ballerina, contemporary dancer, choreographer, teacher or whether it remains an enjoyable pastime, this is her dream and Esther has played a major role in Anja realising it”.
