The Cecchetti Method is a system drawn up with careful regard for the laws of anatomy, and it is designed to endow the human body with all those qualities essential to the dancer...balance, poise, strength, elevation, elasticity and so forth.

 

The Cecchetti Method differs from other schools in the endeavor to reduce the dancer's training to an exact science, by imposing a formula evolved over years to knead and shape their bodies; to fit their muscles, tendons and nerves to respond readily to whatever steps and movements might be required of them by the choreographer.

 

Students are taught to think of the movement of the foot, leg, arm and head in relation to the whole body, not as something apart. Cecchetti laid down that it is more important to execute an exercise correctly once, than to do it a dozen times carelessly. Quality rather than quantity is the guiding rule. Students shall learn to dance not by imitating the movements executed by their teacher, but to grow and develop from within out, to become completely self-reliant.

 

The Cecchetti Council of America is an organization dedicated to maintaining the standards and method of ballet training established by Cav. Enrico Cecchetti. The organization uses his teachings and writings in a sequence of grades, carefully measured as to degree of difficulty and physical development, and provides a system of accredited examinations to test the student's proficiency within those grades.