Los Gatos Ballet

What is the Philosophy of Los Gatos Ballet?

At Los Gatos Ballet, we offer 'The Bernal Method', which is progressive training with a scientific basis to promote health and well being, while maximizing the dancer's potential. We treat the dancer as a whole, emphasizing the development of the body, mind and spirit. Through our program, with its established levels and syllabus, we support and challenge each dancer as she/he travels the path towards excellence.

What is 'The Bernal Method'?

'The Bernal Method' is organic training that is based on the understanding of how our magnificent body works. As a direct result, injuries are prevented. Those who have had injuries gain a better understanding of how to avoid future injuries, due to this organic way of working with the body, rather than against it. Christina Bernal is the founder of this wonderful method, which is not based on any particular 'style'. She has trained and coached classical ballet dancers at the American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, to name a few. Christina has also worked with dancers in modern companies such as Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham, as well as dancers in Musical Theater on Broadway. This Method TRAINS and PREPARES dancers to have open options toward a professional career. We feel blessed to have Christina bring her method to Los Gatos Ballet!

What does Scientific Training mean?

In recent years, research has shown that dancers excel when they follow a training routine that is based less on historic and outdated modes of training and instead incorporate new approaches to training. These include knowledge of human biomechanics, the science of how muscles and joints interact to create maximum efficiency movement.

Traditional training lacks several key components. There are areas of the dancers body that are under-trained by a traditional class, making the dancer prone to injury. There are other areas that are over-trained. To maximize the benefit of ballet training, the teachers must understand the difference between aesthetic principles and movement efficiency. The first step in training a dancer is to improve the dancers basic joint and muscle coordination. This is done through instructing dance anatomy with an experiential emphasis. In other words, providing classes in which the dancer feels a difference in their movement, experiencing how anatomical knowledge can improve flexibility, balance, alignment and turn out. This motivates the young dancer not to force his/her body into shapes he/she is not prepared for, but to understand the healthiest way to produce the demanding shapes and forms of ballet. The result is an educated dancer that can distinguish healthy from harmful training.

How does this work in practice?

There are three fundamental steps:

Analysis of the dancers strengths and weaknesses
Creating a pathway plan to eliminate weaknesses and increase strengths
Repeat practice of the improved movement pattern until they feel natural

How are mind/body principles used in dance?

Los Gatos Ballet prides itself to be the only Bay Area school with a systematic and scientific mental training program. Mental practice is a fundamental skill in any movement training. In dance, however, it has still not been used sufficiently.

There are three areas of mental practice relevant to the dancer:

Increasing confidence and motivation

Dancers have traditionally suffered from very low self-esteem. Also a dancers life can be very stressful and competitive, involving an intense performance schedule and lengthy and stressful auditions. Mind/Body training can help in both of these areas. In the first step, the confidence level and mental challenges of the dancer are analyzed. Through mental practice and scripting exercises, the dancers are taught how to deal with stressful situations and maintain their confidence. Stage fright and the preparation for auditions are two areas where mental training can make a huge difference. Research has shown that there is a strong correlation between mood and performance. By being able to improve the mood and confidence level of the dancer, he/she will gain control over his/her performance in all situations.
Learning steps faster and easier

Certain mental training interventions called imagery strings are able to help dancers of all ages to learn steps much faster and easier. Dancers that can learn steps fast have a great advantage over dancers that have difficulty in learning.
Improving technique

Many studies have shown that you can improve your dance technique faster if mental training is combined with dance training rather than just taking classes. The problem with simply taking class is that training does not necessarily improve a dancers skill. How could this be? To improve dance technique the dancer must be provided with insights that create better movement efficiency tailored to their specific body type. Traditionally in dance class, instructions are focused on creating the right form irrespective of how to achieve this form in the healthiest and technically most intelligent way for the individual dancer. In the traditional way of training, negative movement patterns actually can get ingrained in the dancers body and then lead to injury.

How to improve your technique:

Observation/concentration – notice what is presently going on in your body.
Feedback – do you like what is currently happening, or could it be improved?
Implementation – create a new action that will produce the desired result.