Stretching to new heights: Marjorie Thompson brings Pilates—and more—to Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School - The Teach-Learn Connection

Dance Magazine, March, 2002 by Karen Dacko

MARJORIE THOMPSON CASTS HER pink teaching shoes aside and, wearing a silky, loose-fitting gray pantsuit, sits on the floor in Studio A at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. "Grab a band and grab a mat," she says as two dozen barefoot young dancers unfurl beach-towel-sized mats and join her at floor level.

What commenced at 3:00 P.M. as a traditional intermediate-level pointe class segues into forty minutes of aerobics-inspired classical combinations. Now, at 5:10 P.M., pointe shoes vanish and Pilates exercises begin.

"Try to even yourself out. Feel your pelvis and your hips. Make sure one [hip] isn't higher than the other," instructs the soft-spoken Thompson, director of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. With her back pressed against the floor, she executes this exercise along with the teenagers.

"Today, the move is to develop healthier dancers. We now know more about muscles and bones and about how the body works," says Thompson, a certified Pilates instructor. Besides ballet, she has studied anatomy and kinesiology at New York's Dance Notation Bureau, plus the Lotte Berk Method of dance-based exercise movements and yoga, experiences that contribute to her unique perspective.

The former director of Pacific Northwest Ballet's therapy and conditioning program arrived at PBT in August 2001 to guide the mid-sized school of 300 students ranging from age 4 to adult (see The Teach-Learn Connection, Dance Magazine, October 2001, page 84). She has incorporated cross-training into school classes, launched a Saturday morning open Pilates mat class for adults (which is heavily attended by PBT company members), and is anticipating the arrival of a Reformer, an apparatus for resistance conditioning that will allow her to work one-on-one with her clients.

"We know that repetition is important, but pacing and the composition of class have to be thought out differently," says Thompson. "In pure Pilates, when you work on abdominals, you leave this and work on the rotator cuff, then you return to abdominals."

"I used to do lots of releves. I don't do that anymore," she says. "I give releves on both feet," she says, marking the movement with her hands. "Then jetes," she adds. "The work is still repetitious, but not as stressful."

"I've introduced aerobics into the program--not just to burn calories--but for fitness," says Thompson. "The dancers get exhausted in [Nutcracker's] Waltz [of the Flowers]. When you get exhausted, you can't point your feet or jump." Coming soon are sports psychology, stress management, nutrition and pointe seminars, and a revamped lecture/demonstration program.

Thompson, as PBT school director, oversees the Schenley High School program (which integrates pre-professional level training with a high school education), pre-professional graduate students (high school graduates who stay on for an extra year of intensive training), and the student, children, and adult divisions. She manages a full- and part-time faculty of fifteen that she hopes to augment with guest teachers.

ACCORDING TO TERRENCE ORR, PBT's artistic director, Thompson was a standout from among twenty applicants for the position, which entails developing a syllabus and curriculum in addition to planning, directing, and administrative duties. "As soon as we started to talk, I realized that she was suited for it," said Orr. "She possesses a good Balanchine technique, which she has expanded on, works on feet and line of the legs, describes well, and gives the students responsibility for how they look."

Trained at the School of American Ballet by George Balanchine, Felia Doubrovska, and Stanley Williams, the former Manhattan resident initially discovered ballet through television. She told her parents, "That's what I am," and adds, "I didn't realize what I was getting into."

Thompson joined New York City Ballet at age 16. For the next seven years, she performed in more than forty ballets each season. "I danced all day on pointe. I should have been fully grown before having such a rigorous schedule," says Thompson. "In my day, there was no physical therapy. After three of my operations [Thompson has had five foot surgeries], I went straight back to dancing after several months' rest. No one knew any better."

The surgeries prematurely ended Thompson's performing career. But Balanchine recognized an ability in her and asked her to teach company class. "And I did a good job," Thompson smiles. After she joined SAB's faculty, "Mr. B would come and watch me teach. He brought Tanaquil Le Clercq to watch my classes. I felt very honored," she recalls. "But I stopped teaching ballet for a while, as I was just too young."

At 22, Thompson wasn't much older than some of her students. "I needed to get out into the world to see other people--the Europeans, Feld," she says. "I needed to explore. My aesthetic is similar to Balanchine's, but it's broader now."

WHEN THOMPSON RETURNED TO ballet (after marriage and the birth of a child), she was equipped with new knowledge about conditioning and injury-prevention strategies. She has taught on the faculties of Garden State Ballet, University of Minnesota, Ballet Arts Minnesota, and most recently, PNB.