Teaching In-person and Online: Ballet Instructor Dr. Mara Mandradjieff Bennett

By Raven Crosby, Emory Dance Program Office Assistant

Dr. Mara Mandradjieff Bennett is an instructor for the Emory Dance Program who primarily teaches ballet. This semester, she is teaching two sections of Ballet III in person and Pilates online. Although the physical format of these courses is different, the principle behind the way her classes are taught remains the same. Dr. Mandradjieff’s goal as an instructor is to make smarter and stronger dancers by asking students to think deeply about their approach to movement. She motivates her dancers to ask themselves “...what muscles am I using; how does this feel in my body; what happens if I shift my weight this way or that; how can I do this safely and productively; can I push this further, etc.”

Dr. Mandradjieff’s in-person and online courses are structured slightly differently. She amended her in-person course material by replacing her traditional focus on jumps and “cardio” ballet (which challenged the dancer’s stamina) with more breathing breaks in between combinations. For the online Pilates course, Dr. Mandradjieff feels the material translates nicely to the online format but says that working with students who already have great body awareness has been helpful. For her in-person courses, Dr. Mandradjieff says that there was a transition period with wearing a mask while teaching ballet, which has improved. However, she misses seeing her students’ smiles during class.

As students and instructors are becoming more proficient with Zoom and online learning, in the future Dr. Mandradjieff would like to implement the option for students to participate and/or watch courses from home if they can’t make it into class.

During these uncertain times, Dr. Mandradjieff wants to let her students know that they are wonderful and that “They have been total rockstars!”