BMN Reading Resources for Educational Purposes
Vera Kostrovitskaya was a student and protégée of the great Russian pedagogue, Agrippina Vaganova. Kostrovitskaya originally taught the lessons (linked below) at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet (formerly the Vaganova Choreographic Institute), St. Petersburg, following the precepts of her famous mentor.
In August 1994, Valentina Tsiruljova, also a student of Vaganova, first came to the state-recognized school for artistic dance Ballettfachschule Ronecker, Fellbach (suburb of Stuttgart). Here she taught the young students classical ballet, pointe, and variations from the repertoire of the Vaganova school (linked below).
Tsiruljova’s lessons and the methodical classes by Kostrovitskaya were notated in Benesh Movement Notation™ (BMN) by Gisela Ronecker-Wiesenauer from 1994 to 2006, under the guidance of Tsiruljova.
Since 2021, Gisela’s students have been revising the BMN scores. These scores (linked below) are intended for students and teachers who are familiar with Russian technique and pedagogy as developed at the Vaganova school throughout the 20th century. The scores may also be of value as a historical document for ballet practitioners worldwide.
They have generously agreed to allow ballet teachers and students who are literate in BMN to download these notation scores for educational use only. If you download these documents, please respect the Copyright © 2021 Ballettfachschule Ronecker.
All rights reserved
No part, sharing, reproduction of these scores, or public performance is permitted under any circumstances without the written agreement of the copyright holder, apart from educational use such as reference, research, and study purposes.
No part of the publication/manuscript may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronically, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise) without prior permission of the score owner.
If you have any questions or comments about the content of these notation scores, please contact Ballettfachschule Ronecker at mail@ballettfachschule.de.
Learning new movements must be systematic, i.e., it must be built on the elements that have already been learned. As a basis for reading these scores, Tsiruljova recommends the methodical structure of Vera Kostrovitskaya’s 100 Lessons in Classical Ballet. Gisela, Nadine, Isabell, and the students have revised and created master copies of the notation scores of nine lessons of the first year of study. Gisela, has revised the notation of one of Tsiruljova’s sample classes that shows how exercise sequences are combined with one another at the end of the first year. The variations have been designed especially for students of the Ballettfachschule Ronecker.
Files will be updated if any corrections are made. It is recommended that you download and read the Introductory Notes before using the BMN scores.
| Introductory Notes Uploaded 2022-04-21 Updated 2022-06-21 | ||
| Kostrovitskaya’s Year One Lesson 1 Uploaded 2022-11-22 Updated 2023-08-09 | Kostrovitskaya’s Year One Lesson 6 Uploaded 2022-04-21 Updated 2023-08-31 | Tsiruljova’s First-Year Sample Class #1 (end of year) Uploaded 2022-07-15 Updated 2023-10-29 |
| Kostrovitskaya’s Year One Lesson 2 Uploaded 2022-05-17 Updated 2023-08-09 | Kostrovitskaya’s Year One Lesson 7 Uploaded 2022-06-25 Updated 2023-08-31 | Amor (Cupid) Variation – Paquita Uploaded 2022-04-21 Updated 2022-05-29 |
| Kostrovitskaya’s Year One Lesson 3 Uploaded 2022-05-18 Updated 2023-08-09 | Kostrovitskaya’s Year One Lesson 8 Uploaded 2022-09-27 Updated 2023-08-31 | Fleur de Farine (Coulante) – Sleeping Beauty Uploaded 2022-04-21 |
| Kostrovitskaya’s Year One Lesson 4 Uploaded 2022-10-17 Updated 2023-08-23 | Kostrovitskaya’s Year One Lesson 9 Uploaded 2022-11-27 Updated 2023-09-10 | Pizzicato Polka Uploaded 2022-05-19 |
| Kostrovitskaya’s Year One Lesson 5 Uploaded 2022-06-28 Updated 2023-08-23 | Fairy Doll Variation Uploaded 2022-05-31 |