My Approach to Character Dance

Maria Fay was a renowned classical dancer and teacher who enjoyed a long and fruitful association with Royal Ballet School after her flight from Hungary at the time of the Hungarian uprising in 1956. This is Maria Fay's third and final book published shortly after her death in 2019 and covers the evolution of her approach to teaching character dance to classical ballet dancers. First written some years ago, but never published, it includes an entertaining narrative account, together with descriptions and analysis of exercises for seven different character dance styles: Hungarian Court, Polish, Hungarian Gypsy, Russian, Romanian, Georgian, and Hungarian Peasant. Her particular system has formed the foundation of classes taught in recent times at the Royal Ballet School by her former students Amanda Maxwell and Tania Fairbairn. This historical record of an important strand of work by the renowned Hungarian dancer, teacher, choreographer and coach will be of interest to the dance community worldwide.