Leading Ballet Students With Grace, Mercy and Hard-Won Experience

“Y’all” is pleasant enough on its own, but to hear it more than a dozen times during a ballet class in New York City is a happy find. As in: “I want y’all to move a lot more. If you fall off your pirouette that is ohhh-kay.”

That voice, that word, that Southern sound — Jenifer Ringer is back in town.

Ringer, a former principal with New York City Ballet, is now the director of the intermediate and advanced divisions and artistic programming at the company’s School of American Ballet.

As Ringer, 52, called out combinations in a recent technique class, starting with a simple plié sequence at the barre, she reminded her students of the basics: To press all 10 toes into the floor. To pull the legs together, wrapping their muscles for increased turnout. To contract the stomach into the spine. Preparation is important to Ringer: She likes to talk about where dancers should be holding weight in their bodies so that they can move in any direction.

“When y’all move, it’s so much better,” she said. “So much better.”

As a teacher, Ringer is precise and firm, yet encouraging. She can get carried away. Before the class, she warned: “I get very frizzy and red faced, so I’ll lose my dignity, probably.”

Her face did grow more pink, just as her smile became more joyful. She did not lose her dignity, but she did make her students want to dance bigger, bolder — to hear the music and to be on it. For her, musicality and efficiency matter.

“I remember the feeling of being one of these students,” Ringer said. “I remember wanting to please these teachers more than anything.”