How can a beginner watching a ballet tell the different styles apart when watching?

Internationally, I'd say that the most common form of ballet is the Russo/Italian/French patois that is mostly recognizable as Cecchetti-based, but full of other nomenclature. Balanchine, which did not revise the ballet lexicon, uses this form, but has its own stylistic takes on method of execution. For want of a better term, let's refer to it as the "international" style. A beginner watching a beginning class would probably not discern much difference between a Vaganova class, say, and one done on the Paris Opra syllabus. And stylistic differences are learnable by more advanced students and finished dancers. Bournonville is elusive, and it's debatable whether anybody even in the present Royal Danish Ballet school is teaching it any more! [img]frown.gif[/img] At a certain level, though, school-figure style marks cease to be a distinctive feature and can even be considered affectation, drawing attention away from the art and calling attention to itself.  more