High Life A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Teaching a Class Step by Step : Dancer Claire Bataille Takes Over for a Session at Anaheim High School

When Claire Bataille recently broke down a combination, students in the advanced dance class at Anaheim High School weren’t worried about her getting into one of their lockers.

Rather, they went through a series of steps under the direction of Bataille, who is assistant artistic director of the Hubbard Street Dance Company in Chicago. She worked with the 50 students for 90 minutes as part of her company’s community outreach program.

Bataille’s visit came at the request of instructor Meg Elder, whose dance program at Anaheim has grown from 30 students to 200 in three years.

“When Mrs. Elder first told us that Ms. Bataille was coming, she pointed at a poster we have on the wall of our dance studio and said, ‘That is the dancer who will be teaching our class,’ ” senior Lourdes Diaz said. “We were overwhelmed. We knew that opportunities like this come around once in a lifetime.”

The class began like any dance class, with the usual warm-ups and stretches. Bataille followed that with ballet exercises, stressing at all times the importance of basics in becoming a great dancer.

“She was very helpful and not afraid to go right up to a person to fix the problem,” Lourdes said. “After the warm-ups, she taught us a short combination.

“The first one she taught was fairly easy for us, and I guess she noticed, because the next one was much harder.”

After class, Bataille signed autographs for the students, 100 of whom would be seeing her perform that night at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

“All dance classes take several field trips to attend live concerts or to local colleges for special classes,” Elder said.

Said Lourdes of Hubbard Street’s performance: “They danced as if it was their last performance. . . . It was outstanding. It was a thrill to see Claire on stage knowing we had just taken a class from her.”

Anaheim’s dance program features beginning and advanced classes and also a Mexican folk dance class. Members of the advanced class, for which admission is by audition only, perform for various school and community events each year, among them a winter holiday tour of area preschools and retirement homes.

“Mrs. Elder pushes us very hard to be the best we can be,” Lourdes said. “She insists on high academic achievement as well as excellence in our dance.”

In addition to planning its annual concert--titled “Not Yet Rated” and scheduled for performance on May 17 and 18 at the school--the dance department is also working on taking a trip to study in New York City next spring.

Senior Natasha Liddie is hoping to get a jump on her classmates.

“I hope to maybe go to New York City this summer to study dance before beginning college in the fall,” she said, adding that Bataille’s dancing and instruction were “an inspiration.”