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We just visited on one of their "Spotlight on Dance' days. Applicants and parents watched an entire ballet class, had a tour and question and answer period, and lunch was provided in the cafeteria.
As I remember, there were 450 applicants last year and 24 accepted. They lose a few students from each year, before graduation, when the students go off to dance professionally.
Some people were surprised at the attitudes towards ballet. Juilliard does not require pointe, for example, and many students give it up in the course of the 4 years. The admissions person said it was a matter of personal choice whether to do pointe in ballet class or not (or in auditions). In the class we watched, all 10 girls were on pointe, but it is fine to do every class on flat.
I mention this so that dancers who have focused on modern, or who have not done a lot of pointe work, know that it is still possible to apply and thrive there.
Our (male) student tour guide was wonderful, quite humble and personable. The ballet students stopped to talk with us, on their own, and were very enthusiastic. We were surprised at the warmth of everyone we encountered at Juilliard that day, actually.
The renovated facility is gorgeous: the ballet class was large, and had full windows at the barre so that students could look down on Broadway. The students do a lot of work with those in the other disciplines, so that dancers may perform to compositions written by music students, for instance. They also room with students from the other divisions.
Our daughter is not applying: she "just wants to dance," meaning training w/out thought of a degree, but it was a wonderful day at Juilliard.
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