<p>I was talking to someone at D’s old ballet studio today and she said that Barnard had fired the ballet teachers and dropped ballet, leaving the Dance Department focused on Modern. One of D’s old classmates, now at Barnard, is taking classes at STEPS now.</p>
<p>Any confirmation, amendment, or correction about Barnard & ballet from someone on the scene?</p>
<p>I’m kinda shocked, if so. It was clear that Barnard’s Dance department favored Modern if you looked at performance opportunities, but when D was looking at choosing colleges, Barnard had had the best ballet experience that she had while visiting, taking a class from ex-NYCB Allegra Kent.</p>
<p>Pretty sure this is NOT the case. My d attends Barnard, takes ballet and has heard nothing to this effect. Many students (including my d) take classes at Broadway dance center…it’s one of the attractions of NYC. I am pretty sure the ballet faculty at Barnard remains intact.</p>
<p>One of my Ds has a friend who attends Barnard and who does ballet there. She visited over the break and talked (non-stop ;)) about how much she loves it there. No mention of what you heard, so I’m betting that your source at your D’s old ballet studio is absolutely misinformed.</p>
<p>Good to hear. I would have been stunned. My source was the mom of a dancer at San Francisco ballet, the SF dancer having been talking to a former ballet classmate of D’s now at Barnard. Sounds as if something got garbled in translation along the way.</p>
<p>A swirl of other OT issues loomed over this conversation, as in one girl completely forgoing college to try to make it as a dancer and another being forced to go to college but who still harbors ambitions of going pro.</p>
<p>I would have supported my D had she wanted to try but, as one of the “worst of the best,” it became apparent to her somewhere in the sophomore/junior year that that door was not going to be open for her and she crossed the bridge into “a student who dances” on her own, if with sorrow that was private for more than a year.</p>
<p>My D and these other two girls would make great trio for a stage play that I’d not have the nerve nor heart to attempt to write.</p>
<p>Thedad, I can totaly relate to you as my d attends Barnard and takes dance classes and finds herself drawn more and more to the excellent academics offered there (now is considering pre-med) and is NOT planning to major in dance. Yet she still can feed that passion, that dream as long as it remains and can dance to “free up her soul” a bit (as she often needs to remind herself to do). And she can take an ocaisional fun musical theater or jazz class in the city or audition for a broadway show if she wants (she did the open call yesterday for A Chorus Line and did pretty well, as it turned out!). </p>
<p>I am very glad my d wants an education beyond dance/theater (not to belittle that route…don’t get me wrong!), but she has come to the realization that this is probably not a long-term path for her. But it’s tough to let go of those sparkling dreams we had of those sweelt little girls on stage, isn’t it?</p>
<p>CMM, D knew that she wouldn’t be majoring in Dance as she could find no evidence of a track that went Dance Major ---->> Pro ballet dancer. She had to duke it out with Government, Math, Classics, Bio, English, and History as possibilities. But, as with your D, she was adamant that she apply only to schools with access–on campus or off–to high-level ballet to keep feeding the passion. She broke her foot towards the end of the Summer and that may have been a blessing in disguise, given her Fall schedule. (Severely cracked a fifth metatarsal while going <em>up</em> on a jump, not the landing.) This Semester she’s dropping back down to Intermediate while she works on building up strength…harder to do when you’re taking only 2-3 classes a week. My eyesight did go blurry for a moment when she told about stopping her studying to practice bits of “Serenade” on flat in her dorm room when it came up on her iTunes play list on her computer.</p>
<p>What schools did you find that provide ballet classes for serious ballet students (those who wish to continue but have no plans to dance professionally)?</p>
<p>These are the ones I have heard of OR I have checked the school web site and the course listing shows that significant classes are offered (for example, Amercan Univ, Geo Washington). Perhaps you can comment or mention others:</p>
<p>American University
Barnard
Davidson (assuming you can handle classes at CPYB at the same time)
Eugene Lang (know they offer ballet, not sure if it is open to non-majors)
Fordham (program with Ailey, not sure if it is open to non-majors)
Geo Washington U
Goucher
Muhlenberg
Princeton (in association with Princeton Ballet School)
NYU (but Tisch classes are probably not open to non-majors?)
Smith
Tulane
Univ of Michigan</p>
<p>They have several dance education forums, incuding one on colleges with ballet programs. </p>
<p>According to acquaintances of ours, Butler University (in Indiana), Indiana University, and Vassar have excellent ballet programs. The director of my daughter’s dance studio did a thorough search of college dance programs for her own daughter a few years ago; I seem to remember that Marymount Manhattan and Point Park (in Pittsburgh) made her cut.</p>
<p>unsoccer-mom – yes, of course you are right.</p>
<p>Ballet Talk is very focused on training for those who aspire to dance professionally.</p>
<p>I’m more interested in discussing places which provide a good college education with a chance for high standard ballet training and perhaps performance opportunities on the side.</p>