Hi. I would like some advice on summer intensives in the US. My daughter i 15 years old and would like to participate in a summer intensive. She is Danish and living in Copenhagen and havn’t been to a summer intensive abroad before. She has been dancing ballet for 6 years. She is a good dancer, but not a professional and not presuing to be a professional. We would like to get her in to a summer intensive with a safe og caring enviroment and traning at different levels and body types. We have been looking at Austin Ballet summer intensive, Jiliana Schoool, The Rock ballet; South Carolina and Alvin Ailey, But it is so difficult to choose from a website, so if any of you have experiences with these summer intensive, I would love to hear about it. Or if you have any other suggetions, they are welcome too. Thank you
The folks in the dance major area might be some help.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/dance-major/
My only suggestion is to make sure you check the application deadlines, and also find out if any of these require an audition.
my daughter did her formative training at the Rock School. It is classically based with levels for allot of different students. They have a lovely facility in Philadelphia and the summer students dorm at a college about 40 minutes away and are bused in. They had/have a really large end of the intensive performance.
Alvin Ailey is a great company and their intensive is not as classically based. There is ballet but also other genres.
My suggestions is to go on to Ballet Talk for Dancers and register. They have a huge and comprehensive forum (set up like this) with reviews and threads for almost every intensive out there. During the audition process they will have many threads dedicated to this process.
Best of luck to your daughter.
Hello,
Check out Burklyn Ballet, which has its summer intensive in Vermont; very supportive environment and excellent training. Auditions are held nationwide, but you can audition by video if necessary…PM me if you want details.
I’m not sure that I would be particularly confident to send my 15 year old to a large US city on her own unless she was pretty self-reliant. Also, if she’s not intending to be a professional dancer then is the primary objective to become a better dancer or simply to have fun? And does she want to see a US city or have a more traditional US summer camp experience?
My D’s first summer intensive was at Interlochen (https://www.interlochen.org/). It’s a very traditional US summer camp with a variety of arts programs and is very popular with people we know as a first sleep away intensive for kids in their early to mid teens. I would recommend looking at this sort of option if this is more about enjoying herself than aiming towards a US college dance degree.
After that my D did an ABT summer intensive (https://www.abt.org/training/dancer-training/summer-programs/summer-intensives/) and then a college based intensive the summer before she applied (an example would be like this https://www.dance.utah.edu/events/ballet/summer-intensive and the class has many students already in college doing a BFA).
Thank you so much for your answer. I’ll look into The Rock again:-)
Thank you! I’ll check it out and om you.
Thank you for reply. My daughter has ben antending summer intensive in different countries in Europe, so she is use to Staying in camps, but we do want to make sure it is a safe place, she stays. Also we Will travel with her and see that she gets settle ok. The goal for her is both to become A better dancer and to have A good time with other Youngsters who loves to Dance.
@Mathilde15 Rock is very safe, but it is in a city. They have a ton of field trip options for their dancers so she would see a lot of the area. There is also a performance at the end. Not every SI has a performance, so you should decide if that is important for your daughter.
Another good option is CPYB (Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet). They are a year round school with a large summer intensive that is held in Carlisle Pennsylvania on Dickinson University. They accept everyone, but don’t let that dissuade you. Their classical training is amazing. They level their students based on a class given at the beginning of the intensive. Their levels are based on what you need to work on and your weaknesses. My daughter gained a lot the summer that she went and came out a stronger dancer. There is no performance. Most kids dorm but we rented a house with a bunch of other dancers and moms who then chaperoned. Safe college town. Girls had a lot of fun and strengthened their technique.
A great hidden gem intensive is Princeton Dance and Theater in Princeton, NJ. https://princetondance.com/classes-programs/summer-intensive/ The director is very caring and a lot of growth happens in a nurturing environment. It is not cut throat like some other programs. It’s in a lovely area with easy access to NYC. There are trips as well. Do not confuse this program with Princeton Ballet School which I DO NOT recommend. My daughter has been a year round and SI student at both of these programs.
I also recommend CPYB IF your daughter is interested working hard to perfect her classical technique (which will help with any type of of dance). My daughter attended a few of their short (two-week) August intensives a few years ago. They also have longer ones in June/July.
CPYB is unique in that it will take every student (or at least those medically-healthy) and has around sixteen class levels from beginner to advanced. They application requires that your dancer submit photos of her in specified ballet positions and she will be given an audition placement time based on those photos to determine her level.
The program is focused on correcting any foundational technique problems a student may have, so your daughter would have to be prepared for the possibility of being placed on a lower level (or with younger students than she is used to) if she is found to need some remedial help in ANY area (and most students new to the school do. The school is VERY particular about this! She will be promoted to a higher level during the intehsive when she is able to make the corrections. This can feel discouraging at first to some students, but it helps them to be much better dancers and to eventually to advance quickly. The focus is definately strong technique (lots of slow, controlled, repetitive work at the barre) rather than trying out elaborate choreography/performing. There will be a mix of students who are there to be strong recreational dancers like your daughter, and those aspiring for a career. Google CPYB’s website to get an idea of the school.
There are a number of families in the town who host students in their homes in the summer for a fee…and some of these families have children who attend CPYB year round. You can contact she school for a list of host families if you want more information.
An intensive known to be nurturing is the Nashville ballet intensive. Students live in dorm rooms at Belmont University and are bussed back and forth between the dorm and studio. I think it requires an audition, though. You could look at their website to find out if an video audition is acceptable.
Try this website: https://dancers.invisionzone.com/
You can read reviews of the Summer Intensives. There is a lot of information there.
Both of my girls have only attended the ABT SI. My favorite locations was Irvine, CA. It was a beautiful location. When D2 was younger, she started in Detroit.
ABT was not “nurturing.” Most dancers were very intense and many of them did go on to become professionals. Dancers were admitted through audition.
While my kids were at ABT SI, they were very well supervised. Their dance schedules were very packed from morning to night that they didn’t have much of free time. All outings were chaperoned.
If your kid is to be in NYC, I would find out where the dancers are staying and how they would be supervised.
Thank you so much for your reply! I’m definitely looking for a place that is chaperoned and probably also a place, where they are “nurturing” since it is her first time in the US.
mommek3 Thank you for your advice. I will definitely look into Princeton Dance and Theater and for you for stressing that is not the same as Princeton Ballet School. I thought it was the same,-)
Thank you so much. Nashville looks like a really nice place and so do CPYB. I think schools could be good for a first summer intensive in the US.
Carolina Ballet (in NC) has an excellent program that is also very friendly/nurturing.
I second the recommendation about checking out the website Ballet Talk for Dancers. It has more information than you can imagine on ballet summer intensives.
I am following only because it has been 15 years since my daughter attended a summer program. Her favorite was ABT-Austin, but I think she grew the most as a dancer at Orlando Ballet. It was a smaller program with direct interaction with the principles and every student was not crazy talented.
While my daughter was in a prepro ballet program at home, she was not going to be a professional. While she did dance in college, it was not her major. I do miss watching her dance, and hope my grand daughter tries it once she is older!