I agree, I think Dancewave is a great experience, but honestly not a substitute for being on campus and seeing the actual program. This is not an easy process and honestly the only thing I can compare it to is athletes who travel to find the right college for their “Sport”. Too bad dancers aren’t treated the same as football recruits!
yes, the programs we’re seriously considering we will go on campus to take some classes and see the campus. only way to really get a sense if the program is a good fit.
Honestly my dd was pretty surprised how many schools admit from Dancewave, given the limited amount of information available from that short audition,
The main thing we’re glad of now is that the admissions give us more flexibility, as we can pick our own travel dates instead of having to work around the audition schedules.
yes! it is definitely nice to get some flexibility and the acceptances free up our schedule for some of the winter auditions my D will be attending!
now instead of like 12 auditions we only have to go to 6 on campus auditions!
@threegirlpileup The Towson audition was actually great. I have been to a lot of parent meetings but they actually had 5 dance major students come in and answered so many questions for us along with the directors etc.
DD said she liked the audition and the teachers/directors were amazing. Good vibe - very warm group. Like a family feel. She personally loved the ballet teacher, reminded her of one of her current teachers and the modern teacher.
Keeping fingers crossed. 
For Temple, DD applied but haven’t heard anything back on audition request. I will wait a few more weeks before emailing them.
@jenibv great to hear about Towson. We were really impressed when we visited–my dd wasn’t actually sure she’d apply there, but now is definitely going ahead. The faculty seem very thoughtful about their curriculum and program. We only wish they had African/diaspora dance, which my dd really loves!
Just received acceptance letter from Point Park as a Ballet major.
That is great news! Is she interested in Ballet as her major?
thank you!! yes, if she attends Point Park she chose ballet as her major since they let you select one.
@threegirlpileup I am glad she is going to apply to Towson… I was concerned about the class choices (thinking it would only be ballet and modern) until I went to the parent meeting. They do offer electives that you need to take… I heard them def say tap, jazz, aerial dance. I am not sure if african was an elective choice, but def worth checking their curriculum.
Temple offered african as part of their program and believe will be part of the audition.
@jenibv one of the things we asked specifically about at Towson was African and unfortunately they don’t offer it. It’s really the only negative at this point, though. One of the reasons my dd is excited about Temple and also UNC-Greensboro is the importance of African in their curriculum, so we’re looking forward to exploring both of those further. My dd had not taken a lot of African, but she really loves it. It was a required part of a summer program she did for two years, and she’s taking an African class 1-2x/week right now.
My dd was initially concerned that Towson students seemed to take less technique class than many of the other programs that she’s looking at. While the hours are slightly less (12+ hours a week compared to 15+ at other programs) we came away feeling like they were very thoughtful about their curriculum and there would definitely be adequate technique class/studio time with still plenty of time for other dance and academic classes as well.
Just received an email that D passed the audition at UArts
Updating since we’ve now heard from all Dancewave schools
-Montclair- accepted, going on campus for scholarship audition 11/12
-Adelphi- accepted with scholarship
-Purchase- invited to callback on campus with audition waiver
-Sacred Heart- accepted into dance company
-Rutgers-accepted, going on campus for scholarship audition february 15
-Point Park- Accepted
-UArts- Accepted
Didn’t audition for DeSalles, but accepted with scholarship
I thought since this and the other audition thread are getting a bit unwieldy, I’d start some threads for discussions about individual schools. This might be especially helpful for folks in the future who are looking for info about particular programs so they don’t have to sift through these long threads.
For folks looking considering Dancewave in the future it was totally worth the cost for us. We are on the west coast so having the ability to visit with so many non west coast department reps at the college fair was really valuable.
We did not know what to expect from the audience process, and my DS only auditioned for 3 programs and scheduled on campus or regional auditions for others who were at the event. If we had a do-over, I would instead suggest he audition for every school there that he was interested in as you could still visit the campus and classes or even re-audition later if needed.
The other improvement is that my DS should have noted on his resume his application info so the schools could link it to his previously submitted applications.
Overall, he was accepted artistically you 2 of the 3 schools he applied to, (still haven’t heard from the third) and was accepted artistically to 5 schools that he did not apply to, at least one of which he is applying to now.
He thought it was a really positive, low-stress, informative experience. He felt like all of the Dancewave staff, the dancers and their families were friendly and it didn’t have the intensity of a highly competitive environment even though the stakes were high. He felt like the audition prep class on Saturday prepared him for Sunday, (and the box lunches and room block made the logistics of traveling to NYC not comfortable for mom!)
We both highly recommend it!
Yes agreed!!! We thought Dancewave was a great experience and received acceptances to all of the programs my D auditioned for!
It was a total time saver and everyone was extremely helpful and informative at the career panels.
Sorry should have said “not uncomfortable” -they made it easy!
I agree that it was 100% worthwhile. My dd left the weekend feeling like it was worth it even if she didn’t get offers, because it was a great warm-up audition. We’ve also come back to the conversations that we’ve had with college reps as we continue to discuss the pros and cons of different programs.
Then, as a bonus, my dd has gotten multiple acceptances from her audition. This is such a huge help. While we still want to plan visits to any of the campuses she is seriously considering, we can now do it on our time rather than only on particular audition dates. Plus the acceptances were really a boost to my dd’s confidence, which was great going into her subsequent on-campus auditions.
The one thing I really wish they would do differently (other than allowing more time in the college fair) is that it would be so helpful if each college would give information about how/when they follow up, so dancers don’t feel left hanging.
@emilyhuntnelson did you hear from ECU today? I think you said you were waiting on response from them.
We did get an email from ECU, she will complete it and submit it. It is one of her “backups” Did you also get the email? Ahhhh this process!