Summer study guide 2002 - Directory

Dance Magazine, Jan, 2002 by Janet Weeks

With Sugar Plum Fairy season behind us, it's time to start thinking about summer-especially if you'd like to spend a portion of it in a summer dance intensive. To help you with your plans, we've compiled our annual list of schools and companies that offer in-depth dance training during those summer months. Whether you're looking for a festival that offers all types of dance along with chances to see internationally acclaimed artists perform or are in the market for a program that focuses only on classical techniques, you'll find a variety of options here. Our listings cover both national and international summer study programs and provide information on how and when to apply, whether scholarships or room and board are available, and other details. (Be sure to check the symbols key next to the listings to find out what each symbol stands for.) Once you've narrowed down your list of possible programs to attend, Colleen Payton's story about the different facets of five prestigious summer schools may help you make your final decision. She gives more information on schools that offer both summer and year-round study and offers advice on what to consider when searching for the program that's perfect for you. In addition, Iris Fanger reports on DanceLab, Boston Ballet's newest summer offering. It's a more personal program that includes individual coaching, guidance on making a great audition video, help with dance resumes, and more. Enjoy the guide. We hope it will help you find the summer experience that's just right for you.

ONE-ON-ONE ATTENTION

Boston Ballet's DanceLab stress mentoring, not competition

BY IRIS FANGER

One day last July a group of day-camp children were playing ball on the large, grassy field that centers the campus at Mount Ida College, located in suburban Boston, but inside a nearby building the mood was less relaxed. A dozen ballet students had gathered around their instructor to watch her demonstrate the intricacies of unfurling a fan to enhance one of the solos from Don Quixote. The teacher was a former Boston Ballet principal dancer, Laura Young, who had performed the role of Kitri many times. "I once dropped the fan onstage," Young told them. "I learned to tie the fan to a piece of elastic around my wrist." Chances are these students had not been exposed to this kind of up-close and authoritative coaching back home.

Welcome to DanceLab, Boston Ballet's newest summer program, designed to nurture adolescent women by mentoring them in a protective atmosphere with an emphasis on individual learning and preparation for the professional world rather than the competitive sizzle of the company's larger Summer Dance Program. Young, who also serves as the principal of the Boston Ballet School, founded DanceLab because, she says, "I've always wanted to have one teacher take the class all the way through the session. The teacher and student would get to know each other very well. The teacher could see the strengths and weaknesses of each student." Besides Young, the instructors included former Boston Ballet soloists Denise Pons and Deirdre Myles Burger.

The in-depth training program featured daily ballet technique classes, pointe and variations classes, Pilates workouts, and two mentoring classes of only ten students each week. Although Young hoped that the students would take "time to reflect on what they learned during the day," she says, master classes were scheduled for some evenings. Weekend activities included trips to Jacob's Pillow and Saratoga Springs to see performances. Housed in the dorms at Mount Ida, the students came to DanceLab from states as far away as California, Florida, Oklahoma, and Oregon, as well as New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions.

The eighty-five young women who launched the program in 2001 worked with the same ballet teacher every day and were coached in variations to be presented on their final videotapes. The students had access to computers and guidance in writing resumes. "Instead of a closing performance, each student made an individual videotape, shot by a professional crew. In addition, we gave them a stage makeup class for the video and still photos -- a head shot and a dance photo. We taught them what makes a good dance shot," said Rachel Moore, a former dancer with American Ballet Theatre and now executive director of Boston Ballet's Center for Dance Education, which oversees the company's three schools, its summer programs, and community outreach division.

Apparently, the students agreed with the goals that Young established for DanceLab. The evaluations at summer's end ran the gamut from liking "how you corrected everything on everyone, not just one person," and "helping me overcome my bad habits and technique" to "My teacher inspired me so much?" to "I felt I've gotten to know how my body moves better." Another dancer wrote that she "found courage."

It's not only geography that separates DanceLab from the Boston Ballet's regular Summer Dance Program, which is much larger, co-ed, and geared toward the student ready to look for a job in the field. "The Summer Dance Program, which is based at our South End studios in the city, is a very different experience," Moore said. "Like many other summer dance programs, it teaches varied styles (modern and Spanish dance classes plus ballet) with a rotating group of teachers. By virtue of an older age group in SDP, there is a different level of competition. At ages 17, 18, or 19, you're jostling for your first job. The students in DanceLab are ages 13 to 15, although we will admit certain younger ones to SDP as well," Moore said.