Harkarvy at Juilliard Loving the Work - Benjamin Harkarvy and the Julliard's dance division

Dance Magazine, July, 2000 by Joseph Carman

Along with academic and dance technique courses, dance students at Juilliard all take basic choreographic composition classes, anatomy and physiology for dancers, and seminars on auditioning, preparing resumes and teaching workshops. Guests from professional companies often come to speak to the students about their careers, including the gritty, difficult aspects of the profession. Of utmost importance, says Harkarvy, is to prepare students to become adults in a profession that is often prone to treat them otherwise: "We are trying to help them grow up. When they talk or communicate with anyone in their profession, be it a director, a balletmaster, or choreographer, they are not to turn into children."

The fact that the Lincoln Center campus also houses the Juilliard drama and music divisions gives dancers access to a broadened artistic and social world.

Auditioning for Juilliard is rigorous. After a round in which dancers take a ballet and a modern class and perform a solo of their choice, the remaining auditioners perform another solo, and if asked to stay, learn a piece of choreography from a faculty member. Here they are observed for their ability to absorb corrections, their perception of movement and their overall gift of dance. "Someone making a career has to love to dance and love to work," explains Harkarvy.

The fortunate twenty-four who are chosen from the audition process are groomed to take dance into the twenty-first century. "They are being told all the time that they are the future, which they well are," says Harkarvy. The point of dance now and always, he adds, is "to be able to give eloquently to other people. What more could you ask?"

Former American Ballet Theatre dancer Joseph Carman is a New York City dance critic for Dance Magazine and a contributor to The New York Times and The Advocate.