We’re back for our second installment of The Path to Professional and this is where it gets a little confusing. Ok, maybe a lot. Once it has become clear that a student is not getting what they need from their home studio, it’s time to move on. Some students leave their home studio and enter a company-affiliated program or a residential conservatory at the intermediate level. However, it is more common to enter into the upper level into what is commonly referred to as a “finishing program.” 

Let’s get one thing out of the way first. There are definitely students who come out of excellent local or small studios and the students go right into a trainee program or a second company. And, this seems to be happening more and more. But, this is not the typical way students progress. 

Most of the time, when students are ready for full-time ballet training, they enter a company-affiliated program or conservatory. If you are lucky enough to live in an area where your dancer can attend as a commuter, that’s great! This sometimes allows students to leave their home studio earlier without having to worry about all of the pressure of “going away.” However, until your dancer gets to the upper level of a school e.g. the advanced level, most company-affiliated schools are still after-school programs and serve as the neighborhood school. 

Once a student gets to the advanced level or “finishing” level, this is where things change.

When you hear “finishing program” that means that a dancer is fairly well developed in terms of technique but needs that final polish to get them ready to be in a trainee program or second company. The advanced levels of schools are the finishing levels e.g. level 7 & 8 at San Francisco Ballet School, Pro 2 at Houston Ballet Academy, etc. Finishing levels are always part of the school rather than the company. Students typically enter a finishing program at ages 16-18. Some are younger, but this is the normal age range.

This is where things get complicated. How in the name of all that is ballet do you figure out where your dancer should go? The good news is that at this age, kids talk! They are all talking about where they want to go. In a future post, we’ll cover, in detail, how to evaluate and choose a residential program. But here is a condensed explanation!

What Changes When You Go to a Residential Ballet Program?

First, different schools focus on different techniques and styles. As an example, if your student is dead-set on ultimately joining a Balanchine company, they should only consider schools that cover at least some Balanchine. Moreover, some companies typically only hire out of their school e.g. New York City Ballet, Royal Ballet, etc. 

If your dancer’s heart is set on a company that only hires from within, that’s where they should go. 

There are several things that you need to know about residential ballet programs. First, the talent level is high. Like, super high. Your dancer may have been queen or king of their studio, but so were all the others coming into a finishing program. This is where grit and hard work come into play. In ballet there is always another level of talent and hard work. Is your dancer able to handle that kind of daily pressure?

Second, the number of dance hours goes up significantly. This is not your recreational after-school program! It can be a big adjustment for a lot of dancers because time management becomes even more critical. I’m sure some of you are saying, “Well my dancer always had to manage their time.” That may be so but they also no longer have you keeping them on track at home.

Think about this schedule. You wake up and get to class by around 9 a.m. You’re there until around 3 or 4 p.m. You come home to eat and then head back to the studio for a few hours of rehearsals because you got cast as a townsperson in Romeo and Juliet. Or better yet, you got Swan Corps! Then, you get home, shower, eat a second dinner and pop open your laptop to do a few assignments for school. Maybe you stay awake long enough to finish the assignments or maybe you fall asleep on your keyboard.

That’s a typical day in some programs. This is not an exaggeration. And, during the ballet season, this is the schedule six days a week. Yes, you read that correctly. And, on day seven they rest, right? Not if they’re cast in company productions. Most companies have Sunday shows. In most cases your dancer would then get the Monday off. No matter how you slice it, though, it’s a grueling six day-a-week schedule.

As you may imagine, academics for some, may take a back seat. Some kids try to graduate early to eliminate the pressure of managing ballet and school. And, others may take more than four years to finish. If you’ve got a student like that, never fear. It’s not a footrace to finish. 

Finally, the pressure goes way up at the end of each year. All students are worried not only about getting promoted if they are in the lower level of the advanced program, but it’s also audition season. And, for some, they may know that it’s time to leave, Most finishing programs don’t explicitly cut students. However, students can be strongly encouraged to “seek training elsewhere.” This is code for “we’re not cutting you, but we’re cutting you.”

And, because not everyone in the top level of the school will be promoted into that next level within the company, most students in the last year of their finishing program audition far and wide. The months where they are doing that can mean lots of angst ridden days and weeks.

This is not meant to scare you, although it might. You just need to go into this extremely clear-eyed and make sure that your dancer is prepared both physically and emotionally. 

How to Evaluate a Residential Ballet Program: Non-Ballet Questions

So, at this point, let’s get a little broader and talk about what to look for when you’re evaluating a residential ballet program. Assuming your dancer is like many others, they want to dance professionally and want to get the best training they can. The following is an overview of what you should think about. Important non-ballet considerations are housing/food, academics, health and wellness and communication with families. 

There are some schools that offer dorms. Others have some sort of student apartments. And, for some, you’re on your own. Only you can determine which housing situation is best for your student, but it’s a big consideration when sending your student off. 

The same goes for academics. We’ll also review this in a more detailed blog post in the future. But, there are a variety of models that schools use. For some, full-time ballet programs have partnerships with local schools where students attend a brick and mortar school where classes line up with the ballet schedule. 

Other schools have integrated academics where the students actually graduate with a diploma. 

And, for other schools, students must arrange for their own academic program (usually online) and simply prove to the ballet program that they are either enrolled in a high-school program, have already graduated or have gotten their GED (general equivalency diploma).

Making the switch from brick-and-mortar school to online school can be a big jump so consider how equipped your student is to make this transition. One thing to ask a potential residential program is do they have mandatory study hall hours or do they make sure their students are staying on top of their work?

Health and wellness is another big consideration. Unfortunately, eating disorders and anxiety are fairly common with serious ballet training. Schools are beginning to make some headway in addressing these issues but currently it is more of a band aid than a true fix.

At some point, your dancer will most likely suffer an injury. Encourage them to use the available resources provided by the school. The treatment may not be everything your dancer needs for their rehab so you may need to subsidize. When choosing a program you want to know that if your dancer has any sort of mental or physical health issues, the school has formal protocols in place to handle them.

Finally, the way schools communicate with families varies widely. Some are happy to be in regular communication with you and might even add you to the school’s parent committee. Yes, some residential programs have parent committees! And other schools only communicate with the students and parents to pay bills, dates of the shows and help their students move in and out of their housing.

How to Evaluate a Residential Ballet Program: Ballet Questions

Let’s also talk about ballet-specific issues. By the time your student is in a finishing program, they’re planning to have a professional ballet career. 

As an aside, most company affiliated schools don’t want students who are trying to use high-level ballet training as an advantage to get into a top college or university. Of course, some students who attend finishing programs may ultimately decide to forego a ballet career and attend college. But, students don’t typically enter at that level unless they want to go pro.

Full-Time Ballet Program Outcomes

We can talk until we’re blue in the face about class type, size, variety, etc. But, the most important consideration is job placement. First, how many students from the school get promoted into the trainee program or the second company? We’ll discuss what trainee programs and second companies actually mean in part three of this series. 

Second, for those students who do not go into the company trainee or second company program, where do they go? Do they all go somewhere? And, does the school bring in other company artistic directors to audition students for their trainee and second company slots?

Not surprisingly, different schools have different placement rates and some are better than others. One of my biggest gripes with ballet schools is that they don’t publish where their graduates go. Some do, but most don’t. For the ones with great placement rates, I’d think that this would be a good marketing tool. But, maybe they have enough students applying that they don’t need to worry about it. 

The best way to find placement rates is to ask the school. They might be willing to give you a list of where their recent graduates have gone. Otherwise, you’re looking at some research. You have a few options. The best is to join the various ballet related Facebook groups and start asking. You probably won’t get a comprehensive list from one person. But, you will likely get enough information from a few people to make an educated guess. 

The second way to glean this data is through your dancer. By the time they’re ready to go into a finishing program, the odds are they have attended multiple summer programs and know people all over the ballet world. This is why networking at summer programs is so important. If you want to know where dancers have gone, have your dancer start reaching out to everyone they know.

Performance Opportunities

One other important factor is how much students perform. Sure, there is always the chance the company repertoire might use students. But, it’s also possible they won’t. Pro-tip: there are more opportunities for women in finishing programs to do corps work in story ballets than there are for men. So keep this in mind if you’re the parent of a boy.

Ideally, the school will have its own slate of performances. But, this is worth a hard look. Some schools do very little performing, some perform like crazy and many fall somewhere in between. Your dancer should think about what they need and factor that into both where they choose to audition and also where they ultimately decide to go. Do they have great performance skills but they just need to drill on technique? Or, are they rock solid in their technique but need to up their partnering game? Or their performance game? Learn what each school emphasizes and make sure it meets the needs of your particular dancer.

One thing that should be jumping out at you is that each step along this path needs to be strategic. Where you go for summer could impact where you go year-round. And, where you go year-round could impact where you get a job. And, how you treat people can have a huge impact. We have heard of dancers who have moved through several companies because they’re “difficult.” Don’t underestimate how important this is. One well-known ballet teacher once told us, “Success in ballet is one-third talent, one-third luck and one-third how you are as a person.” 

And, on that note, you and your dancer should absolutely do their homework on the school culture. They vary widely. Some can be quite strict and others pretty lax with how policies are administered. Some are warm, welcoming and supportive. And, others can resemble Lord of the Flies. My son has been in two different company affiliated programs and the cultures could not be any more different. These differences can be seen not only in how the teachers interact with the students, but also how the dancers interact with one another.

Ok, that’s all for now. In our next post, we’ll discuss trainee and second company programs and what they all mean.