Did your dancer ever arrive at a ballet summer intensive and find that they were the only boy? Or, did your fifteen year old attend a program where there was no partnering due to lack of male dancers?
When Sam was younger and first starting to look at ballet summer intensives, our biggest fear was that he would be the only boy. The presence of other boys, especially boys his age, was a key factor we used to help develop not only his audition list but also to decide which program he would ultimately attend. In those early years, I knew most summer intensive registrars on a first name basis. I’m sure I was known as “that mom,” and my sincerest apologies go out to the Joffrey Academy of Dance, whom I called every three days from the time Sam was accepted to the time he walked in the door to his dorm.
Why was I so concerned that Sam had other boys at his summer intensives? Three reasons. First, he was the only boy his age at his home studio and he needed to find his people. Despite having many friends at ballet, we thought it was important that he spend summers surrounded by other boys who shared his interests. Plus, he needed a roommate. I bet all you parents of girls never wondered if there would be enough girls at an SI to ensure your dancer would have roommates their own age! Don’t laugh – at my son’s first SI, his roommate was 15. Sam was 11.
Next, we wanted Sam to feel like what he did was normal. Boys who attend summer intensives surrounded by other like-minded male dancers often feel a greater sense of community and belonging. Seeing other boys in class normalizes their participation and encourages them to continue in ballet, countering the societal stereotype that ballet is only for girls. We thought it was important for Sam, at least early in his ballet training, to see that boys doing ballet was not only normal, but also awesome.
Finally, it was pretty hard to figure out if he was any good without having anyone at his studio against whom he could benchmark. Sure, the other kids could tell him he was the best male ballet dancer they had ever seen (he wasn’t), but without any other boys there, it was tough to figure out where he fit.
Having a lot of boys at a summer intensive also ensures that partnering, often referred to as pas, classes can happen. Partnering is a key part of classical ballet, but for it to be adequately taught and practiced, there needs to be a sufficient number of boys. Summer intensives often feature dedicated pas de deux classes, and having more boys ensures that all students—both male and female—gain valuable partnering experience. This builds confidence as well as communication and technical skills for both parties involved.
Parents of girls, this is why you should care about the number of boys in your daughter’s program. No boys means no partnering or partnering classes with teachers, older boys or even boys brought in from the outside who are attending just for that one pas class.
Summers are where students work to round out holes in their training and also where they try to rapidly improve. By the time your dancer is 14, they should be doing at least basic partnering regularly. No partnering at a summer intensive means four or five weeks of no pas improvement.
Finally, ballet companies are mostly co-ed. The sooner boys and girls can learn to coexist, communicate and work together the stronger dancers they will become.
So, where are these elusive boys?
Our new filters for our summer intensive reviews can help find them. First, you can now filter based on whether a particular summer intensive offers a dedicated men’s program. A dedicated men’s program usually means that the men and women are separated for technique class. It also indicates that the school has invested in other aspects of their program in order to support male dancers. It may mean there are male teachers for the boys, a dedicated male specific strength and conditioning program and of course, regular partnering classes.
However, just because a school says they have a dedicated men’s program doesn’t mean they have loads of boys. This is where our next filter can help. Programs can be sorted based on how many boys are typically in a class. You can ask to only see reviews that have more than 5, 10, or 15 boys in a class. One note on this – the numbers may vary based on the age of the dancer for whom the review is being submitted. Typically, there are more boys in the highest levels of a summer intensive. So, use this filter to whittle down what you’re looking for and then drill down into the individual reviews to see how many boys were in the classes that were the same age your dancer would be when they might attend.
Finally, we have added a filter that allows you to sort based on the number times partnering classes take place each week. You can see all programs where partnering took place at least once, twice or three times per week. There is also the choice to only see programs that offer partnering classes daily.
One note about all our reviews. Our data is only as good as what is submitted to us. Sometimes the information reported is different based on that dancer’s experience. It also may vary based on the age and gender of the dancer. Data reported by a 13 year old may differ from that of a 17 year old. So, be sure to use our reviews as a guide rather than the one source for making decisions.
Our goal is to continue to provide as much transparency to ballet training as possible. We are not telling you which summer intensive your dancer should attend. Rather, we want to help ensure that they have as much data as possible to make an informed decision. Hopefully, by allowing you to sort based on the presence of a dedicated men’s program, the number of boys in classes and the frequency with which partnering takes place, it will help all your dancers go into this audition season even more informed.
You can find all of our summer reviews here.