In this blog, we offer insights and guidance based on our years of experience raising serious ballet dancers. We cover a range of topics, including the benefits of ballet, selecting the right ballet school, supporting your child’s training, and navigating the challenges of the dance world.
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Introducing The Encore Fund
Fact: Most professional dancers make very little moneyAlso Fact: Most professional dancers are super smart and driven Logic would tell you that dancers would want to pursue some sort of higher education either while they’re dancing or once they finish. The problem? Most education subsidies that some professional dancers get while still performing don’t carry…
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Happy Anniversary To Ballet Help Desk!
One day, about 18 months ago, Jenny and I were out hiking. We got to talking about how many people were calling us to ask for advice on sending their students to San Francisco Ballet School. Since our kids had been there for four years, apparently we were considered some sort of resident experts on…
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The Culture Of Fear In Ballet Schools Is Real
When we launched our summer intensive reviews back in May of 2023, we hoped to get a few submissions for a handful of the larger programs. But, wow, did people come through! As of today, we have nearly 900 reviews for 169 different programs! We can’t thank you enough for the huge levels of participation!…
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Mental Fitness Maintenance
Today, we’re joined by Elizabeth Sullivan, a success coach and wellness mentor for pre-professional dancers. Full disclosure: Both of our kids have worked with Elizabeth over the years. While we might be biased, we think she brings a fresh voice in the ballet training world. Winter and early Spring, better known as audition season, brings…
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Post-Graduate Programs – What Does It All Mean??
This is an update to a post we published in May of 2023. We’ve added important updates so give it a read! It’s audition season! For summer programs, right? Yes, but also it’s time for dancers to start sending out materials in hopes of landing a coveted post-graduate spot. You’re thinking, “Wait! My dancer is…
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Summer Intensives: Rejections, Acceptances & Scholarships
As we roll into the holidays, better known as Nutcracker and summer intensive audition season, we wanted to give you a bit of advice on how to handle the inevitable acceptance, rejection and scholarship issues that will arise after auditions conclude. Ballet summer intensive auditions are some of the most stressful times in a young…
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Tips For Nailing Your Summer Intensive Auditions
The day has finally arrived! Summer intensive auditions! You’ve been waiting for this day (or days) since your dancer came home from last summer’s intensive. Or, maybe this is your first go ‘round with the audition season. Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned ballet lobby sitting parent, we’ve got some suggestions for things to…
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Are European Summer Intensives Worth It?
It’s time for a bonus entry to our Summer Intensive Boot Camp! This article is all about European summer intensives. What are they? How do they work? How do you get admitted and are they worth it? Sometimes it feels like everyone is talking about going to a summer intensive in Europe. It definitely felt…
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Tips & Tricks For Summer Intensive Audition Photos
We are so fortunate to have a guest blogger today! Meet Emily Brunner, a professional dance photographer based in Philadelphia. In addition, to sitting down with us for an interview, she has generously put together this list of tips and tricks for audition photos! Hope you find it as helpful as we did! It’s almost…
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What Boys Should Look For In Summer Intensives
The first part of this week’s installment of our Summer Intensive Boot Camp is all about the boys! Let’s talk about ballet summer intensives – what to look for, how scholarships work and how to avoid going insane in the process! Much of what we’ve written as part of our boot camp series applies to…
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Guide To Researching Ballet Summer Intensives And Scheduling Auditions
If it’s November, it’s Summer Intensive planning time! For those of you who have not done a summer intensive before, be sure to read our blog post that explains just exactly what they are. Now that we’re heading into prep time for auditions, we wanted to give you an overview of what to consider when…
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What The Heck Is A Summer Intensive?
It’s time for the Ballet Help Desk Summer Intensive Boot Camp! Before we jump into all of the great content we’ll be publishing, let’s take a step back and talk about just exactly what a summer intensive is! You’ve probably heard people throw around the term “SI.” I know when I first heard this, I…
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Potential, Facility, Body Type: What Does It All Mean?
Your daughter has the potential to be a good ballet dancer. Your son has great facility. Your dancer has the perfect ballet body. In every interview we’ve done, whether it’s with ballet teachers, competition judges or whomever, those words get thrown around. And NO ONE ever tells us what they refer to. Plus, we have…
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Ballet Competition Directors Weigh In
And, we’re in the home stretch in our series covering ballet competitions! We’ve talked with studio directors, conservatories and judges to hear their thoughts on all things competition related. But, we saved the best for last – competition directors! We were fortunate enough to speak with directors of the World Ballet Competition, ADC|IBC and Youth…
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An Open Letter About Boys In Ballet
We have some exciting news! Today, we are launching two podcast episodes dedicated to addressing the issues that affect young boys in ballet. The first is an interview with Peter Stark, sometimes referred to as the Pied Piper of boys ballet training. As the President and Director of the Rock School For Dance, Peter discussed…
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Competition Judges Pull Back The Curtain
I just spent over an hour reading comments from a few old Facebook posts about ballet competitions and whether or not they’re “rigged.” Are they? We asked three YAGP judges for their thoughts on a variety of issues related to competitions and we learned some interesting stuff, including whether or not they think they’re rigged.…
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Why Are Big Conservatories Competing?
Did you ever attend a ballet competition and see schools like The Rock School For Dance Education or the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) there? You’re probably thinking, “Why would they bring kids to something like this when these kids are already at fantastic training programs?” We talked to Ilya Kozadayev,…
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So, Your Dancer Wants To Compete! What To Expect
When my son was ten, he came home from his first summer dance intensive and announced, “I want to get more serious about ballet and I want to do the Youth America Grand Prix.” What?! So, like any parent who knew nothing about dance, I went and looked up ballet competitions online. The first result…
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Ballet Competitions? Are They Worth It?
**This post has been updated to include a sneak peek at what we have planned for our series on ballet competitions that will be launching in mid-September! If it’s the beginning of the school year, it’s also the beginning of ballet competition season! That means it’s time for everyone’s anxiety closet to open. Every year,…
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Oh The Pressure!
How many of you have picked up your dancer from class only to find them in tears? Yep, every single one of us. Ballet is hard. Kids who are attracted to ballet are a different breed. Not only do they have an artistic slant to their brain, they are also laser focused technicians. And, this…
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Why We All Need To Support The Arts
When I was a kid growing up in the Washington D.C. suburbs, my parents dragged my sister and me to pretty much any live performance at the Kennedy Center or Wolf Trap. This usually involved getting dressed up (something we hated), driving a long distance (my sister got car sick) and sitting through yet another…
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Strength Training, Injury Prevention and Injury Recovery Through Pilates
When my physical therapist suggested I start a Pilates program, I laughed. “I’m a former athlete,” I told her. “If you don’t sweat, it isn’t exercise.” She smiled at me and gently suggested we try one session of it to see what I thought. If I didn’t like it, we could look at alternatives. So,…
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Introducing Podcasts And Our New Series!
We are pleased to announce that Ballet Help Desk has added podcasts! Not only are all of our previous videos available as podcasts, we are also launching a monthly, multi-part series that will dig deep into specific subjects related to ballet training. Each series will feature blog posts as well as interviews with experts that…
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How Ballet Dancers Can Support Each Other
On the heels of our post about friendships in the ballet studio, our friend Elizabeth Sullivan is out with an article about how dance friends can support one another when hitting bumps in the road. One of the most common questions I get from dancers is “How can I support my friend who is having…
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Why It’s Important To Review Your Summer Intensive Even If You Didn’t Like It
In all my years working in corporate America and owning my own businesses, do you know what was the most helpful feedback? The bad stuff! Sure, it was great to be told that someone thought I was doing a good job or that they liked the service we offered. That was great for validation that…
The Ballet Help Desk 