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.
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
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.
-
Posted
by
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,
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
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,
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
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,
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
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
-
Posted
by
Friendships In The Ballet Studio
We’ve been seeing some posts on social media and also recently got some questions from parents about friendships in the ballet studio and how to manage them. This can be especially tough when some of your closest friends can also be your fiercest competition. It can sometimes get complicated, but we’ve got some tips to
-
Posted
by
Choosing A Residential Ballet Program: Part 2
On the heels of our last post where we talked about non-ballet questions to ask, let’s now turn to questions that directly relate to ballet in any residential ballet school. First, here’s the reality: dancers are going to go to the program they get into. We can give you a laundry list of things to
-
Posted
by
Choosing A Residential Ballet Program: Part 1
A while back, we talked about how to evaluate a local ballet program. Now that we’ve looked at local programs, let’s turn our attention to residential ballet programs. By the time your dancer is ready to head to a residential program, they’ve likely decided they want to pursue a professional career. Before your family takes
-
Posted
by
Moving From Traditional School To Non-Traditional Academic Programs
When students enter full-time ballet training, the notion of “regular” school goes out the window. Often, ballet classes start as early as 8 a.m. and run through most of the day, making it impossible for students to attend what most of us consider normal middle school or high school. Because most serious ballet students move
-
Posted
by
Cross-Training: Why It Matters And When To Start
Dancers are athletes. How many times have you heard that? Despite the traditional reputation of ballet as an “art,” professional dancers are commonly regarded as athletes based on the physical demands they sustain through long hours of technical training, rehearsals, and performances. Dancers must possess a high level of fitness, strength, coordination, agility, speed, and
-
Posted
by
When Dancers Want To Stay For Year-Round After Attending The Intensive
Welcome to the Summer Intensive season. Your kids have been in their program for a few weeks, and they are no longer outliers in their social worlds. They are surrounded by like-minded dancers who are driven and love ballet. Maybe they have connected with a teacher at their SI program and your dancer is growing
-
Posted
by
What We Wish We Knew When Our Kids Were Younger
We got a question a while back that really intrigued us. We were asked this: As experienced dance parents looking back, what things would you have done differently? We’re going to answer this question together. What Would Jenny Have Done Differently? If I knew then what I know now, I would have spent more time
-
Posted
by
Using Summer As Audition Prep
This is a guest post from Elizabeth Sullivan. Elizabeth is a former professional ballet dancer turned performance coach with a mission to bring holistic wellness tools and information to young dancers to enhance their training and prepare them for success, fulfillment, and happiness. Ballet Help Desk has no financial arrangement with Elizabeth — we just
-
Posted
by
Different Levels At Residential Ballet Schools And What They All Mean
We get asked all the time about when dancers should leave home for residential ballet programs and we always hesitate to give people advice on this. It’s not really our call. We don’t know each individual dancer’s situation and we’d be remiss to assume we know best on this. In a future series, we’ll be
-
Posted
by
Your Dancer’s Reputation, Networking And Why They Both Matter
When my son was ten, he got the best advice about his potential dance career that he’s ever gotten. He was doing a short summer program with the Broadway Dance Center in New York, and they brought in someone from a talent agency. I don’t remember the agency nor do I remember much about the