Tag: ballet
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Girls Of Color Are Allowed To Feel Beautiful Too
**We are so happy to introduce Jessica Klanderud, a Professor of African and African American History and a ballet parent to two kids! Jessica was kind enough to share her newly developed method for dyeing point shoes to match skin tone. For anyone dealing with trying to match colors on tights and shoes this is…
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College Ballet Programs: The Pros And Cons
It’s an age-old question: “Which path sets my student up to get a job as a professional ballet dancer – college or straight into a post-graduate training program?” It can be a tough decision for a lot of students, especially with the proliferation of post-graduate programs that often have large numbers of dancers all vying…
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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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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…
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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…
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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…
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What You Need to Know About Boys in Ballet
I’ve been really conflicted about writing this post. There is an Instagram account called @BalletMoods that is clearly run by a professional dancer. Recently, they posted a meme that was meant to be funny. And, to some, it was. While there is merit to what this meme says – I’m looking at you Swan Corps…
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Is My Dancer “Good Enough?”
Yep, we’ve all heard that parent talking about their kid who cleaned up at all the ballet competitions. At age ten. That’s great, but from what we’ve researched, just over 50% of dancers, who have won the big awards at ballet competitions at ten, are no longer dancing five years later. So, how to tell…
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It’s Q&A Wednesday!
Today we answer questions from our viewers about types of ballet training, how to judge the quality of your dancer’s training, how to manage paying for ballet on a limited budget and much more!
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What Does Your Dancer Want Out of Ballet?
At ten, my son said he wanted to dance professionally. We patted him on the head and thought “ok, hotshot, you keep dreaming.” We just assumed it was like all his friends who said they wanted to play major league baseball or go to the NBA. Little kid delusions! Over the years, his friends tempered…