Tag: ballet training
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choosing Which Ballet Summer Intensive to Attend
Congratulations! Your dancer got accepted to multiple summer intensives. Maybe they even got some scholarships. This is fantastic news! But now comes the tricky part: actually deciding where to go. This is usually a really personal decision. It’s tempting to just pick the most prestigious program or the one with the biggest scholarship. And look,…
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Why Choose a Company Experience for Summer Ballet Training?
You’ve probably been hearing a lot about a more specialized type of summer ballet intensive called a “Company Experience” or “Choreography Workshop.” Seriously? Another summer program? Actually, we think this new development in summer ballet training is pretty cool. Several ballet programs have implemented these over the years and they appear to be growing in popularity.…
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Finally—Real Reviews of Local Ballet Programs
Until now, if you wanted to get a sense of the ballet training available in your local area, your best bet was to ask around. Maybe post in a Facebook group. Maybe text a friend-of-a-friend. Hope that the reviews from ten years ago on Yelp are actually real? But real, detailed insight into what a…
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The Waiting Game
**This is a guest post from Elizabeth Sullivan, founder of The Dancer’s Coach** Now that audition season is coming to a close, several dancers, especially those waiting on offers, report feeling a little uninspired and unmotivated. They aren’t sure how to manage these feelings and still get themselves to daily classes and rehearsals. First, this…
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Helping Ballet Students with Tourette’s Syndrome Thrive: Practical Advice for Parents
**Our fourth in our series from guest blogger Chelsea Weidmann on neurodivergent kids in ballet. Be sure to check out her new book, Artistry Inside Ballet Technique** I am thrilled to be back writing for the Ballet Help Desk. When they asked me to consider writing a post on teaching students with Tourette’s Syndrome, my…
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Grad Pro: A New Path for Dancers
With audition season around the corner, we’re excited to introduce Grad Pro, a relatively new organization from England, founded by Julie Bowers, former dancer with The Royal Ballet. After first coming across the Grad Pro website, we reached out to Julie to invite her to come on our podcast. We were especially intrigued by the…
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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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Supporting Autistic Dancers in Ballet
Our third in our series from guest blogger Chelsea Weidmann on neurodivergent kids in ballet In this post, we are talking about low support needs autism. These are the kids that people don’t guess have autism. So why am I writing about ways to support these dancers if no one thinks they need support? Because…
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Why Having Boys at Summer Intensives Matters and How Our New Filters Can Help You Find Them
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…
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Supporting Introverted Dancers in Ballet
Our second in our series from guest blogger Chelsea Weidmann on neurodivergent kids in ballet I recently heard the phrase “Extroverts sparkle, introverts glow.” How perfect is that? Everybody gets to shine, just in a different way. But in the competitive ballet school bubble, it can feel like your child, who is so clearly glowing…