Butler

[Guest Little Swan]

To any Butler students.....I am planning on auditioning for Butler soon, and need to send a picture in with my request for an audition date. I was wondering how important the picture is, because I kind of want to retake them but I won't be able to do so for a few days, and I am worried about getting the application in soon so I get the date I want (Oct. 30). Any suggestions?

[Guest Arak]

I auditioned there last winter (didn't get in ). The phot I sent them was a year old, and they still gave me a slot to audition. I don't think it's quite as important as other aspects, like your application and the actual audition. From what I gather, the photo is just to make sure you really do know what you're doing.

 

Butler is a good choice. Even though they didn't take me, I was impressed with the way they ran their auditions. They gave a guided tour of the facilities and auditioners took two classes alongside the Butler dancers. I thought they were very thorough. They even told me what they didn't like (my placement was off). I will probably re-audition this year. Their dancers looked good; no weight problems on either end of the scale, well-muscled, technique was very polished. The studio we were in was unbelievable! It was huge and well-lit and brand-new. The content of the classes was good; I wrote down a few of the combinations I learned and taught them at my home studio later on.

 

Merde!

[Swanilda]

The picture is not terribly important, in fact, I didn't even have a photo when I sent in my application and they still gave me a scholarship. What matters is what you do in your audition classes.

[Banana Feet]

Well I really don't know how important the picture is...because I haven't auditioned for Butler. Actually, I'm a student at their affiliate dance school Jordan, so I have a lot of contact with the Butler dancers because I was in their Nutcracker for 3 years and now they have moved into Jordan while Lilly Hall gets fixed.

So I thought I might give a little information about Butler, just in case any of you were wondering. The studios that Arak mentioned are brand new. They were opened in February(?) of this year. They are very nice and the larger one can be transformed into a studio theater with lights, curtains, etc.

The faculty at Butler is very good. The new director of the program Michelle Jarvis is an excellent teacher. She is very precise and picky about her technique. Also, Rosanna Ruffo is another very precise teacher. Those are the 2 teachers I have actually worked with a lot besides Stephan Laurent, who resigned as artistic director last year. However, from what I've heard about the other teachers they are very good.

Butler is an excellent school. They put on 3 major productions a year at Clowes Hall (The Nutcracker in December, Midwinter Dance Festival in Feb or March (this is a mixture of pieces some ballet but mostly modern) and also another ballet in April (this year it is Cinderella.) They have Senior Showcase where the Seniors choreograph a piece and Butler brings in A.D.s from companies to watch and hire the students based on this performance in addition to a class that is held earlier in the day. The choreography is usually fantastic.

That pretty much is Butler in a nutshell...

Edited October 26, 2003 by Banana Feet

[ConstanzaElisabeth]

what is the difference between butler and jordan? when i look up dance stuff at butlers website, i end up at teh jordan site. i thought that was the dance program. shows how much i know, ack.

[Mel Johnson]

Butler University is the overarching institution. Jordan School of Fine Arts is a College within the University.

[Banana Feet]

and then Jordan College Academy of Dance is the affiliate school for Butler Ballet...

[Mel Johnson]

So whether you say Jordan or Butler, there's a good chance that you're in Indianapolis.

[ConstanzaElisabeth]

thanks...somewhat confusing, but yeah...

[Aurora916]

The Department of Dance at Butler University is in the Jordan College of Fine Arts. To enter a degree program at Butler you must be accepted through audition. The Jordan college Academy of Dance is a separate dance "school" for students (ie middle and high school students) and adults and offers classes to the general public. These are not classes that are part of the degree program. The Academy is divided into four Schools: the Lower School (ages 3-6), the Middle School, the Pre-College School, and the Adult School.

Finally, the Butler Ballet is a pre-professional company composed entirely of dance majors in the prestigious Butler University Department of Dance( approx 80 members).

 

Students at "Jordan" are not necessarily students at Butler, and may not even be college students. Because of this, if you go to Butler as a dance major you generally say you are at Butler and not Jordan.

[Mel Johnson]

Jordan deserves a great deal of credit for making an "extension" dance program which is so well-laid-out and regularized. Many colleges and universities have extension programs, but this seems unusual in its degree of benevolence and public service. They have my admiration.

[Swanilda]

No student at Butler has ever been told that they are too fat. There are a few cases of people who have gotten too thin, but they have all been spoken to and are working on this. Casting does not deal with weight.

[Mel Johnson]

...I've heard many instances of students being told that they are too fat. (One left the dance program soon after.) ...There are a few dancers there now that are anorexic. I truthfully do not know what the faculty does in regard to this, but I have heard that "it is against their policy to make comments in regard to weight." (Then why did they call the other people fat??)

Let's consider some courtroom rules of evidence here, in order to preserve the peace. (See why we don't discuss diet/weight issues here?)

 

Firstly, if someone's heard that something's happened, that's hearsay evidence and not admissable. Let's disregard. For all that could be true, perhaps the students affected were told by their peers this thing or that thing, or they could be victims of the rumor mill. These possibilities also would explain the apparent contradiction.

 

Secondly, a diagnosis of anorexia is a medical call, and there are very few members of Ballet Talk qualified to make that diagnosis, and nobody should make it without a personal physical examination. Saying, "You look like you could use a physical" is a very different thing from saying "you're too thin!"

[Banana Feet]

Sorry! I edited the post

[CKdance3]

Thanks so much! Do you have any more specific information on Butler?