Schooling Type

[Guest Lukayev]

Because I am applying for three different boarding schools for the 2002 year, I got around to thinking about what specific style I wanted to develop in. Harid is mostly Vaganova and French schooling, while Sab is (of course) Balanchine, and I'm not exactly sure on NCSA (though I'm sure there must be some Balanchine, as there's a lot in their student repertoire).

 

After watching a video of the POB in Sleeping Beauty, my mom and I just totally fell for the French style - elegance without that flashiness that I saw in performances on American soil. This summer intensive, Violette Verdy was our teacher for two out of three weeks, and every combination she set for us was so flowery but simplistically beautiful.

 

So to make a point out of all this admiration welled up within me, I was wondering if there were any schools (internationally, anywhere, I don't really mind leaving America -- Hawaii might as well be an alien country anyway) that could lead to such a refinement in their dancers as the POB school. A simple answer would be the Paris Opera Ballet school itself, but is it even possible for a (in February) fifteen year old even think about auditioning? And if so, how does one go about doing so? If it's already too late, then I'd have to worry about transferring at the age of sixteen.

 

--Luka

[Victoria Leigh]

Luka, I totally agree with you about the French School, but I have no idea if it is possible or not for an American to audition for POB. Have you tried writing or emailing them to ask about that?

[Guest attitude]

I have a little bit of info on the POB school and they're not too fantastic . They have a special section for overseas students from 14-16 y.o. (I don't know if this means the overseas students are separated from the locals) and a working knowledge of French is required. You also ned a guardian in Paris whom you can stay with during weekends and holidays. also no scholarships are available to foreign students. I got this info from April/May issue of dance Australia that included a "Guide to Overseas Schools"

[Guest Babou]

I don't know if I can answer you on this topic because I'm not a young dancer but as my daughter is about your age I thought maybe it could be helpful for you to get those informations n www.opera-de-paris.fr you can have an idea of the tuitionfees for foreign students and if you've had a good school for already few years and physically you look slim and tall you can try sending a video tape to mme Bessy at the "Ecole du ballet de l'Opéra de Paris" 20,Allée de la danse 92000NanterreI heard that she will audition in March for the third division so hurry up if interested and once in Paris you will find students parents for the week-ends.There is already a few foreign students attending,so good luck to you!

[Victoria Leigh]

Thank you, babou. (Normally people who are not Young Dancers or moderators are not allowed to post here, but because the above post has valuable information that was most helpful and not known by the moderators, we will leave it here.)

[Guest Lukayev]

Thank you very much for the information, babou. My mother was flipping through and found it and suddenly dashed across the hall into my room, all excited that she had found new information.

 

Merci beaucoup.

--Luka

[Guest ileana]

I know that i'm not supposed to post here since i'm not a student ! But i live in Paris and can give some info on POB school.

In fact, all info given by the other posters is right. Let me add that foreign students are not separated from the others. They receive exactly the same education together with the others.

Which is different for oversea students:

1) they can't study for more than 1 year (sometimes 2 years) in POB school.

2)at the end of the school, they can't pass the special examination to enter POB.

(If they want to apply to POB, they can try the general contest, which is not reserved for POB student).

3) And of course they have to pay : 8460 Euros the year (including boarding fees).

 

Admission : You have to write to the School, letter including a resume, a recent dance photo, and a video tape recorded at your dance lesson, "à la barre" and in the middle.

Lated date : April 30th 2002

Post Address : Ecole de Danse de l'Opéra

Secrétariat de la Danse

20, allée de la Danse

92000 NANTERRE FRANCE

 

Good luck Luka ! If you need any other detail, don't hesitate, ask !

[Mel Johnson]

No problem, Ileana. That was information that was badly needed, and now we have access to it, too.

[Guest alliecat93]

Back to the origonal message- i was wondering what kind of style Balanchine was. Like french, italian, russian, ect.

[Victoria Leigh]

Alliecat, Balanchine is Balanchine! It is based on Russian, or Vaganova, however, it is really his own style of ballet.

[Mel Johnson]

There's a bit of back and forth on this issue, but a lot of dance historians feel that although Balanchine and Vaganova are both St. Petersburg products, she hadn't started her system reform by the time he left Russia. She only started to teach the year Balanchine was a senior. There's no question, however, that they were reacting to the same stimuli, though, the Legat system, and the reforms of Feodor Loupokhov. Balanchine *is* Balanchine, and a style developed and matured in America.

[Guest Lukayev]

Thank you so much for the new information, Ileana. I was flipping through the Paris Opera Ballet website and I thought to myself, "My level I French is not going to get me very far through this page."

 

Merci beaucoup,

Luka

 

[ February 05, 2002: Message edited by: Lukayev ]

[Estelle]

I'm not a ballet student either, but perhaps the following could be useful:

 

http://www.opera-de-paris.fr/savoir/rg_cont_p4_2_uk.html

 

This is a direct link to a page in English about the admission at the POB school.

 

I wouldn't like to sound discouraging, but from what I've read, the POB school is very competitive, and getting there is very, very difficult.

 

Since you seem to be interested in the French style, perhaps it might be interesting for you to get some information about some other French schools as a second choice. For example there is the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (it focuses a bit more on modern dance than the POB school, but many of the teachers come from the POB and the style is not so different), the age limit there is 16 for the girls. There is a page about it (in French) at:

 

http://www.cnsmdp.fr/enseign/danse/form1/classik.htm

 

There also is the Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Cannes (its director now is the former POB principal Monique Loudières):

 

http://www.cannesdance.com/french/french.html

 

Unlike the POB school and the Conservatoire, the Cannes school organizes some summer intensives, I think.

 

Also, if you plan to study year-long in France, you will need find the relevant information about administrative stuff like schooling (at the POB school you must attend classes in a French junior high school or high school), visa, etc. It might be useful to ask the French consulate (if there is one in Hawaii) for information about it.

 

Hope this helps

 

[ February 05, 2002: Message edited by: Estelle ]