a question for Mel, and Victoria Leigh

[Guest NYCDancer3665]

Hi!

I live in a fairly small town in Southern Arizona, and go to a small studio with only one teacher. She give pretty good training, and is the best in the town, but she doesn't really have a graded ballet program, or the specific classes (I.E. pointe class, variation class, adagio class) and all of the students attending there are only in it for recreation. I take 6 classes per week (4 adult classes, 2 intermediate/advanced), plus one private lesson and have been on pointe for 8 months. I've started late in ballet (age 12), but my teacher says I've advanced a lot. My goal is to become a professional dancer with a major company, so my question is, "should I just stick with the studio I'm with, even though it's not really a professional school, or should I go up to Tucson to take classes every week?" Tucson is about 1 and a half hours away, so I would have to live up there. Do you think Tucson even has a good enough ballet program to go to? I'm 14 right now, and I plan on eventually going to CPYB (by next year), but for now do you think it would be best to go up to Tucson for classes?

 

Thanks so much for your time!

[Mel Johnson]

If that is your career goal, do not hesitate! Get into a professional school as soon as possible! You may need more than Tucson, maybe San Francisco Ballet would be the place.

[Victoria Leigh]

However, with only 2 years of training, you might not yet be at a level to receive intensive training anywhere. Perhaps this year you could stay at home but add a couple of times a week in Tucson to your other classes at home? Most major schools would not have daily classes at your level. CPYB might be the exception there. But to become advanced enough to be accepted to an intensive level in SF or other professional schools, you will need more training. I would suggest trying to get to Tucson as often as you can for now. I do not know the schools there, but will try to check into that later. No time right now.