Scholarship Offers

[Guest PAmom]

One thing that male students can encounter is the offer of scholarships in ballet, dance, and colleges that have dance majors or minors. Many ballet studios have an up front discount or scholarship to encourage the enrollment of any male students. I have even read of some dance schools allowing any gentleman to attend partnering classes for free.

 

What information have you all gained in dealing with scholarships and offers of scholarships? Have you found differences between the terms of merit and needs based scholarships? The more diverse experiences we can share here will allow others to be better informed in the future.

 

I found that it was always best to encourage my son to ask what the terms of accepting any ballet scholarship included. Sometimes the answers had surprising results.

 

Many scholarship offers for gentlemen have fixed duties associated with them before or after their already intense workload. The terms of one summer intensive's offer were not clear and my son was given conflicting information from 2 different staff members. One said that "all male scholarship students" had to work in the kitchen a certain amount of time and the other staff member had told him that his offer was a "merit scholarship" and "no extra work would be required of him." The difference between the 2 offers were actually enough to have me call to clarify and it was a deciding factor as to the summer intensive he chose.

 

Other scholarship offers have terms that the scholarship recipient not take classes outside of the school that is giving the scholarship. I know one fellow who was glad to have not been offered a scholarship from SAB so he felt free to take classes at Steps. Yes, I do know many scholarship students have ignored such agreements and take classes despite being scholarship students. Call me a "girl scout" but when one accepts a scholarship you also accept the terms and the students who break those contratcs are in the wrong.

 

One scholarship required the him to commit to return to the summer intensive for the following year, to turn in grades from academic studies and to have his current ballet teachers write evaluations on his progress. If the terms were not met, the stipend was to be returned.

 

Some schools have scholarship gentlemen participate in other required duties. Coming a day or 2 early to set up for the SI, helping others with their bags for moving in, studio/ lobby/ bathroom cleaning, required demos or specific partnering classes are all things that I know have been asked of male scholarship students.

 

Some scholarship offers have specific terms, be they merit or need based , and it is best to know what they are before blindly accepting them. Not every young fellow is going to be up to an extra work shift after exercising all day long, no matter how much of their tuition, room or board is paid for. It's best to know up front what is being offered and expected along with any consequences for not participating in required duties.

 

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[gbna]

my son has been given a scholarship at every school he has attended.

 

His local school here gave 50% off to ANY boy who danced. There were no strings

 

His first SI gave him a merit, there were no responsibiites. The school offered him a merit year long, he has had some duties, like office stuff, envelopes ETC, but nothing much. They are expected to perform, but that is not an issue, he wants to. They also ususally get paid.

 

This summer NOTHING has been said, but it is a good question

[Guest PAmom]

Something that is a blessing that comes with added responsibility is being offered scholarships from different places. We always impressed upon our son the need to make a timely decision so that he could call any scholarship offer he was not accpeting as quickly as possible so that they could free up the monies for another deserving individual. This was followed up with a written letter so they had the regrets documented correctly.

 

One SI demanded a bit more by calling and wanting clear details on exactly why he was turning down the scholarship. To dispell and ideas or rumors of blacklists, the next time he auditioned for this SI he was again accpeted with full scholarship and then attended their year round program.

 

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[Mel Johnson]

At least the one thing no one need to fear that their Young Gentlemen will have to face is the prospect of being recruited with parties with liquor and hookers. That's too expensive for any but the football team.

[Guest 2-opposites]

My son recieves a discount at his local school but it is all kept very hush, hush. There were no strings attached except that it was to be kept quiet.

This was his first year auditioning for an SI. He recieved a full scholarship that gave him the option of accepting it with a work/ study program requiring a few hours a week, or attend and pay. Since this is our first experience with any of this we accepted the work/study program and were told it is ussually easy jobs and only two hours a week. I liked the idea of him having to do a little extra and not having a completely free ride. My only concern was that eveyone on the work/study program would know who was there on scholarship and if this would cause any problems with the other dancers.

[Guest lsauvageau]

My son is on a full tuition scholarship at his local school and sew costumes for the studio in trade. He has also received scholarships to all of the summer intensive programs he has gone to. Last year he went to Nashville Ballet, I was a dorm mother for half of the program in trade. This year he is going to Miami City and I haven't heard anything else yet.

[citibob]

Our school frequently gives full scholarships in return for work-study labor --- although there are a few enough guys that every arrangement is potentially different.

 

So there was this guy studying in the summer program on scholarship. He had to put in a certain number of hours for the school as work-study indentured servent. He was making his way through those hours as the summer progressed --- it took him longer than the summer program.

 

Toward the end, it turned out that people had been putting something in the dumpster that wasn't supposed to go in there --- a lot of dirt, I think. So this guy was asked to remove the offending material from the dumpster. He spent ALL DAY working on that dumpster.

 

After it was over, the business manager --- normally known for being a tight-wad --- said the most amazing words to him: "I owe you". With that dumpster, all remaining work-study hours were completed.

[dancemomCA]

The RWB gives a discount to boys for SI tuition - they only pay $250.00. Residence is not reduced. There are needs-based financial assistance for their SI -you must apply by a certain date. However, all returning students must attend summer school. These have no strings attached. They also award SI scholarships to auditioning students during their audition tour, as well as a SI scholarship to a student from their recreational program.

 

Full-time students are awarded merit-based scholarships and also financial assistance, usually near the end of summer school - I think?? (RWB parents feel free to comment). There are various scholarships with certain criteria ie. rural students, students of a specific ethnic background, level of study, that type of thing. There is no labour involved, except the expectation of hard work in dance and academics, positive attitude, etc. The students do help out at times ie. last weekend they stuffed 4000 envelopes for the school to send out for the rec program. The students also work at the choreography competition and they have a cleaning rotation for the residence lounges, fridges, etc. They are also responsible for their own laundry and cleaning of their rooms which are inspected each Sunday - so, it's not a free ride!!

[cmtaka]

My ds got full scholarship the last few years at the studio before the one he is at now. Again it was hush hush. Never did understand that. He had to work setting up and taking down the show, rolling out the marley in the theater, moving costumes around. I loved that he had to work because it involved learning some stagecraft at the same time. He can now hang lights, focus spots, tape floors...

 

At the school that he is at now, Orlando Ballet, all boys are on full scholarship from age 8 up. They even approach the Moms to tell them that they can leave their boys to dance while the daughters take class. They now have between 10 - 15 young boys in the program. They make no bones about it they want boys! It seems to be working well for them. For some of these Moms I bet the thought of an hour with no kids to run errands gets them past the dancing thing.

[Memo]

I am sort of reposting this cause I did not get a response to it on another thread, cause it got a bit buried.

DS recieved scholarships to ABT NY, AAB and Harid. The Harid letter is tuition, room and board. He has already accepted the ABT NY scholarship. He loved the audition and the Director came in from Florida to observe and was very encouraging and approachable. He also received a follow up letter, letting him know that they were very interested in him. Personally I think being a wiggly 14 year old he is not ready for the amount of focus and descipline required for Harid but he may be in a couple of years when he settles down a bit. I love the presentation of their brochures and packets, it really lays it all out there, and seems excellent in the way it is run. I think it moves slowly and technically and I love that about it, but know that he is very kenetic, temperamental, and in constant motion and it may just drive them nuts? He delicately turned it down, hoping they will consider him again in the future. He felt very anxious about it. Worrying that they will "be mad".

I am wondering if any of you have sons that have gone to Harid?

I think its very flattering to have these offers, but it is also alot of pressure to do too much too soon. I wonder how many boys feel that with such nice offers coming in, that they MUST move forward with their dancing before they are really sure they are ready. Then once there on scholarship there is the responsibility that goes with it, to be "perfect".

I also think being able to score a scholarship even if you cannot dance well, chips at self esteen when they can. Wondering if you just got it because you were a boy,(which often girls and girls mommies are happy to mention) and maybe you really are not good enough.

I know the pressure to "go away" to ballet school in the high school years is going to be strong, and you have to really want to do that and not everyone does.

[cmtaka]

Hi Memo,

My son is also going to ABT NY this summer. He is a little older 21! So lets exchange info. I think I can PM now.

 

I do think that the scholarship thing puts a lot of stress on the boys. Put together with the peer pressure, the lifting girls pressure and trying to deal with hey you're a boy they just give you everything it can be hard.

 

I think they enjoy the attention but it does come at a price.

[Millie]

Hello Memo,

I have a son in hos third year at Harid. He first went when he was 14. Yes, it does require a lot of discipline but he has enjoyed evey minute of it there. Harid will not hold it against you if you passed up this year. If they want you, they will definitely look again next year. But remember that Harid will start at the beginning in tecnique and completely retrain their dancers in their style. Some of the males who arrive in later years are sometimes behind because of this and have a much harder time. So if you are truly interested in Harid, then next year will be a good time to try it. Let me know if you have any more questions about Harid, I will be happy to answer them. Good luck in NY this summer, it is a great experience.

[Guest prism]

Personally I think being a wiggly 14 year old he is not ready for the amount of focus and descipline required for Harid but he may be in a couple of years when he settles down a bit. I love the presentation of their brochures and packets, it really lays it all out there, and seems excellent in the way it is run. I think it moves slowly and technically and I love that about it, but know that he is very kenetic, temperamental, and in constant motion and it may just drive them nuts?

MY DS is only 8yo so we don't have the scholarship experience for SI's and year-around offers yet but a few keywords in your comment jumped out at me that I could definately relate to. At 14yo, if your son is still "wiggly", I doubt he will be "settling down" any time soon. It is probably built into his temperament and learning style. Mine is also high energy, perpetual motion. I know it is not just his age because of other traits he has as well. And he is also a kinesthetic learner. I am also reminded of my Mom who at 78 years old, is still wiggly and can't be still for anything - no matter how hard she tries. She has even commented that sometimes when she goes to bed, she has a hard time getting to sleep because it feels like her feet are still on the go.

 

So, I would take Millie's advice and not wait too long. Then you might want to try and find some ways to help DS manage/channel his temperament. It's not easy. We homeschool so my DS has the freedom to be wiggly throughout the day so he is a bit better able to control it during dance class in the evening. Kids who are in a conventional school environment and expected to sit still for hours are going to find it harder to hold in as the day goes on. Also, your DS might be a lot more focused than it appears. It's that constant "wiggly" that helps him synthesize the info he is focused on. You probably know that already from experiences with your son but the tough part is making other people realize, like teachers, that they really are paying close attention and absorbing it all.

 

Oops, didn't mean to go so far off topic but like you, it does become a concern for me when considering what type of environment DS will be able to deal with and thrive in. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat about this subject some more.

[tsavoie]

I think the scholarship offers for the boys are based on ability/potential, not on their gender. My son knows of several young men who do not get into, much less scholarships to SI's that he auditions for each year. It probably seems to the parents of girls that boys get more money, but I think that there are just so many girls to spread it out between.

[drives2much]

Knock, knock,

 

Not a parent of a boy, but I have a quick question about Millie's post:

 

But remember that Harid will start at the beginning in tecnique and completely retrain their dancers in their style.

 

What is the "style" of Harid?