Help With Difficult Decision

[mom2]

rob60,

 

I'm glad your son has had an opportunity to visit the various schools. That alone must give him a good sense of which he prefers?

 

The Ailey school in NYC would provide considerable opportunities for modern (someone else has already suggested the book Attitude for you - It's quite a nice book and gives a pretty detailed picture of the kinds of dance opportunities at the Ailey School. I would assume that at least one or two of the other places you've mentioned provide some classes in character/historical dance...the best way to find out of course would be to correspond with the schools directly.

[rob60]

Sorry 'Mom2' I should have been more clear. My last question was in reference to being able to continue Contemporary and Spanish dance while attending the Princess Grace School (the other schools provide the additional dance forms). I was wonder how or if their students continue contemporary and/or character dance at Princess Grace?

 

Do you have any experience with the Ailey school? If so I would be interested in your experience, thoughts and feelings regarding their program. I'm having a look at the book as has been suggested.

 

Thanks again

 

[edited by moderator to remove full quote of immediately preceding post.]

[balletbooster]

rob60,

I'm going to have to ask you once again (see my earlier post above) to take your specific questions about each of these programs to the threads set up for them already. If you have questions about the training at Ailey, post that question on the Ailey thread. If you wonder about other dance forms at Monaco, please ask about it on the Princess Grace thread. We do things this way so that the next time someone is wanting information about a given program, the answers are all in one place, rather than scattered about in threads that don't have titles that indicate their content. Also, often folks will not look at a thread like this, based upon the title, but will take note of a new question on a thread about a program they have attended and provide you with the answers you are looking for.

 

This thread can continue if you want to discuss making such a decision in the broader sense. But, for the 'meat' about each program, please go to the appropriate threads or start a thread for the ones that don't yet have one.

[mmded]

Have you asked the schools you are looking at any of these questions? I found that any questions we had were honestly answered by the artistic directors of the schools we were considering. Pre-professional schools can have strict policies regarding what a student may or may not take outside of their own program so it is really wise to at least include the schools themselves in your search for information. If Spanish and contemporary are important to your son there schools that have both in their training program. My DD is currently training at a pre-professional school in Germany - her days go from warming up by 7:30 a.m. until between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. six days a week - 10.00 p.m. if there are rehearsals. It would be impossible to try to attempt to fit in anything outisde of the school program so it really is best if you find a program that will have everything your son needs within it.

When your son visited the schools being considered was there one that he immediately felt "at home" at? I really don't know anything specifically about either school so please forgive me if I am incorrect but the two schools seem to be quite different in their focus. Scholarships are certainly wonderful to be offered but if your dancer will not be happy and not be getting what he wants out of a program it really won't matter at the end of the day. When your dancer is half a world away you want to be getting calls that are full of joy and excitement and not ones of doubt and unhappiness. (JMHO!)

[Renata]

Sorry that I did not realize that your son had done personal auditions when I posted. He must have somewhat of a sense of the schools then. But if he wants to continue contemporary dance and Spanish dance, one simple way would be to contact each of the schools and to ask what their schedule is. There can be no harm in asking about the classes that he would attend.

 

All the best.

Renata

[rob60]

Ops sorry about that, just trying to clarify my questions and responding to the responders. Didn’t want to double post.

[dancemaven]

stitcher, I moved your post about specifics regarding the Central Ballet School into the dedicated thread for that school.