How to find Overseas Training Opportunities for a young dancer?

[dancemaven]

I have started a new thread using the question posed by Amanda Morris on another thread:

 

I have a question for you. I assume since your daughter is in Europe, she has done extremely well in ballet. Much credit should be given to you as the parent for doing all that you can for her/him. How did you find the resources to best train your dancer and find her/him opportunity overseas? My dancer is 14 and the city we live in does not offer the best training. Where should I look? thanks. Amanda.

 

[mylildancer]

Others may disagree, but with what we experienced, your daughter should be auditioning to get into programs now, at 14. My DD was 16 when she auditioned for the National Ballet School of Canada. Although she got past the first audition and was invited for the summer, she did not get in for the year. Their reason was that she was a little too behind for her age group for their program. "If she just would have come to us sooner"......but we didn't know. Also, she was ready to leave us at 14, but we weren't ready for her to leave us that soon. Luckily, DD is not bitter about that!

[mom2]

Amanda,

 

All I can do is talk about what I might look at if I lived in Florida, where you say you are located. I have no idea what information you already have, so please excuse any repetition.

 

The harid conservatory is a highly respected school (and of course competitive), in Boca Raton. If I lived in Florida I would certainly take a long look.

 

The Miami Ballet has a summer intensive, and a school. Certainly worth a look, depending on where you are in Florida.

 

North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) has a very well known dance program. It's not Florida, but not as far as Europe either. Worth a look-see in my book if I lived in Florida.

 

And let's not forget Orlando Ballet - a very good school. The summer program is growing in popularity (one of my daughters attended a few years ago). Again, if I lived in Florida it is certainly one that I would check out.

 

Hope this helps. I live in Canada, so my knowledge of Florida is rather limited. I know there are many small towns, but from where I sit there are some VERY excellent ballet schools in your own state!

 

All the best,

 

m2

[dancemaven]

Are you specifically interested in overseas training?

 

If you aren't locked into overseas only, as mom2 said, there are quite a few residency programs here in the States that you might want to check into first. They are listed alphabetically in the Pre-Professional Schools/Residencies programs forum.

 

Pre-ProfessionalSchools/Residency programs

 

 

We have collected quite abit of information on each program. If, after reading those threads, you have particular questions about any of the programs, please just jump right in and post a question on the appropriate school's thread.

[mom2]

This is what I was responding to, in an earlier message from new poster Amanda Morris:

 

My dancer is 14 and the city we live in does not offer the best training. Where should I look? thanks. Amanda.

 

 

.....so you can see that I tried to address this more general question.

 

Sorry for any confusion!!

 

m2

[dancemaven]

No worries, mom2!

[Amanda Morris]

Others may disagree, but with what we experienced, your daughter should be auditioning to get into programs now, at 14. My DD was 16 when she auditioned for the National Ballet School of Canada. Although she got past the first audition and was invited for the summer, she did not get in for the year. Their reason was that she was a little too behind for her age group for their program. "If she just would have come to us sooner"......but we didn't know. Also, she was ready to leave us at 14, but we weren't ready for her to leave us that soon. Luckily, DD is not bitter about that!

 

It seems strange to think of sending your 14 yr old off. I suppose if the school wanted her, you would make that decision when you have to.

 

so how do I know where she should audition? Do these schools advertise? I suppose you live in Canada and the school there was near and you heard about it? Are these year round academic/dance schools? or summer programs? thanks so much. amanda.

 

 

Dear Mom2, thanks for good info. Sarah attended Orlando Ballet this summer for 5 weeks. She came home stronger and auditioned well for Nutcracker so I was very grateful. Orlando is 2 hrs away. I will check and see if they have a year round residency program. thanks. oh and NC too, i'll check them out.

[balletbooster]

Amanda,

As dancemaven said, there is an entire forum under the Dance Education section about residency programs. Each school has its own thread and they are listed in alphabetical order. There is a separate forum for summer programs and again each program has its own thread and they are listed in alphabetical order. Take some time to read through the threads for the schools and programs that sound interesting to you. Then, go to the websites for the residency schools and spend some time reading through the material the school has posted. If you have specific questions, you can post them on the appropriate thread. We have users here on BT who now attend or have attended all of the major residency schools and are willing to answer questions. After doing some research, you will begin to get an idea about which schools might be a good match for your daughter's training needs and might be a good fit with your family.

 

This site is a great resource. But, it will require some research on your part and lots of reading! So, sit down with a cup of coffee and some free time! Welcome to Ballet Talk. We look forward to having you as a part of our community.

[mom2]

Amanda,

 

In terms of where to look, I would suggest spending some time looking at the threads here as dancemaven has suggested. In addition, there is good information in Dance Magazine. This time of year you may not have much in terms of specific audition dates - this comes later in the fall (usually the December issue is the key one).

 

In terms of the schools that I mentioned earlier, Harid and NCSA have comprehensive dance and academics. the others have dance programs. All I knew was that you were in Florida, so I tried to think of what might be in that general area.

 

m2