Ballet Schools in Utah---Salt Lake City

[dancerpop]

For those seeking the highest level of training, a new school has opened in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake Ballet Conservatory opened its doors only last year, but has already attracted a sizable following of very talented and serious dancers seeking serious training. Cristobal Marquez is the AD, and is intent on providing the dancers with the highest possible level of opportunities to excel and, so far, has carried through on the earlier promises of effort based success. SLBC is a proponent of competitions, and provides excellent training and choreography for those who wish to compete in YAGP or other venues. SLBC has expended their facilities and altered their class schedule to meet the needs of the more advanced dancers as well as the younger dancer looking for a path to success. They have also started a company, Salt Lake Ballet, and will begin their first season of performances in the spring. You can find them at www.saltlake balletconservatory.com.

[Pasdetrois]

What does this school offer above and beyond what is offered by the company school of Ballet West? Is it a magnet type studio that requires, therefor offers residency such as Houston or Boston do? Competition never hurt anybody or any organization but it has to have something to offer that a company school isn't offering! A company school obviously offers an entree into the company which has to be a huge carrot on the end of the stick!

[dancerpop]

SLBC does not have a residency requirement and offers no such opportunity. Neither does Ballet West. While entree to the company would normally be a huge carrot, that apparently has not been much of an inducement (or reality) for Ballet West in the past. However, that possibility does exist. No question that SLBC is a young organization and is just beginning to understand the SLC market, but they have moved quickly to adjust their facilities and schedule to meet the needs of local dancers, providing mid-day level 8 classes and study facilities appropriate and convenient for home-schooled students, for example. While comparisons with the much longer established Ballet West Academy are inevitable, they are probably not appropriate. I would point out that no one has felt enough passion about the Ballet West training to even bother submitting a post to this particular forum on their behalf - or any other Utah organization, for that matter. The care and attention currently provided by SLBC just isn't possible in an organization the size of Ballet West Academy. Whether or not SLBC can continue with this level of training and individual support while experiencing remarkable growth will be interesting to follow. The intent of my orginal post was not to deride any other organization or opportunity in Utah, but rather to point out the advantages of the one with which I am most recently familiar. There are opportunities for advanced training in Utah!!! Ballet West is a great organization, and there are surely others. One of the best is SLBC.

[Temps de cuisse]

Probably one of the best training opportunities in Utah is with the Jaqueline's School of Ballet and its associated company, Utah Regional Ballet. They have a great record of providing high quality ballet training for many years. They are not in SLC, but in American Fork.

[dancerpop]

I don't know much about Jaqueline's but I have seen Utah Regional Ballet, and they do have some very good dancers. It is good to get this information posted where a broader audience can read about the opportunities here. I know there are others as well.

[love_ballet]

no one has felt enough passion about the Ballet West training to even bother submitting a post to this particular forum on their behalf

 

That's not true, dancerpop. There are posts on both the Pre-pro forum and the SI forum for Ballet West Academy.

 

I agree that both BWA and SLBC offer advanced ballet training, and each school has its unique qualities. I support expanding opportunities for serious and dedicated ballet training in this market. It is easy enough to open up a "Dolly Dinkle" but it takes a lot more to focus on the pre-pro segment.

[dancerpop]

Sorry. I must have missed it. I was looking for an entry for Utah in this forum, but I guess it was not in alphabetical order as I had assumed. But again, I wasn't bashing anyone else, just wanted to get something out there for Utah.

[dancerpop]

OK, I have searched (literally) in vain for any other Utah schools on this particular forum (Pre-Pro Schools) and have had no luck with finding Ballet West or any other school. Where is it? How am I missing it?

[TutuMaker]

Here is a link to the Ballet West Academy thread.

[dancerpop]

No wonder I couldn't find it, it was under a different forum - including th residence program. Thanks for the link. I agree with all the good words included.

[dancemaven]

dancerpop, it is not necessary to quote the post you are responding to, especially when it is the immediately preceding one. (I have edited out all those unnecessarily quoted posts.) It takes up bandwidth ---and it makes it harder to read the 'conversation'.

 

Rather than hitting the "Reply" button at the end of an individual post, please scroll down to the end of the thread and hit the "Add Reply" button. That will open an empty box in which to compose your post. If you do hit the "Reply" button, however, simply delete the quoted post before posting your own.

 

And if you haven't had an opportunity just yet, you might take a little tour of the Board in its entirety to see what different Forums are offered. Simply click on "Ballet Talk for Dancers" at the top of the thread and you will be transported to the Index page for the whole Board. Drop in on the various Forums and you'll find their index pages and can check out what types of threads each contain. Especially do drop by the Rules and Policies and How To areas. Those come in very handy from time to time.

[marsin]

These are bold statements coming from a school that has been around a little over a year and consisting of students in the upper levels that have come from other schools in the area. Time will tell if the promises hold true... It's easy to give a lot of attention to a few students when there are only a few in class, but will that continue when the school developes? Other schools in the area (i.e. Jacquelines School of Ballet and Ballet West Academy among others) have produced many dancers that have gone on to have professional careers. With a little research, you could find out about those dancers...call the schools and find out what they have produced. Not everything goes up on a ballet board for discussion. We'll see what they've produced when they have been around for a number of years.

[rubiraven]

BW Academy has always provided great training but there have been even more changes this last year. The instructors are great and the performance opportunities with the company are wonderful as well.

 

Another BWA alum has been hired, Dane Arbogast is now a member of BW2 as was reported in another thread.

 

When my DD has been home from professional engagements, she has taken class with the Academy and the open adult classes and has found the classes to be both challenging and inspiring.

[dancemaven]

Please remember that these threads are not here to post direct comparisons or to debate the merits of one school over another. These threads are here to provide information to acquaint those looking for schools with places to start looking. We cannot permit "point/counterpoint" posts to continue. Different schoos provide different things for different folks. That is why we provide the empirical first-hand information and leave the final evaluations/judgments to the individuals.

[TenduTeacher]

Thank you DanceMaven for that reminder, I hope that as director of the Ballet West Academy, that qualifies me as first hand.