How to Prepare for Your Summer Intensive: Advice from PNB Soloist Leah Terada
By Leah Terada
We’ve only just settled into the winter season, yet many young ballet dancers have begun preparing for a pivotal moment in their training: the ballet summer intensive. But what exactly makes a ballet summer intensive such a game-changer and why should you consider attending one? Whether you’re applying for your first one or are a seasoned dancer looking to enhance your technique, a summer intensive can be a transformative experience that shapes your growth as an artist and an individual. In this post, we’re going to unpack a few of the benefits and challenges worth considering when planning your summer. Here are our topics:
What’s the Point? | Exposure to People | Exposure to Movement Styles | Do Your Research | Performing for an Audience (or not): Opportunities and Workarounds | Heavy vs Light Schedules | Classes for Flat Shoe Dancers vs. Pointe Shoe Dancers | Be Intentional| Failing Well | 🩰 Other Bullet Pointes for Consideration
What’s the Point?
Ballet summer intensives are well named: done properly, they are intense! These programs challenge you to step up your game as an athletic artist by exposing you to new dance techniques and methodologies, enhancing your physical and mental condition, providing performance venues, and offering a space to connect with and be inspired by fellow dancers and teachers from across the world. Unlike your school-year training, summer courses focus on advancing specific areas of technique and artistry in a short, concentrated time frame. Many workshops and seminars focus on elevating the physicality of your dancing by increasing your flexibility, strength, and stamina and teaching specific dance techniques. However, plan to bring your own goals to the program to allow you to translate these physical qualities into your own dance vocabulary as you develop your individual voice. Ironically, mastering narrowly defined techniques endows you with the capacity for broad creative expression. Intensives should be challenging, and though it’s not always a smooth sail, your summer experience shouldn’t leave you feeling put down, but rather should encourage your curiosity, invigorate your energetic self, and inspire your dedication to dance. After all, we are not dancing robots; we are artists who have chosen dance.
Exposure to People
One of the most valuable aspects of a summer intensive is the diversity of instructors and students you’ll study with. If you’re away from home this summer, you’ll likely encounter instructors who bring new perspectives, approaches, and insights into ballet technique and artistry. Having a new set of eyes on your dancing can be helpful in a coaching setting, and trying on a new style of dance technique can be an informative tool for you to use in your future.
If you’re staying at your home studio for the summer, then you’ll likely have new students in your class to learn from and connect with. Their struggles may be quite different from yours, giving you different perspectives on your own challenges.
Either way, at home or far from it, help your peers and be the support you all deserve. The ballet world is small, so take care of yourself and each other. Exposure to new ideas, exercises, and philosophies paired with your willingness to adapt to new styles of teaching and feedback will make you a versatile and exciting dancer. Take notes and sponge up all that you can.
Exposure to Movement Styles
While classical technique is at the core of all ballet summer intensives, many programs will introduce you to other forms of movement as well, such as contemporary, modern, jazz, character, hip-hop, ballroom, Pilates, weight training, Alexander Technique, and yoga. For dancers looking to broaden their versatility and expand their repertoire, this exposure is invaluable. By looking at tentative schedules posted online, you can compare the diversity of classes offered. Plan to push yourself and try new things.
Do your Research
Auditioning is a skill that needs to be practiced. That being said, audition fees and conflicting schedules will make efforts to audition at every program impractical. I suggest spending an hour or two a week exploring summer intensive websites. If you do your research ahead of time, you’ll be able to trim off a few auditions from the vast pool of options. WARNING: Do not let “I probably wouldn’t get in” be a reason to cut an intensive off your list. There are many frustrating obstacles that every dancer must face, but don’t let yourself be one of them.
Performing for an Audience (or not): Opportunities and Workarounds
For many dancers, an exciting aspect of a summer intensive is the opportunity to perform. Some programs culminate in a choreographic showcase or performance that allows dancers to leave the mirror and put everything they’ve learned into practice. Performing in front of an audience is a powerful experience — it challenges your technical abilities, hones your stage presence, and helps you gain confidence.
If you choose a course that does not have a performance: dedicate one class per week (or a few combinations per class, or just in a specific class) to peel your eyes off the mirror and work on your stage presence. Treat combinations like variations and explore what options you have as an artist within the boundaries of each step. What is the music doing? Where is your energy level today? Where can you find inspiration right now? These are all questions that could drive your in-studio performance practice. Be respectful of your classmates and teacher, but see what it feels like to practice your presentation in a studio without the assistance of the mirror. How will you save that turn? How will you appear calm and in control even when you are not?
Whether or not you have an audience, your performance quality starts in the studio long before you get to the stage. Practicing your presentation and mental and physical agility in the studio will make performances feel more comfortable and in control.
Heavy vs Light Schedules
While some summer courses are heavily packed with classes, seminars, and rehearsals, others have just a few scheduled activities per day. Both types of programs have incredible values and lessons. Tightly packed intensives offer a regimented curriculum filled with high reps of technical exercises from which your physical and mental stamina will improve if you work smartly, in and outside of the studio. A summer intensive with a less dense schedule gives you time to exercise your discipline. Planning your day, signing up for extra classes, pulling resources, getting creative, and testing your drive are all real-world skills. Often, the work is not laid out in front of us, but that does not mean it’s not there. Think honestly about how demanding you’d like your summer to be and ask yourself why you’ve chosen your answer.
Classes for Flat Shoe Dancers vs. Pointe Shoe Dancers
Summer courses are an opportunity to explore your interests. If you are interested in taking pointe classes but are traditionally placed in all-flat classes, or if you are interested in being the classically caviler partner in pas de deux class but are usually partnered as a dancer in pointe shoes, ask program directors to see if they are open to possibilities that align with your interests. You will likely have to prove that you are ready for pointe class or partnering class, but if you believe the sample schedule for your age and gender group does not fit what you are looking for, express curiosity about your options. Be aware that this is a relatively new ask for many ballet schools, so be clear and mindful with your approach and be patient with their response.
Be Intentional
Teachers will set goals by giving feedback and insight on your dancing, but make sure you come in with a few goals of your own. Whether you want to work on your confidence and humility or improve your flexibility, strength, coordination, and stage presence, set S.M.A.R.T. goals and keep them in the forefront of your mind. However, change is inevitable, so keep in mind that these goals may shift and that’s okay. While summer intensives offer incredible opportunities, courses can vary and this is where you come in. Your experience is not set by the program’s offerings; rather, you can create your own opportunities from the curriculum to match your goals. This summer is for you to utilize, so come prepared and stay open-minded yet focused. What can this summer intensive do for you? Write down three goals. Objectives that are more specific than “I want to be a better dancer,” or “I want to have fun and learn,” can help define your focus. Be honest about what you want and be flexible with the outcomes you receive.
Failing Well
This summer, you will likely be asked to push past your known limits. As you tackle tricky combinations, learn intricate choreography, and build stamina and strength, you are guaranteed to fail a few times. You will need to understand how to trust the process to overcome self-doubt. Failing well means that we acknowledge failure as a part of growth. Learn how to pick yourself up, figure out what went wrong, ask questions, and try again. This is a big part of life as a professional dancer. Only when we learn to fail well can we build trust in our practice and have faith that our discipline will eventually elevate our performance. Using your summer to practice failing and to notice how other people recover and regroup will be a skill you carry for the rest of your life.
Leah at PNB’s 2015 Summer Course!
Other Bullet Pointes for Consideration
🩰 If you’re not sure what you want yet, go for variety. Look for guest instructors that are inspiring to you or classes that make your ears perk up. You can also ask professional dancers which of their summers stands out as influential and why (don’t forget the why!).
🩰 Remember that the size of a school does not directly translate to its “greatness”. Both boutique schools and large schools offer what you need to have a fruitful summer experience.
🩰 Consider the price. Ask your parents or guardian about your budget for the summer and see what is viable. Ballet is an expensive pursuit so understanding the financial commitment is important.
🩰 Age is a contributing factor for the length of many summer courses. Generally, if you are younger than 12, courses are on the shorter spectrum (2-4 weeks). Students 13 or older will have options for a longer program (3-8 weeks).
🩰 Homesickness. Choosing summer intensives in cities close to a relative or family friend can make the weeks away from home more approachable for a student and for their parents or guardians. Home is where your people are, and it’s helpful to have a familiar face around when you feel like you need it.
🩰 Comfort food. If you’re going to be away from home this summer, particularly for the first time, consider having a few “home-cooked” meals or snack recipes. You might not have access to a full kitchen, but maybe your parents or guardians can help put together a few recipes that taste like home.
🩰 Roomies. Sometimes it’s nice to pick your roommate, and sometimes it’s nice to be paired with someone new. Whatever you decide, sharing space with another person comes with its own learning curve. Think of a few personal boundaries that align with your goals before you arrive at the intensive. It can be easy to avoid uncomfortable conversations, but you both deserve the honesty, grace, and transparency that setting boundaries can offer. It’s nothing personal; often, finding a middle ground is just a part of life.
🩰 Layering summer courses. Feel free to layer your intensives if it’s a possibility for you, but avoid overlapping them as this can affect your experience and negatively impact your training process.
🩰 Some summer programs offer company repertory work, partnering intensives, choreographic workshops, company experience, etc. Keep your eyes peeled for special offerings as every program has something unique.
🩰 Don’t be afraid to do something different than your friends. You’re looking for a place that’s thriving, yes, but don’t forget that you’re also looking for a place where you will thrive. There are many considerations for your summer, so don’t get distracted by what others are doing. This is your story and your journey — don’t let anyone else write it.
🩰 Attending a summer intensive is often a step toward a professional career in dance. Many of these programs are run by ballet schools or dance companies, offering opportunities for you to audition for their year-round training programs or professional companies. In fact, some summer programs are directly tied to recruitment efforts, meaning that attending a program could increase your chances of getting noticed by directors and companies. For dancers who aspire to join the professional ballet world, attending a traditional summer intensive is a strategic way to get a foot in the door and take your first steps toward a dance career.
🩰 If you are looking to join a specific studio or company next fall, it would be smart to spend time at their summer course to get a proper feel for the ethos of the school or company and for the artistic staff to have you fresh in their minds when it’s time to consider dancers for their winter term or next season.
Ballet Summer intensives are there for you to use, so be bold and honest when planning your summer. Trust your gut and be sure to fail well and often this summer season.
Good luck and happy dancing!
-Leah T.
