When choosing the right ballet school, not all schools are equal or have the same goals for their students. There are many different types of schools that teach dance and ballet, and it's important to understand the range and limitations of the school you've signed up for or are thinking of attending. This guide will showcase the various different types of ballet schools and common ways to identify each.
Recreational Ballet/Dance School
Recreational ballet/dance schools are mostly about having fun and creating an entertaining program for kids. They will probably offer an end of the year performance and many camp opportunities. Recreational schools are really great at establishing a love of dance at a young age provided that they have educated staff that know how to teach and work with young kids. They also might be more affordable than other programs. Recreational programs tend to get a bad reputation which can be unfair for some, and are sometimes referred to as “Dolly Dinkle.” With that said, some of these types of schools do not offer great training, and the challenging part about a recreational ballet school is being able to tell whether they provide decent training or not.
Key Aspects of a Recreational Ballet/Dance School
I’ve listed this type of school as ballet/dance because very rarely will you find a recreational program that only offers ballet. Recreational instructors tend to not have a lot of credentials and some schools will rely more on older teenage students to teach classes. Be wary of teachers who have had only a few years of training themselves as they will not be able to pass on proper lessons for dancers. Classes will be focused less on learning and perfecting technique and more on learning routines and choreography. Classes might also be offered as combinations where multiple genres are taught during the same hour (like ballet/jazz combo class.) The school doesn’t offer many options past an intermediate level class, or their advanced level classes are filled with 12 year olds as this is a sign that they don't have a sufficient amount of levels or teacher experience to establish advanced technique. They may be focused more on competitions during the year versus education in the classrooms.
Who Would Benefit from this Type of Training?
I would recommend a recreational school for families with young dancers (ages 2-5) trying out dance to see if they like it. Recreational studios normally focus a lot of their classes on new and young students so finding classes that fit your schedule can be easier. If you/your family enjoy the studio, it’s okay to stay at a recreational studio, but the training will not provide a solid foundation to build expert knowledge on. Recreational schools will not lead to a professional career or to any competitive universities, but can still be a meaningful and fun experience for your dancer. Apart from the training aspect, recreational schools might also be a great place for advanced teenage students to try out teaching if that is something they are interested in.
Small Local Ballet Schools
Local ballet schools are scattered all across cities in the U.S. and beyond. They are usually run by 1 or 2 former professional ballet dancers and focus either solely on ballet or offer a small selection of other genres for their advanced students. The main teacher/owner of the studio will teach the majority of the classes and control almost all of the decisions in the studio. The studio will probably offer 2 performances annually, 1 Nutcracker and 1 Spring Recital, and may bring in some guest artists for workshops or a small summer intensive for their students. The training provided by these studios will be very stylized based on the owner’s preference, and can sometimes lead to oddities in technique. Sometimes these studios will be full of cliques in each level and can be hard to integrate into the studio depending on the environment and at what level dancers are enrolling into.
Key Aspects of a Small Ballet School
The sole owner/instructor is a key give away for these studios. They might have a few support staff to teach the classes they no longer wish to. A small studio will fluctuate in size from 50 students to 150 students. They will have single room studios and the progression will be limited to about 4 or 5 levels. The main thing to consider with this type of studio is that the training will be solely based on the owner’s preference. Great former ballet professionals don’t necessarily make great teachers, and sometimes these studios can be very toxic. I’ve seen in the past studio owners become angry with their students for wanting to attend summer intensive programs or demand that all dancers wear the same make and model of pointe shoes, regardless of whether these shoes work for the dancer's foot. Students might get “punished” for these things by not getting a well-deserved part in their performances. This in turn will breed a somewhat toxic environment full of gossip and over-involved parents. The training will probably be descent through the intermediate level, around age 14 or so.
Who would benefit from this type of training?
This is widely dependent on the environment of the studio. For studios with a descent atmosphere, these studios can be great for beginning to intermediate level training or around ages 6 to 14. These studios can be great for offering students unique training or performance opportunities because there might be less competition and more parts to go around. Depending on the skill of the instructor/owner, these studios might be able to prepare students for a university program or to perform in small regional professional companies. Students who are serious about pursuing a professional career should consider switching away from these studios around age 13 or 14. Students who don’t wish to pursue a professional career will enjoy small studios as it can grant opportunities for them to perform more advanced roles that larger studios would not offer.
What about Medium sized schools?
You may encounter a variety of different schools based on their size, location and what they have to offer. Most however are going to be a combination of the school types listed here. A medium sized school will probably feel like a small school from above and a large independent school below.
Large Independent Ballet Schools
A large ballet school will have a fully designed program developed to train dancers from the early stages of a dancers training all the way through to when they graduate. I include the word independent in the title because this type of school will not be affiliated with a professional company. This type of school might be privately owned or run as a non-profit. It will usually have an Artistic Director (AD) who makes the creative decisions and oversees the programming. They will have a support staff and many teachers to instruct all levels in the school. The AD and a lot of the staff will probably be former professional ballet dancers and might have college credentials or certifications in specific ballet syllabi. They will also offer other genres that support a dancer’s training. They will hold multiple shows annually along with a summer intensive program and guest workshops.
Key Aspects of a Large Independent Ballet School
These schools usually provide great well-rounded training on every level and offer training beginning at age 3 all the way up to age 18. They will have many levels to separate the different developmental stages of a dancer’s progression. Classes may be larger in these schools because they will need additional income to support the staff and building they host classes in. They may support competitions such as YAGP for advanced students, and will assist students in finding great summer intensive programs. They will also probably have access to great guest artists to bring in through the season. Non-profit organizations will have a board of directors that could be a great place for parents to get involved.
Who would benefit from this type of training?
The large independent ballet school is great for students of all ages from 3 years old up to high school graduation. Most of these schools will be able to prepare dancers for dance at the university level and perhaps a small or medium sized company depending on the dancer’s natural ability. They will also have multiple genres for dancers to round out their dance education. The multiple instructors a dancer will train from will provide a great well-rounded approach in terms of critique and education. On the negative side, with the larger class sizes, students might not get as much attention as they normally would in class. Sometimes these programs can feel a little slow in developing technique at the beginning and intermediate levels of the program. The levels that are bound by a curriculum tend to focus on perfection of the foundation for dance as opposed to the fun advanced technique that young students wouldn’t be prepared for. This method is great for creating fantastic advanced dancers but will look like younger students are behind when compared to smaller schools at competitions and open classes. They may also offer a pre-professional ballet programs or a pre-professional company to offer more opportunities for older students.
Pre-Professional Ballet Academies (Connected to a Professional Ballet Company)
There are a wide range of Pre-Professional Ballet Academies across the U.S. (which is what I’m going to focus my review on here) connected to professional ballet companies. For the most part, training from the beginning levels through to the high school years will be similar to the large ballet school above with the exception that they will focus more on a specific style of training that matches the professional ballet company’s style. They will provide great training at the younger levels along with performance opportunities that are unique to being associated with a professional company (like fancy costumes and performing on a large stage in the Nutcracker.) After their advanced levels, they might offer Pre-Professional levels that extend out the training of students for another 2 to 3 years, and yes, will cost money to attend. After these levels, students can audition or be selected for a traineeship or 2nd company depending on the makeup of the company. From the 2nd company or traineeship, a select few will be hired into the company as an apprentice if there is space available for the season.
Key Aspects of a Pre-Professional Ballet Academy
Let’s focus on the Pre-Professional training aspect of these schools as I feel that up to that point, these ballet academies are very similar to large independent ballet schools. Pre-Professional Ballet Academies tend to collect talented students towards the end of their high school years to help polish up their training. The program is extended beyond graduating from high school and can continue into the dancers early to mid-twenties. In many ways, it resembles the college years of a student without earning any degree or certification on completion. Some programs will continue to charge tuition to families during this time while others will offer scholarships. Some companies will only hire professionals from their affiliated school (like New York City Ballet.)
Who would benefit from this type of training?
In my opinion there are two types of students who should consider these programs. The first are students who have a significant amount of natural talent, have outgrown their home studio, and have been heavily recruited by the Artistic staff of the main company to enter these pre-professional programs with large scholarship offers. In this case, the artistic staff is demonstrating to the dancer that said dancer would make a great possible fit for the company in the future. The second type of student who should consider these programs is one that is going for the experience while finishing school or starting college remotely.
Extra Thought
I understand that companies don’t want to hire students straight out of high school without getting to know a dancer's style and working with them first. There are a ton of very talented dancers and a great way to know who is a good fit for the company is to have an intermediary step like a Pre-Professional program or a second company. Sometimes however, I feel that companies use these programs to cheaply expand the number of dancers in their corps on stage without paying for more dancers. During my time as a Director, we had a handful of students get recruited out of their summer intensives before they were out of high school to join these pre-professional programs. Almost every single dancer burned out of the process of going from program to program trying to find a spot in a company. Don’t be afraid to have a realistic conversation with your instructor and analyze if these programs are actually a good fit for you. Sometimes, the route of college will lead to better professional performance opportunities as it can be a better opportunity to be seen and to build connections.
Fine Arts Boarding Schools
There are many fine arts boarding schools that offering training in place of traditional junior high and high school programs. These programs usually require an audition to attend the full year program, and offer summer intensive programs for students to get a taste of their year round offerings. They will be comprised of former professional ballet dancers who have retired to run these programs and teach. The schools usually have several different focuses in the arts besides just ballet which can make for a great learning experience for with other departments. Boarding schools will offer a ranged program from Intermediate to Advanced levels but will usually not be available for young students or entry level dancers.
Key Aspects of a Fine Arts Boarding School
A fine arts boarding school will be selective on who they take up to a point. Their advanced levels usually resemble advanced levels in a large independent ballet program, and it’s debatable about whether they are more successful at preparing students for a professional career or not. They do, however, look nice on a training CVC and usually the staff will have connections with universities to help ease students into the programs of their choice.
Who would benefit from this type of training?
Affluent students who might not have access to a lot of pre-professional training resources in their area might benefit from attending one of these schools. I think they are great at preparing students to further pursue their artistic dreams in a university setting. These schools can be pretty pricey, which greatly limits the type of diversity one will experience in this environment.
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