Dancer daughter can't decide

<p>My daughter has been admitted to a number of colleges (Vassar, Barnard, Wellesley, Middlebury, Pomona are her favorites right now) but just can't decide. She's very academic - hopes to major in Env. Science or History, wants to study a number of foreign languages, but hopes to keep dancing (she's studied classical ballet for 10 years and modern for 7 years) while in college - not as a major, but to keep up her skills and possibly perform, though not professionally. She's currently leaning towards Barnard but is worried there is not enough of a campus community there. She doesn't just want to live in an exciting city (though that is a perk) but is hoping for that great college experience she's heard so much about through her older siblings and parents. Any input is much appreciated!</p>

<p>While this isn’t directly helpful to your specific case, I happened to read in my student’s university newspaper (major univ. in a major city) that quite a few students continue to take dance at a local, famous dance school. The article bemoaned that the school was moving farther way - I guess beyond walking distance or easy public transit? The reason why I am posting is that it was apparent quite a few highly academic students DO continue with dance/ballet in university-</p>

<p>I don’t know much about the dance program at any of these schools in particular, but it seems like if she wants a chance to access good classes and perform, she may want to think seriously about Barnard, which has the obvious benefit of being in New York. Even if the school dance classes are not that good, she’ll have access to tons of dance schools and a strong dance community in the city. </p>

<p>Again, I don’t know the situation at other schools, but I know that at my college (Smith) which is fairly similar to some of her choices, Ballet is offered at a variety of levels, but wihin the context of the Exercise and Sports Studies program and the Master’s Degree in Dance that Smith offers. The classes from what I understand are good, but they may not be that challenging, and there’s only four levels of Ballet there (so if she starts at level three even, she’ll still only get two semesters worth of structured class. Maybe three or four if she repeats level four as an auditing student). Also, while Smith does offer a Master’s in dance and there’s an annual master’s students dance show, the show usually is modern vs classical ballet centric. And since Smith is in the middle of Western Massachusetts, there aren’t that many other outlets for ballet. </p>

<p>I use this as an example because some of her other choices are sort of similarly situated geographically, and in terms of school size and focus. Some of them might have stronger dance programs than Smith for ballet. She should check out the course offerings of each, and not just whether they offer ballet, but how many different levels they offer, so she can get a sense of how many semesters she might get out of it. See if there are annual dance performances, and if they are modern or classical (you might just search on the schools website “dance performance” see what comes up). If she wants to keep dancing a lot, she should look for a school with either good depth in that area, or good external resources to make up for the lack of instutional depth.</p>

<p>Boston/Cambridge has a lot of opportunities for dance. I’m not sure how inconvenient they would be to get to from Wellesley, but I know some W students take classes at MIT and go to parties at MIT and Harvard, so maybe its not so bad.</p>

<p>Barnard has an excellent dance program, and NYC has many top ballet schools where she could continue her training. Many colleges do not offer advanced ballet classes. They offer more modern. </p>

<p>My D was looking for the complete “college experience” and found it at Barnard. From what she’s told me, it was everything she was looking for and more. I think Barnard really benefits from its association with Columbia – and so do its students.</p>

<p>I’m sure you inquired about this already, but at some schools with really strong dance programs, only majors and minors can take the classes.</p>

<p>Barnard is lovely, but clearly doesn’t have the magnificent traditional campus that Vassar, Wellesley and Middlebury have. I’ve never been to Pomona…but it looks nice and has the other consortium schools easily available. </p>

<p>If she’s always had in her mind the “vision” of a college campus like Vassar/Wellesley/Middlebury…it might be hard for her to envision herself at Barnard.</p>

<p>Has she had a chance to spend any time at Barnard? If it’s at all possible for her to spend even a 1/2 day on the Barnard and Columbia campus…just sitting in cafeterias and/or the student unions…listening to student conversations and looking at activities posted on the bulletin boards…she’ll get a sense of the campus and college life and see if it might fit her “vision.” </p>

<p>Of the 10 or so people I know who have gone to Barnard, most have been very happy there…and have been active in campus activities…but they are all people who love city life. The one I know who wasn’t so happy there ended up transfering to a much more traditional college campus in a medium size city.</p>

<p>As for Dance, it should be possible to check websites and course guides, as well as see how many dance performances are put on each year. But…the best idea would be to call the dance depts/divisions at each school and ask about the number of performances, how many of the dancers are usually non-dance majors, how hard is it to get into the dance classes, and do they offer academic credit for dance classes.</p>

<p>My D is currently a sophomore at Wellesley. She was heavily involved in ballet (did Nutcracker for 10 years), was not interested in majoring in dance, but couldn’t imagine going cold-turkey.</p>

<p>She is involved in a group at Wellesley called ascenDance and has performed with them. This year for Flower Sunday she performed in a liturgical-style dance for the ceremony.</p>

<p>For their physical education requirement she took advanced ballet. It was fairly elementary compared to her former training, but she enjoyed the instructor and the class. I believe the instructor also teaches at Harvard and is a former professional ballerina.</p>

<p>She looked into the possibility of attending classes through the Boston Ballet’s Open Adult Classes. You can pay per class ($14 for students) but she hasn’t found she has the time. There is also a ballet store in Wellesley, and when she started her first year I told her that could be a great resource for finding dance studios. However, with her academic and other activities, her involvement in ascenDance has been the right level of commitment for her.</p>

<p>There are also other groups on campus - Wellesley College Dancers, Ballroom Dance, etc. She has gone to other area schools and participated in shows where different dance groups from the area perform.</p>

<p>Her first year she was paired with a big sister who also had a background in dance (she’s currently with Alvin Ailey).</p>

<p>Your D has some wonderful choices for next year! Best wishes in her decision.</p>

<p>I should add that my D transferred to Barnard after starting at a more traditional campus, but came to see it as a very remote location (of course, I thought it was beautiful). So I think it really comes down to whether or not she wants to live and attend school in the city.</p>

<p>Sometimes it helps to list three options and then say, “Ok, which one is No 3?” and let that drop off the list. Then a few hours later repeat with a different trio. Slowly a picture emerges. It may still be tough to get down to one, but some of the “clutter” is gone.</p>

<p>My daughters, both lifelong dancers, have two friends at Vassar who had years of ballet training yet chose not to major in dance. They are both still quite involved in dance at Vassar and seem to love it. One is a senior this year, one a freshman.</p>

<p>Barnard (actually Columbia) is the only school you listed that we visited with my daughter. Our schedule did not permit her to check out a dance class, but our impression was that it must be pretty high level in that they performed a number of Balanchine pieces which can only be done with the permission (and having paid the fees to) the Balanchine Foundation.</p>

<p>I don’t know about the logistics, but another option at Wellesley might be to audition for the Harvard Ballet Company. They have a few kids every year from other schools in the area like MIT and BC.</p>

<p>It should be noted that it’s a moderate distance from Wellesley to Harvard and downtown Boston. I believe there are shuttles running down to Harvard/MIT but logistics might be difficult. (MIT is right across the river, and BC is also closer to Harvard than Wellesley is.) Boston Ballet has a Newton outpost which is much closer. Surf on over to their website for more info.</p>

<p>My daughter is a recent Barnard grad (2010) and lifelong dancer (ballet, modern, jazz). Barnard has a wide array of offerings in ballet & modern – I think about 6 levels – and the first two dance classes taken can be applied to the mandatory 2-semester PE requirement – but there is a real dance department with some top flight faculty. </p>

<p>However, my d. did not find that the level of dance training was up to what she had experienced at her studio and high school. I think this is typical of dance programs at LAC’s – that is, my impression is that Barnard is about the best you are ever going to get at an LAC. But the serious dancers from my d’s high school & ballet studio either went in as apprentices to professional companies after graduating, or opted for BFA programs. She had several friend at SUNY Purchase, for example. </p>

<p>The serious dancers at Barnard supplement Barnard offerings with outside classes, such as at Steps on Broadway. Allegra Kent usually teaches a ballet class on Friday, but the studio ends up being quite full – so my d. generally did not go to that class. </p>

<p>My d. still takes dance classes at studios for recreation. There are opportunities all over – I think my d. takes classes at Alvin Ailey from time to time. But she really has not danced at the level or extent she was growing up. She has never performed since the summer after high school. </p>

<p>I think one issue which would be true at any college for non-dance majors is that with a full academic schedule, its hard to fit in the dance classes unless the college routinely offers evening classes. I mean, on paper it looks like there are a lot of classes on multiple levels – but then when it come to actually signing up – your d. will be trying to fit in her foreign language, and the lab for her science class – and then the Tu-Thu 11:00 am class just ends up giving way to whatever else she needs to fit in. </p>

<p>So in that way I think Barnard offers the best opportunities, if your d. will have the energy and motivation to get on the subway to go down to Steps or other studios for evening and weekend classes. Obviously that is also an extra expense if she goes regularly – plus the cost of regularly seeing major dance performances at ABT, Alvin Ailey, etc. runs up a little too. (I mean… you can’t live in NY and NOT go to those performances, can you?) Barnard does offer discount tickets to many things, and my d. was able to pay for it all on her own via her part-time jobs-- but I’m just saying that if she opts for Barnard, there will be an added “dance budget” to consider. </p>

<p>Barnard’s dance faculty is listed here:
[Faculty</a> and Staff | Dance](<a href=“http://dance.barnard.edu/faculty-and-staff]Faculty”>http://dance.barnard.edu/faculty-and-staff)</p>

<p>And you can see what the dance class schedule will look like for fall 2011 by going to [CU</a> Directory of Classes](<a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/]CU”>CU Directory of Classes) and navigating to the dance section </p>

<p>There is no difficulty getting into any of the advanced level classes. The down side is, as mentioned above, the most popular classes can get pretty crowded. </p>

<p>And information for classes at Steps is here:
[Home</a> Steps on Broadway](<a href=“http://www.stepsnyc.com/home/]Home”>Home - Steps on Broadway)</p>

<p>Strictly for classical ballet, I would say Vassar and Barnard have the best opportunities. I did not actually apply to any of these schools, but as a very serious ballet dancer in high school, I did a large amount of research on ballet in college, and I know that those two have really great programs.</p>

<p>With Vassar, I’m pretty sure it is entirely an extracurricular activity (though a very high level/serious one). At Barnard, there are dance classes and a dance dept. Another girl from my pre-professional ballet school who was a senior last year now attends Barnard and seems decently satisfied with the ballet opportunities there. I also know an older student at Vassar, where the dance company is really top notch.</p>

<p>If all of the schools turn out to have good dance options, then think about which ones would have the best flexibility on academics for her varied possible choices of major.</p>

<p>As a ballet mom (son) my biggest concern for freshman year was having enough dance options to keep in shape. </p>

<p>We’ve watched dancers return to our pre-professional ballet school during school breaks soft and flabby. Not being able to dance enough quality hours at college wrecked serious havoc on our friends’ body image/mental health. </p>

<p>And having to travel more than 30 minutes for dance class, we knew, would become a major barrier during the exam/paper cycle (when a dancer needs to dance most!)</p>

<p>Given your daughter’s choices (all stellar), my vote is for NYC.</p>

<p>There is no way that a non-dance major in any strong academic program is going to be able to keep “in shape” to the extent that they could in a pro-professional program. They will be lucky to find the time to take 4 1-hour classes a week - though it is more likely that they will enroll in a class that meet twice a week, for perhaps 90 minutes at most – and occasionally be able to supplement that with a weekend or evening class. </p>

<p>In a BFA program or pre-professional program the dancer is going to be in class several hours a day, 5 days or more per week. It just isn’t the same. </p>

<p>I would note that my daughter kept in shape physically - (not for dance) in NY because New Yorkers walk absolutely everywhere. New Yorker’s think nothing of walking 30 blocks. So even though dance hours were cut down, my d. was getting plenty of exercise – and stayed lean and muscular. (I was worried that she would put on weight as soon as she cut down the dance schedule, because her eating habits are horrible – after all those years of dancing she was used to a high fat, high calorie diet). </p>

<p>I would note that a young woman who decides to focus on academics in college is probably very much aware that is the end of aspirations for any sort of dance “career” – especially in ballet. My d. stayed in ballet flats and refused to dance en pointe in her advanced classes, because she just didn’t feel that she was getting enough practice to be safe from injury. I think most expect that dance will always be part of their lives at a recreational level, but understand that it is unrealistic to expect to maintain their high level ability without consistent practice.</p>

<p>As a former dance dad, I just wanted to second what calmom said, and others have implied: very few students maintain as high a level of engagement in dance that they had in high school, unless they are dance students. So the question for the OP’s daughter isn’t necessarily so much which college has the best dance as which colleges have enough of a dance community so that there will be support for the level of engagement she wants (when she figures out what that is) and fun things to do. And the answer to the second question, with these schools, is likely to be “all of them.” </p>

<p>Realistically, she probably shouldn’t be using this criterion to distinguish among colleges that have OTHER differences that are a lot more significant. I would worry if she were saying “I would really love to go to Pomona, but instead I’ll go to Barnard because the dance is a little better.” That said, I’m not worried about any of these choices on any criterion you choose.</p>

<p>I think it goes without saying that Barnard has the best access to watching other people do dance at the highest level, all types of dance. Followed (at some distance) by Wellesley.</p>