Help with dance program for high school junior

College Majors Dance Major
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<p>Our DD is considering majoring or minoring in dance. She is looking at Universities in California mainly but there will be others I am sure. </p>

<p>Dance Background:She started dancing 4 years ago on a her high school dance team. She had not training and picked up some bad habits technique wise. 3 years ago she started taking classes out side of her high school. After two years she left the team in favor of classes. Last year she took ballet, jazz, hip hop. She did a solo and competed with this last year, she did well but not fantastic with the competitions. This summer she did a 4 week intensive and we saw a marked improvement in her technique from working with high level insturctors. She started taking private ballet lessons about a month ago and the progress has been rapid. High school has resumed and now we need to make choices about what will be the most important to her progress so she has choices when it comes to college.</p>

<p>The Givens;
She has a very challenging academic course loud (by her choice) at a prep school. This also means hours of homework. She is dyslexic so this makes it even more work. She has an UW GPA 3.66. She is a good student and wants to try and bring her GPA up to 3.8.
Preparing for the ACT exam is also a most this year
She is a Thespian board member on the State level and also an officer in her school troupe
She wants to be in the spring musical at her high school and she will direct a one act in the spring. She will attend and compete in thespian state workshop/event. In the early second semester. Plus weekend trips to see schools, also other weekend events for her school. </p>

<p>Her goal is to be able to get into a college of her choice and have the option of majoring in dance.
What I need help is trying to decide how much dance and what type: classes, recital, privates, and or competitions. </p>

<p>The Options:
-Continuing private ballet lessons and if so how many hours? Excellent teacher
-Continuing 1 hour ballet group lesson at the private lesson small studio.
-Jazz, Modern and ballet classes at the studio she was at. It is a recital year so the second semester will be dedicated to choreography and less so to technique. To add to this one I think it is important for her to have teachers who give corrections and challenge her as opposed to just taking classes for classes sake. How many hours here? they also get bent out of shape if you miss a class (more the owner then the teachers) lets say for school musical rehearsal. We can minimize this but can not prevent it totally.
-Drop in Jazz, lyrical, hip hop at two other studios
-Doing one or two solos and competing with them a dance competitions in our area. this would be with the above studio. (I really dislike these but she likes them) </p>

<p>Please let me know your suggestions which you think is the best use of her limited time. </p>

<p>One confused mom.</p>

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<p>There are all kinds of dance programs and they vary widely in focus, selectivity and quality. What type of dance does she want to do? What is her goal beyond college? That will determine what type of program to look at, which will in some respects influence what her emphasis should be now. Just off the top of my head I would say that she is lacking foundation at this point, so the basics would be most important. High quality ballet training, several times a week, would be what I would look for first. Private classes are not necessary unless she is having problems with a specific area. Whatever other classes fit into her schedule and interest her would be the next thing. What you need to know is that dancers auditioning for selective programs have been devoting 12 to 20 hours a week to dance for many years, so your daughter has some catching up to do if this is her goal. Is she interested in a career in dance or does she just love it and want to do it a lot in college. There are plenty of schools which are not selective for dance majors, and many that do not require auditioning at all–academic admission is sufficient and the student just declares a dance major. What do the teachers at her summer program, or her ballet teacher, think of her potential and suggest for her training. My suggestion would be to get her to the highest quality ballet training you can find and get her to as many classes per week as you can fit into her schedule, preferably daily, to give her the best fundamentals you can.</p>

<p>Yes, quality programs discourage missing class, even for quasi dance related activities such as high school musicals. This is because rehearsals are not substitutes for technique classes. If dance is really her goal, high quality technique classes, consistently attended, are the best basis for success at college auditions. The audition is much more important to these programs than the performance resume, in my experience.</p>

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<p>quill, thank you for all the helpful information. Her ballet teacher thinks she had potential. I am not even sure DD wants to major in dance, she just particularly wants to audition and be excepted to UC Irvine. She should not have any problem being excepted on academics. </p>

<p>Since school started and her main studio has not started we have had a great week. She has been picking up classes at another studio and it has been so nice and relaxed. She is not comparing herself to the other dancers, she is relaxed, learning and having fun. She took one class at her main studio as it was the end of summer advanced class and liked it. I really would like to skip the dance competitions and the recital for that matter. We are going to lay all the options out this weekend and then decide. She is in AP classes and she needs to get As so there will have to be a balance. </p>

<p>thanks again for the help.</p>

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<p>It sounds like she’s started too late to succeed as a ballet dancer, so I would not spend a lot of money on private classes. A good group class is all she needs for a good grounding. Beyond that she should dance for fun and to learn the skills to advance in whatever kind of performance she likes best. Musical theater may be an option. When it comes to college, there are plenty of wonderful college dance programs that do not require audition. You’re correct in that she will not gain much from recitals and competitions, but if she enjoys them, she may want to participate anyway. Academics are the most important for getting into the college of her choice. She shouldn’t spread herself too thin.</p>

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<p>danceclass- thank you. We are going to stick with the private ballet because her technique is improving in leaps and bounds, core strengthening and excellent balance work. Her teacher also teaches gyrokensis and is very good at teaching injury prevention. I find it will worth the money and because she just has a small private studio its affordable. DD does not want to be a ballet dancer so that is not an issue. All of her teachers this summer stressed ballet as a foundation even for contemporary and jazz. She really likes hip hop too. Thanks for the affirmation about not gaining from recitals and competitions won’t do much for progress. I really dislike the competitions, I can deal with the recital. I did tell her one solo and no groups if she is doing competition. She has a very heavy academic load and I don’t want anything interfering with her studies. I am also willing to fly out to LA with her several weekends a month so she can take classes from some of her teachers from this summer and if she is doing competitions and recitals she won’t be able to do that. </p>

<p>Here is a list of the schools she is thinking about so far. Again she is not sure she wants to major in dance. Any input on these schools would be great. </p>

<p>UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara
USC
NYU
UCLA
University of Arizona</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help.</p>

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<p>I don’t know anything about the schools on the west coast, but I am familiar with a number on the east coast if you’d like to know more. If your daughter is very interested in NYU (and has the ability to get admitted), then she should also consider Barnard. There are many more colleges that are easier to get into academically and that may have dance programs more in keeping with what your daughter is looking for (though I’m not clear on what that is).</p>

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<p>Danceclass – I think DD will pull her grades back up this year, last year she was so distracted by competitions etc. She had a 3.8+ unweighted until last year and plans to get it back to the 3.8 UW this year. I think she will be able to get into NYU but of course I can’t be positive, USC is another challenging school to get into but she is determined. </p>

<p>As for what she wants to do; she is 16 years old, it is really hard to tell. She wants to work in the performing arts maybe directing, choreographing, or producing. She has amazing organizational management skills, she is an ok actress, an outstanding director, a decent dancer and has not tried her hand at choreography yet. You has a very demanding academic schedule. I hope this helps.</p>

<p>While selfishly I would like to keep her out west, the east coast is a strong consideration. Both my husband and I were raised out east. </p>

<p>Thank you</p>

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<p>Danceclass –
As for what she wants to do; she is 16 years old, it is really hard to tell. She wants to work in the performing arts maybe directing, choreographing, or producing. She has amazing organizational management skills, she is an ok actress, an outstanding director, a decent dancer and has not tried her hand at choreography yet. You has a very demanding academic schedule. I hope this helps. </p>

<p>While selfishly I would like to keep her out west, the east coast is a strong consideration. Both my husband and I were raised out east. I would appreciate your suggestions on schools to consider. </p>

<p>Thank you</p>

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<p>I always suggest to people who are just beginning their search that they pick up the lastest College edition of Dance Magazine. Also the website [Cyber</a> Dance - Ballet and Modern Dance on the Net for Over 10 Years](<a href=“http://www.cyberdance.org%5DCyber”>http://www.cyberdance.org) lists almost every college with a dance program. As for recommendations on the east coast, I’ve heard good things about Appalachian and Muhlenberg for musical theater; Barnard, Connecticut College, Elon, Swarthmore, and Vassar for ballet plus excellent academics; Point Park for ballet conservatory; Skidmore, Ithaca, Franklin & Marshall, and Goucher for ballet/modern and not quite as difficult to get into; and Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, and Bard for post modern. There are many more, and I’m sure others out there would disagree with my catagories. Good luck with your search!</p>

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<p>danceclass thank you. I have already ordered the dance magazine guide. I did not know about cyber dance so I will check it out. The school list is helpful.</p>

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<p>“When it comes to college, there are plenty of wonderful college dance programs that do not require audition.”</p>

<p>Please list some of these. Thank you!</p>

<p>My daughter is 16 and very strongly into hip hop and wants to make a career of it. She would like to tour with a dance crew or appear in music videos or in movies such as the Step Up movies. She is taking ballet, modern, jazz, hip hop, and break dancing and loves hip hop best. It’s also what she excels at. Any advice you could give me to give to her would be great.</p>

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<p>I don’t know much about hip hop, but I am aware of a lot of colleges with strong modern and jazz programs. Conservatories and BFA programs require auditions, but many other programs do not; most I would think. At least, no colleges my daughters were interested in required them. What part of the country are you looking at?</p>

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<p>We are in Southern Indiana, but we’re looking at NY or CA or anywhere where she can get proper hip hop training. After a bunch of research and finding that no college really offers degrees in hip hop, we are trying to decide if she should just attend a dance program at the Broadway Dance Center, Peridance, Steps on Broadway, or the Hip Hop Conservatory of NY. Each has a 2 or 3 year full time certificate program and costs between $8000 and $10,000 per year. I’m unsure if this is the right way to go or not. I’m worried she’ll have nothing to fall back on when she’s much older and has a harder time finding work. However, she has no interest in anything outside of dance, so I’m also worried that we’d just be throwing away money on college when she’s really not into it. Another idea is to attend a local college and just continue to take hip hop with the teachers she’s taking classes with now. Her teachers have said that the best way to get jobs is to go to NY to train, though.</p>

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<p>That is going to be a tough career to break into. It would help to have contacts and network. And living in NY is very expensive. I’ve never heard of the Hip Hop Conservatory, but my daughters have taken classes at Broadway Dance Center, Peridance, and Steps. I think of those studios as places professionals (and amateurs) can take drop in classes between jobs to stay in shape. The certificate programs may be good though; I don’t know. I personally think a college degree is very important these days, but everyone is different.</p>

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<p>I am going to recommend Loyola Marymount to your hip hop focused dancer. [url=&lt;a href=“http://cfa.lmu.edu/programs/dance/curriculum/technique/]Technique[/url”&gt;http://cfa.lmu.edu/programs/dance/curriculum/technique/]Technique[/url</a>]. An acquaintance who has been dancing professionally for a few years, primarily as a back up dancer for rap artists (I’m assuming this is hip hop, not quite sure) attends there now and likes the program. They say on their website they have hip hop through the professional level, and as I said, this dancer is satisfied with the training. My daughter is at NYU, and there is no hip hop taught at Tisch dance, although there are lots of places to take classes in NYC.</p>

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<p>I would have her focus on ballet first, jazz second (and not worry about the rest). Ballet is the foundation for everything else, and she has some catching up to do–a lot of girls her age started with ballet as very young children and added other dance forms later (but by now have been doing them for years). If time permits, I would encourage her to do the group class and a private lesson each week. For jazz I think a good class with a good teacher would be sufficient, and maybe she can compete in a group piece. (I would not encourage preparing a solo if time or money is an issue.)</p>

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<p>Sewingmom, I was also going to suggest the Dance magazine college guide (helpful for Andres perhaps, too). I also like a book entitled “Creative Colleges,” that has detailed information on dance, music, theater, visual arts, and writing programs.</p>

<p>I understand how your daughter may be evolving quickly,and think the private lessons are a fine idea. Though she started late, she can still be a serious, or professional dancer, if she so chooses. Some professionals in modern even start in college. </p>

<p>I would absolutely avoid competitions and recitals. Overall, rehearsals and performing can take away from technique development, if they are a big part of a program. Stick with schools that do not emphasize competitions or recitals. If performing is important to her, perhaps other opportunities will crop up that do not distract from training.</p>

<p>Your daughter has a lot going on, and a lot of interests. I think that’s great, and her diversity of interests may serve her well. Many dancers have a single focus: dance. My own daughter skipped senior year of high school to dance. Then she wanted more breadth in her life, and went to college for a year. Now she is back to focusing on dance (and working to support it, too). So your daughter will have to decide, does she want a conservatory or college program? Or does she want to dance and then go to school? These decisions are complicated for musicians, dancers and other artists.</p>

<p>It sounds to me like your daughter needs to concentrate on academics and all her extracurricular interests, while also getting the best dance training she can get in this one year, without the distractions of performing. Another summer program is a good idea too.</p>

<p>Time will tell where she wants to head, but keeping options open is a good idea. She could apply to a range of schools that match the range of her interests. Things are likely to change for her one way or the other, over the next year. She can pick a school with a strong dance program, so that she has access to classes, but also make sure that there are other academic options, as she grows and changes.</p>

<p>Once out of the hierarchical, “make it or break it” mentality of professional ballet, there are all kinds of ways to dance and keep dance in one’s life, and there is also a lot of interesting interdisciplinary work going on. If your daughter wants to dance, she will find a a way to do it, and it does not have to be with the intense focus that many professional ballet dancers need. However, for now, it sounds like good ballet training is a priority!</p>

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<p>^This is good advice. I have mixed feelings about competitions, though. They do get dancers out in front of an audience, which isn’t always possible otherwise. Competitions can be a good way for dancers to see how they stack up against their peers, too. One of the most eye-opening competition experiences my daughter had was at YAGP a few years ago–that was when she realized she had a long way to go if she wanted to pursue ballet on the level of the dancers that were winning there. </p>

<p>Back to the OP’s original list, I can comment on two of them: UC-Irvine and University of Arizona are two of the most competitive and highly respected college dance programs in the country. I think the OP’s daughter would do better to look at programs that are not as competitive and/or don’t require auditions. Maybe someone else is more familiar with the others she has suggested.</p>