<p>I'm a junior and this summer I either want to take lessons in dance/acting/voice or a summer program. I was wondering which one would help more considering my lack of experience and college auditions are next year. And for either one I'm openend to suggestions about what classes to take and or recommended summer camps!</p>
<p>See the Summer Programs Big List thread pinned at the top of this forum for extensive info regarding those programs. There are also several threads discussing people’s past experiences. As for feedback on taking private lessons, etc., it would depend on what’s available to you. Do you live near a university with a good music/theatre/dance program or conservatory? Are there smaller studios that specialize in the vocal/dance/acting training of MT? What is your past experience? Is money/distance and issue? Off the top of my head I’d say get some ballet training at a minimum. Private voice. Acting coaching - either local or with one of the nationally recognized coaching entities discussed on this forum. Regardless, your junior year should be spent looking towards possible monologues and song choices that you can be working on. Summer after junior year will be heavy skewed towards final prep for prescreens and beginning your college apps. Start getting some serious coaching now, if you can. If you go for a summer program, choose one that focuses on skills, rather than preparing a fully-fledged MT production in two weeks. Many decent summer programs require applications and prescreens - just like college. Deadlines can be as early as January (December??), so if that’s the route you’re taking, you should be preparing for that now.</p>
<p>If this will be your summer between junior and senior year, I would think your time and money would best be spent with a college audition coach who could help you with monologues, songs, prescreens, school choices etc… There are many threads on here that speak to coaches. But some you may want to consider include Mary Anna Dennard, MTCA, and Dave Clemmons. It’s important to gear your training specifically towards auditions during this time frame. These coaches can all work via Skype and with varying budgets to find material that will highlight your strengths. And they will make sure you are well prepared for whatever may come up in the audition room. I agree with @mom4bwayboy - start as early as you can with this training. There are many great summer programs, but I think you will get the most targeted training to help you get ready for college auditions by working with a college audition coach.</p>
<p>There is the “getting into a college program” march and there is the “what skills to I need to survive in the program and in the business march.” They have very different priorities.</p>
<p>You are asking in the MT forum, but didn’t you previously indicate an interest in the technical side of theater? Are you now thinking about MT?</p>
<p>Now if my MT daughter could live backwards, I’m positive she’d be a high school junior (vs. now a college junior) and take extra dance training with every available nanosecond she had. But she had already had years of voice and acting training by jr year in HS. Dance, although she had some training and is a natural mover, was/is her Achilles heel both for the business and to some extent, now in her college program. It wasn’t a big deal as far as getting into college and nor is it really the thing that is heavily tested today in many college admissions processes. But good dance skills can get you ensemble work and in the end, you need to eat. Hindsight is 20/20. </p>
<p>Hard to focus on that when you are just trying to get in the door but getting into a college will seem like a blip faster than you can say, BFA.</p>
<p>Cart meet horse. Horse meet cart. Not sure which introduction is better and most relevant to your question. If you are truly at ground zero, I’d go with the coaching suggestions above because you area likely to need the help and a summer program isn’t going to solve that for you at all.</p>