<p>So, do any other parents here have kids who are not going to college or conservatory, and "just" dancing?</p>
<p>My D was at a ballet summer intensive last year. A majority of the kids there said they had no intension of going to college or a conservatory.They were going to continue to train at their respective ballet schools until they were good enough to get into a ballet company. D also mentioned that a lot of them did not care to take any modern classes, they were focused on ballet only.</p>
<p>I think any good school should make a whole dancer. Not just ballet. Most companies are doing contemporary work also. If she want to be marketable without school she needs to do alot of things well, not just ballet. Good Luck!</p>
<p>My daughter has done years of modern, as well as ballet.</p>
<p>I wasn’t asking IF any dancers aren’t going, since I know that many don’t. I was just hoping to chat with someone else in the same situation, and hear what other dancers were doing.</p>
<p>So many threads are school-focused, I was trying to have an alternative thread.</p>
<p>compmom
I don’t know if you have seen ballet talk for dancers, but on that discussion board there are a number of parents who have kids who go straight form HS to dance, or who are making this decision. There are also parents, and dancers, who are dancing as aprentices or trainees or in second companies who have shared their journeys. It is a very ballet focused board.</p>
<p>1) my daughter does tons of ballet but is not a ballet dancer, so ballet talk doesn’t really fit</p>
<p>2) Yes, I have read ballet talk extensively</p>
<p>3) We don’t need help or advice but were trying to offer a thread for this relatively new dance forum, hoping it could spark some discussion. Other CC forums have helped us a lot, and we were hopeful when the dance thread started earlier this year that it would be used a little more. So going back to ballet talk defeats the purpose.</p>
<p>Sorry I didn’t realize you were not asking for advice. It was difficult to tell from the question. Didn’t mean to offend you.</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>No offense taken whatsoever.</p>
<p>Just explaining that I was hoping this forum could become viable, the way the music forum is, for instance, perhaps especially for those who are not pursuing ballet exclusively.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Since you don’t seem to be getting what you need, and every response seems wrong to you, why don’t you go ahead and post your experiences for the benefit of the rest of us, and then people can respond with their own. That way, you will give an idea of what you’re getting at, and people won’t inadvertently offer advice or recommendations that are unwanted. Since this is college confidential, most people are likely focused on college, or at least considering it, so you may not get much. For example, what kind of dance is your child interested in–you didn’t specify, so I’m not surprised you got responses about ballet, which is a pretty major dance form. I don’t have much for you, since my did is all about ballet, but is considering at least deferring college to test the dance waters. I wouldn’t know what to say about the competition world, which is where you are located, judging from your name. Vegas? Rockettes? let us know.</p>
<p>The music forum is a different animal. Most serious musicians go directly to college. In the music forum you find that most of the participants are involved in the pursuit of classical music careers. That is why the music forum is so much more active. </p>
<p>My daughter is also not planning on college at this point but since she is ballet I don’t think I can help you either. Dancers Universe is a good place for the type of conversation you are looking for as there are a lot of parents/dancers on that board in the same position.</p>
<p>My daughter had never been near a competition (and refused to even look at “So you think you can dance”, though I watch it). One of my kids is a “classical” composer, hence the compmom. The discussions on the music forum were wonderful, while she was applying to conservatories and college. It would have been perfectly fine to post this there, so I am not sure why this meets with hostility here.</p>
<p>This forum is pretty new, and some of us were really happy that it was finally added to CC. So I was just trying to start a conversation. I thought it would be interesting to see the range of options that students were doing. It is hard to post what my daughter is doing, since her situation is complicated. I thought that reading what others were doing might be interesting and helpful. But I had no specific question or advice that I needed.</p>
<p>The situation is quite different for ballet dancers versus modern, or even those who do both. There are no discussion forums with any substance other than ballet talk, which is geared to ballet. Many ballet companies take young apprentices/trainees, but the same is not true for many modern companies, who tend to look for maturity in their talent, and often involve dancers in the choreographic process. So, if a dancer is not going to college, the situation can be trickier. </p>
<p>Since I posted this, our daughter actually has applied to one degree-granting conservatory, and one non-degree granting conservatory. This was a surprise, actually. I posted at a time when she was busy performing and not making any plans at all. I was not upset about this, but was wondering how this sort of life-improvisation, if you will, worked out for other dancers.</p>
<p>I guess I was shy about posting specific information about my child, but of course, that does limit discussion. So, about our daughter: she has trained for years in a studio that offers open classes in modern and ballet to a mixed group of dancers: those who have graduated already from conservatory mix with former dancers and with a few teenagers. Sort of like Steps. It has been wonderful, challenging, and like a second family to her. She also has done various summer intensives each summer for many years: modern-focused, but always with daily ballet. Her first performance experience was in a reconstructed Doris Humphrey work, and she has had some other wonderful projects. Right now, she performs in a small professional company, in a nearby city, in which the other women are in their late twenties.</p>
<p>She might just get a room in a house or apartment and continue what she is doing, rather than attend a conservatory. If she does that, she will also work in a clothing store or restaurant or something like that. Continuing education academic classes would also be a possibility. So she is layering options, I guess.</p>
<p>Again, I did not have a specific question in mind, but was curious what other dancers might be doing, other than formal programs. For a variety of reasons, our daughter’s next year is a work in process. </p>
<p>If this topic is not of interest to anyone, I can’t delete it, but we can just let it be. I just posted it impulsively one day, when I was wishing there were other parents to share experiences with, since our daughter’s situation is a little idiosyncratic.</p>
<p>I actually don’t think your daughter’s situation is abnormal. As you say, the path of a modern dancer is a little different than that of a ballet dancer. That said, there are things that are common to both that you can consider.</p>
<p>I know you are not looking for advice but I think honestly your DD needs to start auditioning this year whether she thinks she will be hired or not. Also, there are a lot of modern SI’s she could attend (think of maybe doing an RA thing so she can attend for free): Paul Taylor, Jose Limon, Joffrey Jazz and Contemporary. There are connections that can be made at these places. </p>
<p>Has your DD considered auditioning for Cirque de Soleil? We were just at an audition the other day for the Juiliiard SI and one of the regular students was saying she had started working for Cirque right out of HS before coming to Juilliard.</p>
<p>^agree. Dancing is an art form and a trade. And at trades you work to get better you don’t need a liberal education. However, I would recommend a liberal education because there’s a lot of evidence that you become a better artist if you’re well educated. </p>
<p>also, if your D is serious and wants to dance in the big time pro level she needs to be in a big city. Regional or local dancers and actors most often stay local and regional. So for dance it NYC, Chicago, or LA.</p>
<p>She has done those SI’s, and is dancing in a small company in a big city. Sorry, I keep answering like this, but I was just hoping others would post their daughters’ or sons’ stories. Or, perhaps, an older dancer would post his or her story. Like I said, the thread can just stop because the original post is not clear in its intent.</p>
<p>It is interesting to hear about a dancer right out of hs dancing with Cirque. Thank you, that is good info!</p>
<p>I agree that a liberal education is valuable, but she hates academics and has some learning issues. Her siblings are at Ivies (the musician sister is at an Ivy versus conservatory for financial reasons, originally, and was focused on studying her “trade”, but loves academics and is happy with a lot of academic music). It is quite possible that after a break of a year or two, our youngest will develop interest in studying at college, or perhaps she will take a course at a time. I am not all that worried, because she is young and flexible about things.</p>
<p>She will figure it all out. It would just be interesting to hear from others. I was thinking about a sort of survey or poll, with info on what others were doing, but this dance forum is not well-enough used yet.</p>
<p>Let’s just forget this original post!</p>
<p>I don’t think this thread needs to be deleted. It is actually helpful to hear how others are managing the Plan A, Plan B, Plan C … of pursuing dance after HS. Since college is somewhere in this mix of options, i don’t think CC is a bad place for its discussion.
Momof 3 - My S was at the Julliard audition on Saturday also, where the students shared their unique paths to ending up in college there. I was actually surprised when my S, who has never been very interested in Modern, said that he could see himself fitting in at the Julliard college program.
He is a junior and like many dancers has a lot of big decisions about the next year or two.
At this point the options seem to be:
Leave HS and train fulltime next year
Finish HS at home, apply to colleges and defer if accepted while auditioning for trainee programs after HS</p>
<p>So… I hope we can keep talking about the paths these kids have open to them.</p>
<p>evasmom: Was your son at the afternoon audition? I only clearly remember two of the boys, the small one who was cut (according to my DD) and the one wearing the Jacob’s Pillow sweatpants. </p>
<p>They did talk up the college program a lot. (as if it needed endorsement) I found the panel to be interesting. If you PM me I can direct you to someone whose son is a freshman at Juilliard right now in the dance program. He was not on the panel at our audition however. And my DD loved the Cirque girl, thought she was very bubbly. I too, was amazed she got such a great job right out of HS. She had serious credentials though, mentioned that she had been at the Royal Winnepeg School and many other prestigious SI’s.</p>
<p>Compmom: The thing is your DD’s situation is not abnormal at all. Most of the modern and contemporary dancers I know of are in the same situation but they won’t come to a college message board bc, well they are not interested in college at this point. IDK where they go frankly, some are in a private FB group I belong to and we all met through a different message board. Some of the dance magazines have message boards, maybe there.</p>
<p>Jacob’s Pillow pants!</p>
<p>I came on to CC a few years ago because of my older two, and, along with others, requested that they add a dance forum, and am glad they did.</p>
<p>I never said that my daughter’s situation was abnormal. I did say that her training has been a little idiosyncratic. Mainly, she is never around anyone her own age (except at SI’s) so we are not in touch with others who are at this transitional time. But we know of many who are also not considering school, and some of her fellow company members went, and some didn’t.</p>
<p>There is a thread here on male dancers, with one-line responses. I expected replies like “My son is considering a trainee program versus college, but is applying to colleges and deferring just in case.” Or, “My daughter is auditioning for Cirque but took two community college courses this fall.” That type of thing.</p>
<p>Reading company or faculty bios, or talking with dancers in successful companies, lets us know the amazing variety of backgrounds that dancers have. We also ran into that diversity during a day at Juilliard, and at other schools.</p>
<p>Since college is one of the options, whether immediate or deferred, I still expected some replies that described what people are doing.</p>
<p>I don’t look at a lot of sites, and don’t want to, since my daughter dances, and I don’t. She pretty much knows what she is doing and what she wants, but, as a parent, I do enjoy reading about others. It’s not needed, it’s just fun. So hopefully others will write about what they are doing, or their kids, and make this forum a little more viable.</p>
<p>Evasmom, good luck to your son as he decides what to do. Same to everyone else!</p>
<p>My daughter is a senior and is applying to colleges as a dance major as well as auditioning for company/trainee/apprentice programs. Not sure where she will wind up in the fall - but she will be dancing. She has been in a conservatory for two years so she had not had the real-life company experience your daughter has had which could be a great advantage for your dancer. Would like to hear how her journey goes - good luck :)</p>
<p>Would love to hear what she decides! Good luck to your daughter…</p>