<p>PLEASE, if you auditioned for The Boston Conservatory 8 years ago, did not attend nor have a child attend…STOP posting in this forum!! Why must people disparage a program (in this post and several others) that they really have no first hand knowledge of?? Your information is dated and inaccurate
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To address the question, beenthere is correct, the dance audition at boco is challenging and has been for many years (but apparently not in 2005). Hopefulmt2017 gave the perfect advise…do what she says! PS- you will probably be asked to share something unique about yourself…and Break a Leg! If you have other questions about Boco let me know! </p>
<p>~I would change my login name to proudparentofabocoMT…if I knew how! LOL</p>
<p>Nobody is disparaging the program at BOCO! It is an excellent program. If we didn’t think so, my kid would not have applied. I have advised many applicants to BOCO and have had students admitted and are currently attending. I remarked that back in 2005, there was NO audition in dance (not that it wasn’t challenging) and that it has swung in the opposite fashion and now the dance audition there IS challenging, based on my knowledge of my advisees attending the audition in recent years. Nobody said it wasn’t challenging currently or giving outdated information since it was made clear how it has changed and so forth.</p>
<p>I do know students at BOCO currently who were admitted with no previous dance training. Some who are admitted are very advanced dancers too.</p>
<p>It is interesting to read that the dance audition is quite challenging at BOCO because when my D auditioned for BOCO on campus in 2005, they had NO dance audition! So, they seem to have gone from one extreme to another!</p>
<p>(my D had studied dance her whole life up to that point but didn’t get to show that at the audition, though she was admitted) </p>
<p>See your post above…if you have students auditioning it would not be interesting to read that the dance audition is challenging, you would know that!! And perhaps you are unaware that your comments are disparaging, but they are. You have in excess of 20,000 posts on this forum. I have read quite a few of them and do find you are often helpful, but the comments are (almost) always accompanied by your daughters experience. She was truly an anomaly in the MT College audition process…she was admitted everywhere she applied (save Emerson where I think she was waitlisted?)and had boat loads of money thrown at her. This is simply the exception and not the rule. Geez, even Natalie Weiss and Sutton Foster had MT rejections!! We too used an amazing coaching team, and was advised quite matter of factly that a caucasion ingenue-ish type could expect to audition for 15 programs and yield two acceptances, if they were lucky. And my daughter IS a dancer. We had somewhat better results than that but I will admit to findings your contributions at times disingenuous. Your daughter was an amazing sight reader cast over bway kids and now famous kids, she works continuously and is in demand…your other daughter was valedictorian who lettered in three sports and went to an Ivy league school and a top grad program, you are surely blessed! But, with all due respect, please address questions in the NYU forum where you have an intimate knowledge, not here. You went on to state that you observed a class Michelle was teaching that didn’t appear to include, what you would call, dancers. Students are placed in dance classes based on their ability, it may very well have been a beginner class you observed. I don’t want to beat this up, it is my opinion and I just think our advise is best served to that which we know…not what we speculate.</p>
<p>Pbg, with regard to BOCO, I KNOW the dance audition is challenging and this is not new information for me. I have advised applicants to the school for years. I was simply saying that they have gone from one extreme to another as they did not even include a dance audition when my kid applied. Further, I am WELL aware that the dance classes are LEVELED at BOCO and we were NOT observing an advanced class, but rather a lower intermediate level class (we talked with Michelle a bunch). My point was that BOCO does indeed take some students who are not experienced or advanced dancers, based on who I know who has gotten in, including my own students. </p>
<p>Yes, I have a lot of posts on CC, and well beyond the MT Forum. I have been on CC for 10 1/2 years. My career is also as a college counselor and so these topics are of interest to me professionally as well as a parent. I don’t have to have a kid of my own at a particular college in order to post on any thread here. </p>
<p>You are surely mistaken about my own MT daughter in that she was NOT admitted to every MT program she applied to! I have never said that. I have written in the past about where she was admitted, denied or wait listed. </p>
<p>I feel it is unfair of you to bring up something I posted on another thread about my non-MT daughter totally out of context here. In the last day or two, I did post on a thread where someone was discussing how college athletes get into college without having the academic qualifications basically speaking and I don’t agree at all and gave my own kid as an example of a top academic student who did sports in college, as did the parent who posted a similar response before my example, about their own kid. I didn’t just bring up my kid out of the clear blue, but was making a point. </p>
<p>We are all parents here of very talented MT performers. My kid is not better than others here. I certainly believe that. </p>
<p>I really don’t wish to argue here but felt I needed to respond. In the middle of my response, I had a long break to take one of the most exciting calls from my daughter who was cast in NYC today, the biggest thing she has gotten yet. I came back here to finish my post but let’s all be happy for our thriving kids who are passionate about MT. This is not a competition.</p>
<p>Wow. I completely forgot I posted in this forum and came back to read this! You have all been extremely helpful and ill be starting ballet again this fall along with the regular jazz technique classes I take. I’m nervous but so excited and I’m in love with BoCo! For those of you who have auditioned, whether recently or not, what was the audition schedule like? I’ve read through the other posts as well on here but was wondering how it was for you. And how did you find the process? Intimidating? Welcoming? I’m flying over for unifieds all the way from a different continent so I really want to be well prepared when I arrive :)</p>
<p>It’s been a while since my daughter auditioned (2007) and she auditioned for about 12 schools. There was only 1 audition that she felt rushed or hurried. Some were more friendly then the others but, overall she found them to be courteous and too the point. Most will say Boco’s dance audition is both rigorous AND fun. The acting and singing audition is a combo audition (first sing, then act).</p>
<p>One of my daughter’s favorite auditions was for BoCo at Unifieds in Chicago. The dance call was in the Empire Ballroom at the Palmer House Hilton, a beautifully preserved and historically significant room. She said the call was rigorous, but really fun and she enjoyed the people teaching it and judging it. She described the audition panel as being welcoming, friendly but very professional. Overall, an excellent experience and she really felt like she was given a chance to show her abilities to them in a non-hurried manner. She had nothing but good things to say.</p>
<p>Theatermom2013, was that this year or last? Boco is my dream school and this has all been v encouraging for me. Many thanks to anyone who gave me more insight into their program, I owe you!</p>
<p>jessgn, my D auditioned on campus this year. I think BoCo was her favorite audition…it was by far the most fun. The dance call was very challenging, but Michelle made it so much fun for everyone. They were dancing for over an hour and a half…all the kids came out drenched in sweat, but smiling. The way it worked on campus is that they had a morning session and an afternoon session. My D arrived in the morning, registered, filled out the forms (bring the NAMES of your dance teachers with you, not just the studios! One of my D’s teachers had just gotten married and we couldn’t remember her new last name…), then did the dance audition mid morning. The parents were given an info session while the students danced. We had a break for lunch b/c my D’s vocal/monologue appointment wasn’t until 4 p.m., so she cooled down, and we ate at a restaurant around the corner from the audition building. We then went on a tour (and got to see a dorm room). Then, she went into a warm up room, warmed up vocally, and waited for her name to be called. She was allowed to sing or do her monologues first…any order she wanted. She chose to sing first. She sang her two songs, then did her two monologues. There were 3 people in the room with her: a voice professor, an acting professor, and a third person helping out. The panel was VERY nice, very complementary, and I heard laughter coming out of the door as they all talked…they were obviously having fun. The panel asked my D some questions, then asked if she had any questions. She came out with a big smile…they were really all so nice.</p>
<p>Regardless of what happens (BoCo has not released their decisions yet, and my D was recovering from pneumonia when she did her audition), my D will always have fond memories of this audition. It was only her 2nd audition, but it remains her favorite. Michelle and the audition panel were all so friendly and welcoming and interested…they made her feel like they really did care what she was like as a person. One thing that I thought was odd (but no longer do) is that each audition session had a different panel of people. So you will have a totally different audition panel than the students who audition the following day. Michelle (dance) is always the same, but the vocal/acting panel changes. And, the head of the MT department does not necessarily attend the auditions. At first I thought this was strange, but I understand it now and am confident that they make consistent decisions despite the changing audition panels. </p>
<p>Best of luck to you…it is a fabulous school! Just try to relax and enjoy the experience.</p>
<p>I know this thread topic is “on campus” auditioning but wanted to chime in a bit if you are thinking of auditioning at unifieds next year. My D did the NY unifieds and like monkey13’s D, it was one of her absolute favorites. The staff was welcoming and kind. They had a parent volunteer and I ended up talking to her as she awaited her assignments, and she spoke so glowingly about BoCo (her D is now a Sophomore). LIke most, we were fitting in many auditions over the unifieds weekend and the BoCo one was concerning because they asked for a morning session and a late afternoon session - or visa versa. And yet, they were completely accommodating to our needs when we asked to move my D’s morning vocal audition to the afternoon - along with her dance audition. Don’t forget to take TWO resumes and headshots - as they want this. My D loved the dance audition. She felt it was one of the most challenging of all that she did (1.5 hours!!) with ballet and jazz components. She loved it and Michelle.</p>
<p>My daughter would echo the sentiments of monkey13 and prntosome. She auditioned at Unifieds and loved the experience. We did Chicago and she danced in the Empire ballroom. Like Monkey13 said, not matter what happens with the result, the experience of auditioning for that program was one she will always remember fondly.</p>
<p>This is not on topic–sorry–but may I say an an MT mom, I have gained so much from monkey13, takeitallin, snapdraonfly, and soozievt, austinmtmom, and so many others–THANK YOU!</p>
<p>You are very welcome. Feel free to PM anytime. I agree with Monkey13 that most if not all on this post have spent a lot of time researching things on their own and willing to share their experiences. I found this site AFTER I did all my own research. Best to you haspotential!</p>
<p>beenthere… that’s what exactly what happened to me. We did A LOT of research ourselves to find good programs, to try and prepare for auditions and we started the beginning of my D’s Jr. year and still I have missed out on some key elements and made lots of mistakes along the way. This site has taught me more in two months than I learned in ALL the years my D has been performing. Now I’ve been telling my friends what I’ve learned from all of you and I look like the “mom in the know”!! haha should I start my own consultation business! Well now that I’ve learned about the do’s and don’ts … is there a place that talks about WHILE they’re in college!?!</p>
<p>Dreamsiklz, there is a thread called ‘the freshman experience’ all about first year mt kids! </p>
<p>I’m auditioning most probably at unifieds. Since boco is my first choice I really wanted to do the on campus full day audition but unfortunately have to go to unifieds because I live in a different continent to the US. I really look forward to auditioning though and wish I could bein the states to watch their revues. The one thing I’m finding though is that I have no idea what to expect for dance, despite all his feedback. The standards for dance here are much lower than those in the states at competitions and I don’t know if what I classify as advanced and well learned in dance would be comparable to intermediate in dance in the states. Which is why if anyone knows about the dance skills in some of their dances, like double or triple pirouettes, what kinds of leaps you need. I’d be really grateful and able to gauge the level of difficulty better. Thanks!</p>
<p>Regardless of what the technical requirements are, Michelle will look at your ability as well. She can spot diamonds in the rough. Show your dance attitude and that you can feel the song.</p>
If you have other questions about Boco let me know! </p>