I’m looking for summer intensive for 2016, I know there’s a thread on summer intensive big list, but I wanted to hear what programs are highly regarded. I was looking at Circle in the Square summer intensive; What does this program offer? How does it compare to other intensives?. What other summer intensives would you guys recommend and why?
What year are you? My D did the Cherubs program at Northwestern, and it was an amazing experience. It is only for rising Seniors. It is a 5 week Drama intensive with an optional 2 week MT extension. She also attended MPulse Drama and OCU MT previous years. All excellent!
TPAP… it was life-changing for my son. 
Hi! I went to Circle in the Square’s summer program the summer before last. Feel free to message me if you have any questions
CAP21.
D learned an impressive amount. When we first saw it at the auditions I thought she would balk at the lack of slick, bright shiny studios that one finds at colleges now, but it didn’t faze her in the least. It was definitely old school NYC studio space but was run very professionally. It was tough and a couple of the teachers, especially one of the dance teachers were both blunt in their criticisms and helpful in their honesty and demands. D lapped it up.
The experience of being in NYC was great for her, though she was already quite familiar with it. She got up early to go in with the working commuters on Metro North and worked her way downtown each day. A train and two subways and a little walk. No problem. Kids from all over made it a great experience for her.
My D loved OCU summer MT camp. The high school camp is audition only and there is a 2 week camp, a 3 week camp and a 5 week camp. The 3 week camp rehearses a full length musical in addition to the master classes the students take throughout the weeks. They are performing The Pajama Game this year. If I understand correctly, the two week camp can be either an acting intensive or a vocal performance intensive.
Anyone recently have experience with the Pace Summer Scholars program in MT? I like that it is only 2 wks.
Circle in the Square seems cheaper than other programs considering that it’s 7weeks-long program in NYC.
Any reason why? There just seems to be no information online about the summer program, and CITS website is very poorly developed. Is the summer program competitive to get in?
My daughter did the Pace summer intensive last summer and loved it. She did the Carnegie Mellon 6-week intensive the summer before, but was looking for something a bit shorter for her last summer before graduating high school (we live on the water and she didn’t want to miss the whole summer on the beach with her friends). It was perfect for that. Not as long as CMU, but just as intense.
Our daughter attended Rutgers Summer Acting Conservatory (RSAC) and loved it. It is a very strenuous pre-college program that takes full advantage of its close proximity to NYC by bringing in industry professionals to speak on pertinent topics and taking students into Manhattan to see all types of live theatre. She would go again in a heartbeat!
Oh yeah @HappyDancer98 I looked into that Rutgers program. It was too long as it looks like it’s the whole month of July. It’s also out of our price range.
@titanic22 CITS does not include housing, I believe. They give leads on temporary housing options, but you have to obtain it on your own (or at least you did last summer - we are in commuting distance so I never investigated it further). My daughter did BoCo’s Musical Theatre Dance Intensive - three weeks - really great, includes more than just dance training, but dance is the primary focus.
@rampions In your opinion since your daughter attended the BOCO dance intensive, what does it really mean on the website when it says “students and professionals with significant dance experience” should apply? Is it mostly competition-style dancers who attend? (i.e., the kind of kid who dances every day of the week for several hours a day) Or would a theater kid who has taken some dance along the way be well-suited for the intensive?
@MTmom019
For those summer programs that are dance heavy, if your kid is not dance heavy I would really investigate the summer program. My D is what i would classify as dance “medium” as her voice is her strong suit followed by acting. She has dance now and has had it for several yrs but is in no way the same league as the girls on competition dance teams etc. she went to a summer program a year ago that was very dance oriented and they didn’t really tell us that ahead of time. They split the groups in half by ability " sort of" but to be honest my d was made to feel very inferior. She was a wreck. It almost ruined the whole experience . She was younger then, so she probably could handle it better now. I know in college she’ll have to handle this kind of thing but that year it was a bit much & the camp seemed to only care about dance. We wanted a more broad experience while she is continuing to work on her dance skills. Just our experience. A lot of times they do truly split kids by dance ability and that’s good but this camp didn’t really do it properly.
First of all, I just remembered, after typing this out, that the final performance can be watched - that’ll give you a far better indication than anything I have to say - go to the Facebook page for Boston Conservatory MTDI 2015 and there’s a link. Each of the three leveled groups performed about 3 routines. Without watching it again, I remember offhand that level 2 does “Show People” which is right at the beginning, and they also do “One” towards the end. I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out the other levels by watching it.
Now back to what I first wrote:
It’s a little tricky to answer that one as my daughter has a lot of dance experience - although fewer years in ballet than in theater dance and Modern. The age ranges were pretty much rising HS juniors through rising college sophs - a lot of rising seniors.
I can tell you that It was an auditioned program – for in person auditions I believe the same combination was given last year as for the college audition - and it’s a challenging (and very enjoyable, according to my d) solid hour of dancing in the audition - but there was definitely a range of student abilities of those admitted.
Once the program began the students were assessed based on ballet (not theater dance) and there was some wiggle room during the first couple of days of classes. Based upon the end of program showing of the work, the top level group was outstanding - would have already come in with a lot of ballet and jazz dance behind them, the middle group a level down in difficulty but still pretty solid, and the most inexperienced definitely tackling easier material, but with flair. My d’s ballet training lags behind her theater dance and she was initially (I’m talking first day or two ) discouraged at being put into the middle group rather than the top, but she quickly came to agree with her placement and felt challenged in a great way throughout.
So I wouldn’t categorize the strongest dancers as “competition” background, though some may have been, but they definitely had a good ballet foundation and were able to apply it well to theater dance. What I’m less certain about is the most inexperienced group - how little background some might have had. My guess is that a “theater kid who has taken some dance along the way” would be a good fit for the third group - and would learn a lot.
There were all worked hard - daily classes both in a dance form (rotated each week) and in repertoire.There was also vocal and acting work - all with BoCo faculty, not people brought on for the summer, Also several mock vocal auditions with feedback from the head of the MT program. Very much modeled on a college conservatory schedule. It thoroughly convinced my daughter that a BFA conservatory program was what she truly wanted, and she loved everything about the summer program.
Does anyone have experience with the summer MT intensives at Penn State or Syracuse? My D has done the CCM prep MT immersion and the Texas Musical Theatre Workshop and loved both but we are looking to try a new one this summer and don’t want to be gone longer than 3 weeks. Hoping to find something that’s not focused mainly on college auditions but more on developing overall. Also not really interested in one that performs a full production as we get enough of that during the year. Any suggestions? Thanks so much!
@theaterwork Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I really appreciate it! I’m going to send you a PM with a quick question.
@rampions Thank you, too! I can’t wait to watch the showcase! That is a great idea. Thank you so much for the suggestion. I also appreciate your feedback about the program itself. It seems like a great set-up to have the levels, so that each person gets the best instruction for the money. Maybe it allows more students the chance to attend, as well. It’s nice to hear that your daughter loved it and that it helped her to feel certain about a BFA Conservatory program.
I would also encourage you to consider The Performing Arts Project held on the campus of Wake Forest University in July. There are both 2 and 3 week intensives offered. It is mainly for ages 16-25. It covers all disciplines of music theater in an intense 12-13 hour day program. Faculty is comprised of some of the top professionals from both college MT programs and the theater industry from all over the country. It’s a nice way to get to experience people from different programs, their teaching styles, etc… and see what you click with. There are several CC members who have attended who could tell you more.
If your child would like to work with faculty from many MT programs as well as work closely with industry professionals then consider The Performing Arts Projects. (TPAP). My D went for two summers and it was the best experience of her life. As MTMom2015’s S said, it is “life-changing”.
I add my support for TPAP. My D did not attend until the summer AFTER her senior year… But she also considered it to be “life-changing”.