Cold Days Bring Thoughts of Summer Intensives!

Now, I know what you’re going to say… My Summer Intensive was totally screwed last year because of the Covid Pandemic… And I agree. You are right.

Many students are barely hanging on right now. Fighting to maintain their technique. Struggling to keep their dreams.

Let’s try to help each other! The Pandemic will pass. Life will resume.

During these cold, grey days of Winter, my thoughts turn to auditions for Summer Intensives and all the lovely work that can be accomplished during the supple and stretchy warm months of the year!

With the exception of our exceptional 2020, Summer Intensives have become increasingly popular over the last several decades.

There are important lessons to be learned from participating in these intense workshops, whether held by ABT, NYCB, Regional Companies, or your Local Ballet School.

First, I think it is an exquisite, if somewhat humbling, experience to see first hand that you are not the best or the worst dancer in the world. As a student, you learn a tremendous amount from observing other dancers, but mostly you realize that you have a lot to learn… Something to be considered at any time.

Second, a dancer spends so much time in the studio that I believe it’s a great experience to travel and see that it’s a big world out there! And after being cooped up in the house during lockdown and quarantine, I want to go everywhere! There’s a lot to explore in dance and beyond. Exciting!!

Finally, always remember that “Gratitude is the heart’s memory.” Thank your parents for the chance to audition for the Intensives, which is often a feat in itself. Then if you are selected, thank them for the opportunity to participate in the Intensive. Your parents must really love you a lot to allow you to study in Intensives that often rival the cost of a semester at college!

Now that you’re totally stoked, I want you to stop and ask yourself. When you returned from your last audition or intensive, how did you maintain your momentum??

Because that is where we are right now, we must preserve our love of Ballet and continue our study. Unrelenting…

Over the years, I’ve seen many students return to class, fresh from a concentrated summer of dance. At first, they look great, the best ever! But often, I see their enhanced technique and improved strength fade in the ensuing months.

Two reasons come to mind.

Summer work takes place in a vacuum. No school work. No family issues. Just total concentration on the craft, which, unless you are a professional dancer, really is an anomaly in life and not the norm.

At the intensive, no matter where or when, Ballet and your slightly narcissistic self are the only two things you are thinking about. That is necessary to progress and be really good, but the level of clarity achieved during daily summer classes is diluted once you return home unless…

You are aware and prepare for the realities of everyday life.

Yes, you have homework, school, younger and/or older siblings, and may have to fold laundry, but if you try, you can nourish, remember, and return to the “summer zone” as often as possible.

“Some folks living takes a lot of lasting, and it’s the lasting that’s difficult.” To paraphrase Jake Schaffer, the author of Shane, but it’s true.

Consistent, careful work is a year-round goal.

Often after visiting a different studio in a new and more exciting city than your hometown, a student is critical, if not downright derisive, of their home studio and familiar instructors.

Please remember that these are the teachers that gave you the skills to attend the summer intensive. They deserve your respect. Please work with your instructors, not against them, to maintain your focus and achievement.

A beautiful dancer evolves from within, and the scowl of judgment is never very pretty. Take what you learned in your vaulted Summer Intensive, and bring it to your home school with humble gratitude.

Then you will incorporate your summer experience as part of yourself. You will be the pride of your studio and help elevate everyone to excellence as people and dancers!

Stay Strong! Use these winter days to improve your mind’s technique and discipline, and your summer body will soon reflect an inner will that can not be broken.