The Ballet Dancer

Taking a gap year for ballet/contemporary in nyc?

Is this a good idea? I really love ballet and maybe want to join a company that isn’t extremely selective, but I also love contemporary almost just as much. I want to go to a conservatory or college dance program but my technique isn’t the best and I love New York City so I was thinking about taking a year off between high school and college to dance there, maybe at the Joffrey Ballet School to get my technique up to par. Has anyone ever done anything like this, and has it helped? Is Joffrey very selective? I know SAB is so I’m not sure if I’ll even audition for them…and there’s also Steps, Peridance and BDC but they’re not official schools where you can get housing and make a lot of friends and stuff.

So much to say… where do I start?

First, the Joffrey Ballet School in New York is no longer an official school, either, and they never offered housing, so that already changes things. But let me back up…

This kind of “gap year” is for ballet students who are already company-ready, but who weren’t accepted as apprentices or trainees in companies, so they must keep training and audition again next year. This is done at Trainee programs like Joffrey’s or at other “post-grad” programs. You can read descriptions and discussions of such programs on the “Ballet Talk for Dancers” message board in their “Career and Dance Education” section:
http://dancers.invisionzone.com/index.php?

Otherwise, dancers in your situation (whose “technique isn’t the best,” but who still hope to prepare to dance professionally) go straight into a college dance program – the more selective, the better. You’re going to need the diverse training you’ll get from a college dance program because you don’t have the background to make it into a professional ballet company.

You need to understand that with major ballet companies laying off dancers, there are no professional ballet companies that aren’t extremely selective. This year’s audition season is winding down and my daughter’s friends are all reporting that the ballet auditions are all cattle calls with no one beyond some guys being kept at the end. And that’s from dancers who attended elite ballet academies at your age. The only companies that aren’t extremely selective are the ones that don’t pay anything beyond some nominal compensation for performances.

Save the starving artist New York experience until after you graduate from college and have more dance friends and connections; maturity; experience living with other people, managing money and a budget, and fending off lecherous older men. Get hold of the Dance Magazine College Guide right away to begin your college search:
http://www.dancemagazine.com/thecollegeguide/intro

It would be great if you could start visiting colleges during your upcoming Easter/Spring break.

Lu Hefner Audition 4/7/10