ABT Summer Intensive Update and Info on Picking Ballet Classes

Half way through the fourth week of the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive and things are looking up. Julian’s foot isn’t hurting at all, although he plans to see the physical therapist on Thursday. He is drinking lots of things with electrolytes, so he isn’t dehydrated. He is no longer so muscle sore either. I have seen some kids limping out of the building, though, or wearing knee braces and such. He says everyone has some sort of ache or pain, but they are all just toughing it out.

Tap classes right now are the only extra  classes we’ve added into the mix. I’m a bit fearful of adding in much more ballet or even jazz; seems to me that it could be too much use of the same muscles. We are looking for Julian to possibly take a hip hop class sometime soon, and he will be taking Sue Samuels’ jazz class in the next few weeks. We made it to Michelle Dorrance’s tap class on Monday night, and Julian had a blast. Man, can that lady tap and teach! It was fast as all get out and Julian had to really work to keep up, but he had so much fun and learned a ton. I think he learned more in that one class than he has learned in any of the tap classes he’s had so far.

He’s really loving his “jazz” choreography piece at ABT, but I really think it’s more of a contemporary number. It’s set to four pieces of Elton John’s music. He doesn’t like his ballet choreography, because the boys really don’t do much and the choreography doesn’t even give them the opportunity to show off their classical ballet ability. He says they don’t get to “dance” much at all. That’s a shame…come all the way to New York to spend six weeks at ABT and then not even get to perform a good ballet piece for the performance.  Ah, well…he likes contemporary better anyway.

We saw Hair last night for Julian’s 15th birthday. It was a blast! What great, classic songs, great acting, superb singing, and tons of fun. Of course, there were a fair amount of swear words, references to drugs (and even a scene where they smoke pot), a brief scene in which they actors all strip off their clothes (but the lights are dim) and stand their naked, and more simulated sex acts than I can remember. I thought they looked like dogs in heat. Julian thought it was like a Viagra commercial gone bad — you know, like the caution about getting an erection that lasts more than four hours! Despite that, it was fun…and funny. We managed to get to the Olive Garden, his favorite restaurant, for three bowls of salad before hand, so, all in all, it was a great day.

Plus, he got to take a modern class with the violet level (two above his level) at ABT, and he went out to lunch with some friends. He got a bunch of money for his birthday to spend in NYC, so I think he had a pretty good birthday. I had fun, too!

I noticed a really nice article on the Boys and Ballet website about how to choose ballet classes for boys. It’s worth a read if your son is just starting out or you are looking to enroll your son in a more serious ballet program. It’s called, “How to Choose a Ballet School for Your Son” or “There are Special Considerations When Your Son has Ballet Dreams.” Search for it by one of those titles if you no longer find it on the first page of the site. (It’s written by C.A. Bates.)

The only thing I’d mention is that the author talks about ballet examinations. I’m no expert here, but Julian has never taken an examination. I believe these are required for certain types of ballet programs. He was in a Danish Bourneville program at Ballet San Jose School, and that did not require examinations.

The rest of the information is very good. I’d add, however, that the cost of a good and serious ballet program can get quite high, and not all schools offer boys great scholarships (although I think they should). Also, many of the programs I’ve encountered do not offer anything but ballet (she discusses programs that offer other styles of dance as well); they might have a modern class. We found that pursuing other dance disciplines was actually frowned upon by ballet schools in general. This seems odd when the trend in most classical ballet companies is towards inclusion of contemporary and modern choreography as well. Some are even branching out into more creative ventures, such as Ballet San Jose’s “Blue Suede Shoes,” a ballet written to the music of Elvis Presley.

I’ve been told over and over again in the last year that a male dancer who can do more than just ballet will find himself more of an asset to a ballet company — or any company for that matter — than a strict ballet dancer. While we were told that tap dancing and hip hop, as well as jazz, would not help his ballet training (and might actually hurt it), we are now being told to pursue all of these styles of dance if he wants to be more employable than the next man.

Now, would someone at ABT tell us that? I’m not so sure, but the male professional dancers I speak with do tell me that. Will you find that sort of well-rounded training in a ballet program? Not likely. If you find a serious ballet program offering all types dance, let me know!

ABT Summer Intensive Half Over: Feeling Good and Wishing for More Time

Last week went off without a hitch — yes, even without Mom around to make sure Julian remained healthy. Of course, he was with a mom who makes sure her son goes to bed early and eats well and takes all his vitamins and supplements and such, so I knew Julian was in good hands.

The two boys only ended up going to tap class at Broadway Dance Center one night last week, and Julian loved the class he took. ABT actually had two late start days, which meant they only danced six hours, rather than seven, those days. And, on top of that, they had Friday off for the 4th of July. The boys were going to go to Steps on Broadway for a ballet class that day, but after walking six miles earlier in the day they were too tired! (I would have been, too…)

It seems that the third week of a summer dance intensive really is a turn-around week. The kids who have struggled the first two weeks start feeling better and getting used to the rigour of the schedule. Of  course, many of the kids who are at a ballet intensive like this one are home schooled and dance five or six hours a day already; they don’t find the intensive that much harder than what they already do. Many of the kids who are  in very intensive ballet programs at home also handle the program better than Julian has as well. His program at Teen Dance Company only requires that he dance three or three and a half hours a day four days a week. He usually throws in an extra couple of hours one day a week, and rehearsals add in extra hours on the weekends as well (which means he dances about 18 hours a week — sometimes more), but he isn’t dancing six or seven hours a day during the school year by any stretch of the imagination. That explains why he was so tired and sore the first week, and was still suffering from exhaustion the second week.

The physical therapist taped his foot last week, which helped that issue. She gave him stretches as well. He’ll see her again tomorrow. Thus, his foot is bothering him less. He drank a lot of water and fluids with electrolytes also. All in all, he seems to be doing better at this point.

Julian and I had a nice reunion when I picked him up on Friday…he even hugged me and told me he missed me. We went out for a nice Italian dinner, had Pinkberry yogurt and then came back and watched a two-week-old episode of So You Think You Can Dance on the computer (thanks to my mom, who sent us the recorded DVDs). We still have no television… (Julian bought the third book in the Eragon series yesterday, so I’m happy to say we will be spending some nights reading.)

We had a super Saturday: First, off to Broadway Dance Center, where Julian tapped with his old teacher and former (and current) Tap Dog Anthony LoCascio. Then we rushed off to the Metropolitan Opera House to see ABT perform in Sylvia. Then home and then out for a calzone and off to the West Side Highway to sit in “pens” on the highway itself and watch the fireworks over the Hudson River — along with about 2 million other people. The fireworks were awesome, but sitting there on the hard ground and having something wet get all over our towel and us was not so nice…nor was trying to get back by subway. That said, we had a really nice day and night.

Today, Monday, Julian was happy to get back to dance class at ABT and to see all his friends. He is very aware that the program is half over and time is running short. He wishes it would last longer, especially now that he is feeling good. He and three of the boys and one or two girls are the first in line each day (there about 45 minutes before they are allowed into the building to begin the trek up four flights of stairs — they aren’t allowed to take the elevator).

We are considering going to Michelle Dorrance’s tap class tonight. We hate to do a hard class early in the week, but we feel the pressure of our time here coming to an end. I wrote an article about Michelle and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and Chloe Arnold for Dance Spirit magazine a while ago; they are all in Jason Samuels Smith’s “Charlie’s Angel’s” show. Jason considers these three female tappers the best out there…better even than some of the men. I’d love to have Julian tap with her and to meet her face to face. I’m trying to set up a private with her as well… She’s not on the road with Stomp anymore but performing right here in NYC — in fact just about five blocks away from where we are staying. So, I think Julian and I will go see the show, even though we’ve seen it before. (I wonder if she can get us good tickets…or get Julian backstage to meet the cast?)

Tomorrow is Julian’s 15th birthday! I got two for one tickets to Hair…yes, Hair. What a birthday present…full frontal nudity, references to drugs, profanity, and implied sexual acts. Ah, well, it’s all about the education, right? If he wants to be on Broadway one day, he’ll have to know that he, too, might have to get up in front of an audience baring it all (meaning sans dance belt). Even Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame, bared all in his role in Equus. Plus, we have tickets to see Pilobolus, the Connecticut-based company that is known to perform at least half naked. So…call me a bad mom. Maybe I am. I’m probably not showing him anything he hasn’t seen before — or won’t see behind the scenes at a ballet or other dance production anyway (if not on the stage itself).

And with that, I’ll sign off for now. I have a ton of editing and writing work to do, which is making it possible right now for us to see these show! I need to get us tickets to West Side Story next…the only other big dance production other than Billy Elliot, which we see at the end of the month.

(Oh, Julian texted me last week to say he’d had his best day ever at ABT: great jazz class, super partnering class, and 20 minutes in the studio after class messing around with David Alvarez, aka Tony Award-winning “Billy Elliot” himself! Now the ABT summer intensive girls are texting Julian asking for introductions since he is David’s “friend.”)

More in a few days…

Two weeks down, four to go…

Julian is sad that the weeks are flying by. He’s completed two weeks already and has just four to go. However, they are definitely taking their toll on him. I’d recommend that everyone – girls and boys alike – really get in shape for a summer intensive like the American Ballet Theatre six-weeks in New York. It’s grueling, especially if you don’t normally dance seven hours a day (in humid, hot conditions). It also makes a difference if you don’t normally give 150 percent in your classes but you feel pushed to do so once at the intensive – both by the calibre of teachers and students.

After a day at home sleeping off a night of stomach upset, Julian went back to the intensive only to find himself sick again at the end of the day. He managed to throw up just once and then hobbled through watching the ABT performance of Swan Lake. We did, however, have to take taxis there and back. Once home, he suddenly got hungry and at the rest of the soup I’d made for him and then slept for 10 hours and woke up hungry.

While there we ran into a former Teen Dance Company artistic director, and a current master class teacher, professor at Buffalo State University in New York and choreographer for TDC (who will also be teaching at the upcoming TDC summer intensive), Carlos Jones, and he commented, “This is how you are supposed to feel.” This was after we asked him to come down to Julian’s seat at the Metropolitan Opera House to see Julian, who could not bring himself to move from the spot without feeling sick! (I guess that made us feel a bit better, although we haven’t heard of anyone else feeling this way. Of course, Julian is coming from a very dry climate – California – and Carlos said the humidity would be a tough climate change for him.)

I promised some more accurate information on the levels at ABT. They are from lowest to highest: yellow, red, blue, green, violet, aqua, indigo. Green and below are intermediate and everything from violet and above is advanced. The boys of all levels have men’s history and conditioning classes together. Otherwise, they are separated. So the intermediates, for instance, have partnering and men’s class together.

Julian is actually very satisfied with his level. He wanted to be in green but when he saw how good the boys in green were, he knew he was in the right level. Plus, the boys in green spend a fair amount of time with the boys in blue. In fact, Julian has friends in green, and they all seem to hang out together and help each other and teach each other things. Julian sometimes knows something a fellow green dancer doesn’t know and vice versa, so it works out well.

As for competition, I assume the boys all push to do better than the next, but at least at the intermediate level, the boys are friendly and nice and don’t seem to let competition get in the way of freindship.

Julian really adores his classes at ABT. In particular, he is getting a lot out of the partnering classes. This is the first chance he’s had to really work on ballet partnering. He hasn’t done much “guy stuff” in the men’s class, but he likes the camaraderie of being with all the boys. Technique classes are enjoyable also, and his choreography class, which is a jazz piece set to Elton John music, he says is awesome.

All in all, the classes, while tiring, are improving him already. He says he’s much better after just two weeks in New York.

As for his foot, which is better after one day off this week, the best I can do is to relate what chiropractor George Russell wrote to the physical therapist at ABT:

Julian appears to have a chronic sprain of the left anterior portion of the deltoid ligament of the ankle. It’s tender to the touch and hurts when he lands from jumps. the posterior part and the spring ligament appear fine. He’s pronated and in his barre work I coached him to even the two malleoli and get his weight a little more onto the heel, balanced inside to outside. I gave him a different foot exercise — lifting and spreading the toes, looking at the balanced malleoli and lifted arch in the mirror, and then letting the toes down without losing the alignment. He was doing doming over a tennis ball and resistance band work, which didn’t allow him to pay close attention to form and talar positioning.

Adjusting and icing the foot has helped, as it has in the past. Two days off will help as well. Julian does not plan to dance over the weekend. We had hopes of using the weekends for dance classes, but at least right now, he’s way too tired and needs the weekends to recover.

Tomorrow we go to see Marymount Manhattan and to find out about it’s dance program. We’ll get a tour from a TDC alumni.

Julian will be staying with another dancer and his mom for five days next week while I’m at a conference. I pray he stays healthy while I’m away! I really hate going at this point, but I can’t get out of it now. Hopefully it will all go smoothly. I will instruct him to drink lots of Gatorade and to use the packets of electrolytes that I have purchased at Whole Foods as well as better tasting Emergen-C packets. He’ll get much more sleep at their place, and it’s air conditioned. So, hopefully he’ll be okay. They do go to Broadway Dance Center twice a week to tap, but I told him not to tap if he doesn’t feel up to it. He can just watch. Or he can take part of the class.

Ugh…my nervous, worried mother is setting in. Why did I ever think I could leave him here in the city without being a wreck? If he hadn’t gotten sick this week, I’d probably be fine with it, but now… Okay, positive, creative thinking: It will be just fine. He’ll be just fine. I’ll let you know when I get back in a week.

ABT Summer Intensive Takes Its Toll on My Boy

Okay, well, I guess the New York Times article I read about the boy who went to the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive and suffered from shin splints and such painted a correct picture…or we’ve just hit some bad luck and made some bad choices. Julian is a week and a half into the ABT summer intensive himself and on Monday he slightly injured his left foot and tonight he has an upset stomach.

The slightly injured foot definitely comes from overuse and his tendency to pronate. (Remember, boys, think about this!) The chiropractor here in New York, George Russell, is a former dancer, and after he watched Julian do a few things, like plie, he saw exactly how Julian was straining his foot. Of course, he also has jammed his heel with jumps. I’ve been taught to adjust the heel, and that is helping, as is icing.

As for mistakes…well…First, we went off to a tap class with Jared Grimes at Broadway Dance Center last night knowing that Julian’s foot was not 100 percent. Also, he’d just danced 7 hours. He took a tap class at Broadway Dance Center last week, but it was nowhere near as strenuous. So, we didn’t help the foot, nor did we help Julian’s general state of fatigue.

And he is fatigued, let me tell you. He’s better this week, but last Friday after his first full week was over, he couldn’t lift his arms and he could hardly walk up the subway steps. His shoulders were sore to the touch!

The, second mistake, Julian didn’t drink enough water today. The studios are extremely hot, he says, and after lunch he began to feel nautious. He didn’t tell me this, however, and came home to eat some things he shouldn’t have eaten. And then he ate his salad at dinner but nothing else — which didn’t really help, even though it was healthy. Needless to say, not long afterwards he began throwing up. I hope it is a simple case of heat stroke and he’ll feel better in the morning and won’t have to miss classes.

I guess we won’t be doing any dancing this weekend…I think we’ll take it easy and go see some dance instead.

We didn’t get tickets to the ABT performance last weekend, because it conflicted with a trip to see his grandmother, who lives an hour outside of Manhattan. He failed to get the student tickets for Swan Lake, which opened this week, but I might just buy some.

We did go see In The Heights last Friday. It was awesome if you like hip hop and rap music. The dancing was really tremendous. The best of the dancers, a really classic hip hopper, told Julian it was great he was attending ABT. He said, “I went to Ailey and it changed my life.”

We met one of the young Simba’s from The Lion King while at Broadway Dance Center last week. He was sweet and polite and humble. He thought Julian’s tapping was awesome; he had just finished taking a beginner tap class. We saw Kiril Kulish leaving the theater after a performance, although we haven’t yet seen Billy Elliott. And Julian met David Alvarez at ABT, where he is taking some of the summer intensive classes but not all. Julian refrained from talking to him about Billy Elliott, since everyone else was doing so.

All in all, with the exception of the hurt foot and the upset tummy, it’s been a pretty good almost-two-weeks for Julian. He loves the ABT program. He’s made some friends with the guys both in blue and green levels as well as in yellow. He enjoys all his classes. He loves the partnering class and the boys class. He enjoys the teachers. He’s enormously glad he came, and he’s learned a ton in less than two weeks.

It’s been pretty good for me too (as long as I leave out some some details, like stopped up sinks, no TV reception which prevents us from watching So You Think You Can Dance, and me falling down the stairs to the apartment and twisting my knee and ankle).

Next time: How Julian feels about his level, info on his classes, his relationship with the boys, and what exactly is wrong with his foot!

Second Day in NYC at the ABT Summer Intensive

So, we are here in New York City, and I’m about to pick Julian up after his second day at the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive. We arrived to find ourselves with a very, very, very small studio apartment as a sublet. This might be better than a dorm room at New York University, and it is cheaper, but it isn’t any larger I don’t think…or not by much. I’m sleep in a loft and Julian is on a blow up mattress. The kitchen is hardly big enough to cook in and terribly ill equipped for doing so. The place isn’t all too clean and it smelled like cat when we got here. We are, however, making do and adjusting. (I’m trying to figure out how to work in this space as well.)

As for ABT, we arrived early on Monday morning to find ourselves second in line. The kids aren’t allowed in until 8:30 a.m. , so a line forms all the way around the corner of the building and down a long city block. It’s pretty amazing actually. The kids are then let in right at 8:30 and walk up four flights of stairs sans parents. (Nope…We do not get to go in except on the two parent observation days.) They are not allowed to take the elevator.

Yesterday, they were split into two groups, older and younger, and those groups were split into two again. One group, Julian’s (the younger — under 16), had an orientation session before lunch while the second group had their placement class. Julian had his placement ballet class after lunch. This was taught by Kevin McKenzie, ABT artistic director, while other people (I’m assuming the rest of the staff) watched and evaluated. Kevin evaluated as well.

This morning, the kids arrived to find out into which “level” they had been placed: yellow, red, blue, green, aqua, fuchsia, and one more…(I’ll have to ask Julian when he gets back.) While the levels are not decided by age but by proficiency, more often than not kids of the same age tend to end up in the same level as well — with a few exceptions.

Julian was hoping for the green level (typically 16-18), which is the higher of the two middle levels, but said he would be okay with blue. He ended up in blue. I’ll know better how he felt about that when he gets back. I suppose it will depend upon his evaluation of the other boys in his level. He really wanted to be with a few boys he sees as “very good.” This was not just because he wanted to see himself as as good as them but because he wanted to learn from them.

Anyway, we are off to a running start. He seemed happy yesterday and eager to get back there today.

Last night we took a tour of Juilliard. That was informative and interesting. Julian still thinks he wants to attend a school with academics, rather than a conservatory, but we are keeping our minds open. After all Juilliard is the Harvard of dance.

We hope to go see an ABT performance on Friday. Julian is looking into getting discounted student tickets — a summer intensive perk. We plan on going to see Jared Grimes dance tomorrow night as well, if I can get tickets tonight on line.  And, of course, we have our Billy Elliott tickets already…and we went up to Broadway and checked out the theater!

While Julian is getting “buff,” more flexible and in shape at ABT, I’m getting in shape just by virtue of being in New York. My legs are really sore from walking around the city. And I have a free one-week pass to a gym! Someone else told me they could get me another one for 10 days…maybe I’ll just get free passes to a bunch of gyms and actually get buff myself! (I’m a long way from that, I’ll tell you.)

More in a day or two…

Article on Trends in Training Male Dancers

The current issue of Dance Magazine (June 2009) has an interesting article written by Joseph Carman about new trends in training male dancers. You might want to pick up a copy and read it.  It discusses all-male classes that offer technical skills for men that often get overlooked in co-ed classes–beats, turns, double tour en l’air, revoltades, and barrel turns–and cross training–doing obstacle courses, runnign stairs and playing flag football. The story includes interviews with Peter boal of Pacific Northwest ballet, Carl Flink of the University of Minnesota, an dEthan Stiefel of the North Carolina School of the Arts. Check it out before it’s off the stands!

What to Pack for a Summer Dance Intensive

I found the following post about what to pack for a summer dance intensive, and it’s written by a fellow Examiner.com (I’m the San Jose Jewish Examiner.com), so I thought I’d post it. Some people might find it helpful.

http://www.examiner.com/x-12987-Dallas-Dancing-Examiner~y2009m6d8-How-to-pack-for-a-summer-intensive

Julian was given a list of things to bring from American Ballet Theatre, including yoga mats and straps, journals and notebooks, and lots of ballet clothes and shoes. We are miffed at the fact that the list did not include any dance shorts. They can’t wear shorts even for hip hop. (I wish I could be a fly on the wall watching all those ballet kids doing hip hop in jazz pants and footless ballet pants.) As for me, my suitcase is still overflowing. I have to tackle it tomorrow.

If you want to read my Examiner.com column, which sometimes is inspirational and sometimes just offers useful local info, here’s the link: http://www.examiner.com/x-7363-San-Jose-Jewish-Examiner

Three Days Until We Leave for NYC and ABT’s Summer Intensive

OMG! It’s almost time to leave for seven whole weeks in New York City and the six week American Ballet Theatre summer intensive!

As you might imagine, things are crazy at our house. Julian is studying for his last set of final exams. I’m trying like crazy to get my office in order and finish up pending work. Luckily, Julian will not have any homework while he’s away (a welcome break), but I’ll still be working. (Have computer, will travel.) So, I’ve finished the things that I can’t do while in New York — those things requiring a lot of printing, and I’ve organized myself for seven weeks in a makeshift office in our sub-let studio in the East Village (where they just filmed Step Up 3-D outside the window of the apartment).  And, we are trying to pack…or I am. I have an overflowing suitcase that I have to whittle down to a few outfits. I hate to pack…

I’ve talked to two or three of the mother’s who will be there, because I have to be away from five days at a conference. Everyone at this point is getting ready to be away from home. The boys are finishing up school and trying to stay in shape since their programs have ended for the year.  One of the mother’s gave me the low down, since she was there last year with her son. We’ll see what it’s like when we get there.

After watching the Tony’s, we are all the more excited to see if Julian will get to take class with David Alvarez, who thanked Kevin McKenzie, ABT Artistic Director, when he won the Tony this week along with the two other “Billy’s from Billy Elliott, the Musical.  Of course, I finally got on the computer and purchased our tickets to see the show as well.

Julian’s last class at Teen Dance Company until August will be tomorrow. He could go again on Thursday, but he’s opting to see some friends before going away. He’s lucky, though, that his classes run all year ’round. (For those in the Bay Area interested in the program, classes are open to the public all summer, as is the summer intensive in August.)

As for preparing for the summer intensive, Julian has been stepping up his game to some extent, but his end of the year school schedule has not allowed for a whole lot.  He has jumped rope for 5-10 minutes at a time. He has gone running several times. He is doing some of the foot exercises, such as doming using a ball, using a theraband to strengthen his ankles and the sides of his feet, picking up a pencil with is toes, and most recently (since Rasta Thomas’ first post), releves, eleves, some push ups and situps and other strengthening exercises, and more stretching. That said, these efforts are a bit sporadic…and sometimes half hearted…and a bit late in the game.

I have to believe that he is in pretty decent shape for a summer intensive, though. He dances five or six days a week all year long…sometimes more. He does pilates every week, and he doesn’t just do ballet but also jazz, tap, modern, contemporary, and hip hop. Tap, jazz and hip hop aren’t in his every-week class schedule all year long, but he does do quiet a bit of them during the course of the year. So, that is a form of cross training, I suppose. Hopefully, all of that along with the little bit of extra exercise he’s thrown in over the last few weeks will help him through the strenuous ABT program.

I’ll keep you posted on his progress. I may also try to get some of the boys involved in the blog–through interviews or even podcasts. We’ll see if anyone is interested.

Keep your fingers crossed that maybe I can get David Alvarez to agree to let me interview him not only for the blog but for my book on mentoring boys who want to become professional dancers as well. He may be young, but he is dancing professionally. In that sense, he can mentor other boys who want to follow in his footsteps.

In the meantime, wish me luck packing and getting ready to leave home and the rest of my family (Yes, I do have a husband and a daughter I’m leaving behind…) for almost a month. The things we do for our dancin’ boys.

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How to Get the Most Out of a Summer Ballet Intensive: Rasta Thomas Offers Advice (Part 2)

During my conversation with Rasta Thomas about how boys can prepare for a summer dance ballet intensive, which I wrote about in my last post, he also offered some pretty savvy advice for how our young men should conduct themselves once they actually find themselves on site and ready to begin the intensive itself. Here are a few questions I asked him on this topic and his candid replies:

 

Once these boys arrive at the summer intensive, what advice would you offer to them?

At that point, it comes down to ability. A lot of times schools use these intensives to cast their auditions for their year-round programs. So, you need to go there with something to prove not to anyone else but to yourself. You want to prove that you gave it your best shot, and you are going to allow for the opportunity to sign you if that is meant to be.

 

What do you mean by that? How does a young man “allow for the opportunity to be signed” for a year-round program like, for example, American Ballet Theatre’s school?

You need to put your best foot forward every day. Every day is an audition not for someone else but for you. Every day, every class, requires an intensive burst of energy. You have to push like a horse running out of the starting gate from the minute you wake up.

I remember I used to eat my eat my cereal in a split, do my homework in a split. I used to have sandbags at the bar to hold down my feet, I used to have friends push down my knees. Some of the best exercises are partnering exercises, so it’s great to find a good partner.

 

It can be tough for the boys to make friends, especially in a really competitive ballet intensive program. Do you have advice for the kids when it comes to who they befriend during a summer program?

Finding a group of kids that are there with the same principles—to work hard—is better than finding the kids that are just there to have fun.

 

What are your final thoughts on how young male dancers can get the most out of a summer ballet intensive?

Depending upon how serious you are, it comes down to preparation, what you want to get out of the program, and allowing yourself to be in the best shape to simply benefit the most while you are at the intensive.

Training and pushups and sit ups and cardio and lines and pirouettes and jumps and turns…These are things you work on for rest of life as a dancer. But a summer intensive allows you a focus point in a fixed amount of time to push. It’s almost like a competition or like working for a recital or like pushing your hardest to get a role or to dance with the best girl in class or just to dance with any girl in the class to get partnering experience.

Live in the studio even if class is over and nothing is going on in the studio. Bring your iPod. Bring other dancers. Make this a nonstop, 24-hour, until-you-pass-out working environment for yourself. If you can do that, you’ll benefit greatly.

How to Prepare for a Summer Ballet Intensive: Rasta Thomas Offers Advice (Part 1)

At long, long last, I have some really superb advice for all the boys attending summer ballet intensives. Actually, any boy attending any type of summer dance intensive will benefit from the advice offered by ballet great Rasta Thomas.  

I first “discovered” Rasta after I’d actually seen him perform as Eddie in the national tour of  the Twyla Tharp/Bill Joel hit musical Movin Out. I was interviewing Dennis Nahat, artistic director of Ballet San Jose, for my book on mentoring boys who want to become professional dancers, and he suggested I also interview Rasta. He mentioned that while Rasta had not taken his advice and joined a ballet company, he was doing a pretty good job of making a living as a “free agent.” Indeed, he has and still is doing just that. And while he’s gotten more than his share of accolades as a ballet dancer, he does way more than ballet these day–and he encourages other male dancers to do the same. You can see this in the repertoire of his company,  ”Bad Boys of Dance.”

Though a Californian by birth, Rasta spent his early years in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Trained at the Kirov Academy in Washington DC, under Oleg Vinogradov, Rasta made dance history as the youngest recipient of the Jury Prize at the Paris International Ballet Competition in Washington DC, the Junior Gold Medal at Varna at fifteen and the coveted Senior Gold Medal at the Jackson International Ballet Competition when he was only sixteen.

Appearing as a guest artist with the most prestigious ballet companies throughout the world, Rasta has appeared with the Kirov Ballet in Russia, The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, the K–Ballet in Japan, Lar Lubovitch, Complexions and American Ballet Theater in New York, Universal Ballet of Korea, Alonzo King’s Lines Contemporary Ballet in San Francisco, and the Beijing Central Ballet in China to name a few.

In 2007 Rasta debuted his own company, Bad Boys of Dance, at Jacob’s Pillow. This dazzling, high energy, all male company combines the best of ballet, Broadway, Tango, and Hip Hop to showcase male virtuosity at its best.  You can read  more about Rasta here.

If anyone knows what boys go through as they make there way in the world as dancers, Rasta does. And if anyone can given them advice about a ballet intensive, Rasta can. So, let’s hear what he has to say.  (I’ve left his comments in a simple Q & A format, so you can really “hear” Rasta speak.)

What is the first thing you would suggest boys do to prepare for a summer intensive, such as those run by American Ballet Theatre or San Francisco Ballet?

They can prepare themselves mentally. The first step is to approach anything new with an open mind. You are going there to learn, and you are going there to be challenged.

If you are willing to spend your “summer vacation” at a ballet intensive, and this isn’t something against your will, you are already far ahead of pack. That shows your determination and your love of what you do in a profession that is quite painful. It shows that you want to prevail and use your body in a way that thrives and lives in you. So, I think the mindset you are in is already appropriate, because you are agreeing to do this summer program and you want to do this summer program.

Beyond that, the next step is to figure out what you are hoping to get out of the summer ballet program. It will be what you predestine the experience to be. If you go there to learn, if you go there to be competitive, that’s what it will be

Also, if you go there looking for insight into your future, you can get a first hand experience of what the next step may be. This will allow you to find early in life what that yellow brick road is for you. That can be very educational. Everyone at the summer program is just a student, but the next step is an apprenticeship and then core and then soloist and then principle.

A summer program allows for an amazing amount of information to be downloaded if you’re open to it. If you go there being shy and bashful, or whatever your inhibitions are, you’ll need to abandon those. You need to say, “I’m here to learn.” Don’t judge yourself. Don’t think you are not good enough even if there is someone better than you. Think, “I’m going learn. I’m here because my parents sacrificed for me, my teachers sacrificed for me, and I sacrificed for myself. This is where I’m supposed to be. If you go into it with the mentality of “I’m going to benefit from this the most I can every single day, and you live, sleep and eat ballet, you will get tenfold more than other people will.

So, that’s the first step: mental preparation.

 

What’s the second step?

Before they go, they must get in the best physical shape they can. Whatever their syllabus or regular routine is, just push it even more. Take twice as many classes. Stretch a little longer.

A lot of times, dance classes don’t prepare you for dance itself. Class is more strength and conditioning training then stretching. I always say, ‘In dance you have to stretch your potential in addition to strengthening your potential.’ There’s a lot that can be done outside the studio. For this reason, I would say stretching, stretching and stretching are the keys. And if you’re flexible already, then spend time strengthening, strengthening and strengthening. If you are somewhere in the middle, then focus on both flexibility and strengthening before you go to the summer program.

Focus on your feet and your legs as well as on the other parts of your body. Know what your weaknesses are as well as your strengths, and specifically practice what you are bad at in preparation for the summer program.

 

Are there specific things that the boys can do in addition to taking class to get in great shape for a summer ballet intensive, such as cross training?

Cross training is a given. Dancers in general need to cross train. The boys have good weather on their side right now, so swimming is a great activity. Tennis and basketball are good. Even jumping rope is good. Jumping rope for 10 minutes a day will do wonders. Practicing variations is good, too. Strengthening, stretching (or flexibility), cardio, and repetition (of whatever the step is, such as a pas de bourrée, passé, or pirouette)—these are the four fundamental things they need to be doing. In terms of repetition, they need to do every step 10,000 hours each. To become good at anything you have to put in 10,000 hours—not consecutively, of course.

 

Since their dance programs might have tapered off by this time of year, which means they might not actually have access to as many dance classes just prior to going to their summer ballet intensive, what else do you suggest boys do to get in shape?

[Rudolf] Nureyev used to take ballet class at the back of the airplane. All you need is a little ledge to hold onto. You don’t even need a perfect surface. Don’t do anything that is going to make you hurt yourself, of course. There is always something you can practice. Do the exercises of the dance syllabus outside of class even if it is just moving your arms and your head. You don’t have to be in a structured class with a teacher giving you exercises. That’s the reason you had ballet class for the whole year—so you can do it without the teacher. You are your best teacher. Pull those things out of classes that you want to improve on, and do them in the living room in front of the mirror. Do relevé at the grocery store in line.

Class may have tapered off, but there are many hours in the day to be used—maybe not to take class but to improve your instrument.

Will boys do more jumping, turning, partnering at a summer intensive?

Definitely.

 

Is there anything they should be doing to prepare for those moves and activities  in particular?

For partnering, it’s always about lifting, so they should be doing push ups, sit ups, handstand push ups, pull ups, leg squats, and any resistance exercises, such as using dumbbells for their biceps and triceps.

For turns and spins, it’s just repetition.

For jumps, you need every muscle in your legs to be strong to jump as high as you can. So, exercise all the different muscles.

 

Are there some particular exercises you would recommend?

You can break down every point of the body and do exercises for strength and flexibility. For the feet and legs in particular, here are a few.

To strengthen the ankle, lie on your back and do 30 circles with your ankle clockwise and counterclockwise. Put your thigh at 90 degrees perpendicular to floor and your shin and foot parallel to floor. Hold knee in place and turn your ankle 30 times in each direction and then move it 30 times like gas pedal up and down.

Stand up and do sets of 16 or 32 relevé and eleve to work your calves. And the same with leg squats. Do this every day and build up to 50. It should hurt every other day. There should be a little soreness and then a little recuperation. Scientifically, you have to damage and injure your muscle for it to grow. If you aren’t sore the next day, you didn’t push hard enough.

Picking up pencil with your toes strengthens the toes [and actually most of the foot]. Use a Coke bottle or Perrier bottle and flex your foot and point your toes, and then roll your toes over and back over the bottle.  Keep the toes pointed the whole time, but flex the ankle. That works the arch.

Sit with your feet under the couch to stretch your feet.

Do your splits every day—two minutes a day in each split. If you can do them already, put a phone book or couch under your front leg.

If you don’t have your splits, take a warm or hot bath. When you get out, put on two pairs of sweats, sock and a hoodie, and stretch while the muscles are warm. Massage as you stretch.  You can also get up against a wall and in a side split straddle. I also used to lie on my back like a frog and put my legs in a double passé position.

 

Not surprisingly, there’s more to this interview than what I’ve posted here. So, keep a look out for Part 2 coming soon, in which Rasta  will advise boys on what they should be doing once they actually arrive at the summer ballet intensive.