Choosing a ballet summer intensive can be an important decision in a young dancer’s life. It can lead to growth, contracts, and even a spot in a professional company. But it can also lead to expense, injuries, time away from home and friends and family, and can be detrimental to how a dancer feels about themselves.
The best US ballet summer intensive will depend on your goals as a dancer. Excellent choices for elite dancers include the Houston Ballet, Royal Ballet School, and Tusla Ballet. Excellent choices for dancers wanting growth but reduced intensity include Kansas City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Ballet Met.
Choosing a ballet summer intensive which suits you is important. It’s also very valuable to know what you are signing up for. We cover both of these in this article.
Best US ballet summer intensives summary
In this article, we review 17 major ballet summer intensives in the US, based on real experience. Furthermore, we give each intensive a rating which is as follows:
- Elite= A very serious and quite intense summer program
- Good decision= Great teachers, one on one attention, focussed but not extreme
- For the memories= Very large class groups, few classes, enjoyable city to be in. Not particularly stressful but also not very focussed
- Save your money= Not worth the travel and expense and doesn’t have the ‘for the memories’ option either
We have summarised our findings below.
Summer Intensive | Summary |
Houston Ballet | Elite |
San Francisco Ballet | Elite |
Royal Ballet School | Elite |
Tusla Ballet | Elite |
School of American Ballet | Elite |
CPYB | Elite |
Boston Ballet | Elite |
P and B | Good decision |
Washington Ballet | Good decision |
Kansas City Ballet | Good decision |
Oklahoma City Ballet | Good decision |
Joffrey Ballet | Good decision |
Ballet Met | Good decision |
Miami City Ballet | For the memories |
Nashville Ballet | For the memories |
ABT | Save your money |
The Rock School for Dance Education | Save your money |
It’s really important to choose smaller summer intensives where you can get the most out of the five weeks or six weeks that you’re at that company. I think a major thing that dancers get caught up with is the name of a summer intensive or the name of the company that the program is attached to.
I’ve seen it time and time again that people just go to a major summer intensive program and actually end up feeling worse about their technique or worse about their dancing after the program. The reason for this is that the teacher didn’t look at them once because there were 5,000 other dancers in there.
Let’s discuss the range of ballet summer courses available in the US.
Houston Summer Course
If you have heard anything about Houston Summer, then you know that Houston summer is no joke. You have six classes a day. You dance six days a week and it is a six-week program. They are not playing around at Houston Ballet. Having an intense summer intensive is a good thing, but I’m just saying Houston Is really, really, really intense.
P and B Summer Course
I have quite a few views when it comes to the p and b summer course. Even though many people say it is not the most enjoyable or entertaining experience, they seem to make a lot of progress during their time there. I give a lot of credit to the teacher for this. Whenever I hear someone is planning to attend p and b for the summer, I think it’s a good decision.
Washington Ballet School
Washington Ballet School summer program. This is where a close friend of mine actually ended up training year-round after high school. I obviously have a biased opinion when it comes to Washington because of this, but she absolutely loved her summer in Washington. I think I’m going to place Washington in the ‘great choice’ bucket as well.
It was definitely a goal of hers to get into the year-round program and she was so happy that she went to the summer program before she started in the year. The reason why she loved Washington so much is that it still has that prestige and it’s still attached to a professional company. At the same time, it still has that smaller intensive environment.
For example, it has one-on-one coaching with the teachers. Class sizes are around 20 dancers, not like other programs where you are in this huge room packed like sardines and the teacher doesn’t even know your name until the end of the summer performance. At Washington, you are a dancer that gets more of that one-on-one attention.
Kansas City Ballet Summer School
A friend of mine danced for Kansas City Ballet in their company. She started as a second and then got an app apprenticeship, and then made it into the full company. But she never went to their summer.
I’m honestly gonna put Kansas in the ‘great choice’ bucket and I’m going to explain why. Obviously, Kansas City Ballet is not like the prestigious of all prestigious. It’s not like p and B or a B T as far as companies go, but when you’re talking about summer intensive programs, you need to be really specific about the goals that you are trying to accomplish in your summer.
San Francisco Ballet
Let’s talk about San Francisco Ballet, shall we? Okay, a few of my colleagues are a little salty because they never actually never got into San Francisco Ballet. I swear they auditioned for them every single year, and just didn’t make the cut. And that’s okay. I am going to put San Francisco Ballet in the elite category because that’s just what it seems to be.
Royal Ballet School Summer Program
Let’s talk about the Royal Ballet School Summer program. It’s only two weeks, but they are highly, highly selective when it comes to who they accept into the program, and I think that is amazing. When I think of Royal, all I think about is the elite.
I mean, you can’t get fancier than Royal Ballet.
ABT Summer Program
The next summer intensive program that I wanna talk about is ABT. ABT has about 52 locations for their summer intensives. It feels like every major city has an ABT summer course.
There’s nothing wrong with that. I know some dancers that got into ABT, New York. One, in particular, was 11 years old when she got into the program. She told me the story of her ABT experience.
Her parents paid the tuition. They were about to pack her bags, and then all of a sudden her parents and herself asked themselves and each other, do they really need to be flying to New York? Being in a studio? 200 other girls where the teacher won’t look at her for a single second, and at the very last minute they decided not to go and went into just a local summer intensive at a local studio.
That was the biggest blessing for her. She got more out of the local summer program 10 minutes from her house than she would’ve at ABT New York with a hundred other girls in the studio of ABT. I’m going to put ABT summer in the ‘save your money’ category.
Oklahoma City Summer Program
Oklahoma City, I think that is a great summer program. It’s a smaller program, very similar to Kansas City Ballet. You’re going to get that one-on-one attention, and the odds of you getting a year-round spot or a second company spot are much higher than if you were to go to a major company like San Francisco Ballet, where they choose perhaps one person.
It’s not strict but I think you’ll get great training. It’s not so intense like Houston, that you’re going to broken at the end of the summer, and I think that’s very valuable.
Tusla Ballet Summer Intensive
The next is Tulsa. Tulsa goes straight to the elite business category because not only is Tulsa a very intense environment, but the dancers in that ballet company are very talented.
Although I don’t know anyone that went to Tulsa Valley Summer, I just have to assume that their standards of who they accept and who they don’t are extremely, extremely high.
Joffrey Ballet Summer Program
Then we have Joffrey Ballet, which is in Chicago. I’m telling you, every single person that I talk to about Joffrey Summer absolutely love it.
Their studios are gorgeous. I really don’t have anything bad to say about Joffrey, so I’m going to just put Joffrey in the ‘good decision’ bucket just because it was always a program that many of my friends wanted to go to, but didn’t end up having the time for. I think it’s a great program.
School of American Ballet (SAB) Summer
Let’s talk about SAB because I have some opinions. The School of American Ballet is attached to New York City Ballet, and the only way you can get into that company is by going through SAB. The only way you can get into SAB is by going through the summer program.
When it comes to the SAB summer program, it’s not as intense as you would think. And that can be surprising to some people. I believe they only have two or three classes a day.
Compared to the six classes a day that students do at Houston Summer for six weeks, two classes per day is a walk in the park. However, given the name prestige, they may expect you to deliver when you do have classes, so perhaps less volume but more pressure. So I’m going to put SAB in the elite category, however, it’s not as intense on your body as others mentioned in this article.
The Rock School For Dance Education Intensive
The next school that I want to talk about is the Rock School. There are some amazing dancers that came out of the Rock School, but they do have this stigma in the dance world that they focus on tricks and not as much on actual dancing.
Because of this, I’m going to put the rock school in the ‘Save Your Money’ category. I just feel I would get so much more out of a summer intensive that is attached to a professional company.
The Rock School do have good teachers and there are amazing dancers that come out of the Rock, so take this advice with a grain of salt.
Miami City Ballet Summer
Then we have Miami. Miami City Ballet is up there with some of the top companies. When I think of Miami, I think of South Beach and a good time, and I don’t necessarily think of intense, like Houston Summer. Because of this, I will put Miami City in the ‘for the memories’ category.
CPYB Intensive
Then we have CPYB. I am going straight to elite business for CPYB because when I hear about the stories from CPYB, all I hear is how intense it is. Perhaps more intense than average, and maybe intense is good.
Nashville Ballet Summer Program
Nashville Ballet itself is pretty similar to Kansas City or Oklahoma.
However, Nashville Ballet summer is another one where they let too many people in. Nashville Ballet is similar to ABT in this regard.
I going to put this one and the ‘for the memories’ category because it’s really not that stressful and I’ve heard Nashville is a great city.
Ballet Met Summer Program
The next summer program that I’m going to talk about is Ballet Met. A friend of mine had her first contract with Ballet Met which was in their second company program.
I think Ballet Met has a great summer program. It’s very similar to Kansas City, Joffrey, and Washington. I will put Ballet Met in the ‘good decision’ bucket.
I think it’s a really solid program.
Boston Ballet Summer Program
Last but not least, we have Boston Ballet. When I think of Boston Ballet, I think of the elite because the skill and talent level of the company is amazing. I will say their summer program is on the bigger side.
Boston is a hybrid of ‘good decision/elite’ categories. It is a great program and if your goals are to get into a year-round program or you want to get into your dream company, going to that summer intensive is a great stepping stone to accomplishing that dream.
Final Words
It is so important to take the time and really think about the summer intensive program that will work best for you and where you’re at in your training right this very moment.
Maybe a certain particular program would be great for you when you are ready to get your first contract, but maybe you’re not ready for that program yet. Taking the time to think about your goals and where you want to be next year is quite valuable.
There’s just a lot to think about when you’re choosing summer intensives, but the main thing that I want you to take away from this article is whilst your summer is such a valuable time for your ballet training, and I know it’s important to work hard, and I know it’s important to get into those big intensives, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that you are happy.
And it’s very important that you are in a place that values you and respects you and appreciates you. And the worst feeling in the world is just getting lost in the crowd far from home.
My friend summed it up perfectly: ‘if I could tell my younger self one thing, and if I had to audition for all of these summer intensives again, is to not worry about the name, don’t worry about where your friends are going, and focus on your own needs and your own ‘why’.’
Further Reading
If you enjoyed this article, then you will likely find value in our sister article titled Professional Dancer Schedule: What should you expect where we discuss what the life of a professional dancer looks like. So not only will you have insight into the nuances of ballet summer intensives from this article, but the linked article will further prepare you for life after ballet summer intensives.