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!
Happy Birthday to Julian! Sounds like a wonderful time you two had.
Regarding the ballet schools and other forms of dance: My son started at a local school where we were living. He studied only ballet for the first year (age 9). Then started with jazz once a week. The following year he added tap, and tapped for a couple years, as well as continued with jazz and ballet. While most of his classes were ballet, he did have the once a week jazz and tap classes as a supplement. He also joined a children’s modern company, and danced with them for a couple seasons.
We moved schools when he was 12, so that he could dance with other boys. At this new school, there was only ballet offered, though the advanced levels were invited to join a contemporary company and did perform contemporary choreography at the school shows and things.
He is now at the National Ballet School. Last year, his regular classes consisted of ballet every day with the following dance classes each one time per week: jazz, historical dance, and character. This year, he will have a different schedule that I believe will include modern–not sure about historical and character yet (haven’t heard what his schedule will be). The children also have either pointe (girls) or allegro/variations (boys), and then pool conditioning classes several times a week. My son is 14. Older students have a somewhat different mix of classes, but everyone has ballet 6 days a week.
So while there is a nice mix of classes, it emphasizes ballet training above all else. It is a professional ballet school, so it makes sense that the emphasis is on ballet. However, many grads do go on to dance with contemporary or modern companies.
I think for older teens who are focusing on ballet as a vocation, it is VERY important to have modern training in this day and age. It seems more ballet schools are recognizing that, as I believe most of the top schools do include modern and/or jazz for the older kids. At these schools, the younger kids are not usually given classes in these other forms because ballet training believes that one needs a solid foundation in ballet before studying other forms, otherwise children wind up confused, and there are lots of corrections that need to be made to the student’s ballet technique. That is the logic that I have been given, anyway.
Tap isn’t usually part of the curriculum. I’ve read and heard that it can be somewhat counterproductive to ballet training or the development of muscles, etc. Not entirely sure about that, but never looked into it because my son’s interest in tap waned after those two years he spent in tap classes.
Hip Hop is also not typically included in the regular curriculum, though it is offered here and there.
I think a big part of the reason you don’t see all sorts of dance offered at the professional ballet schools is that serious ballet training just requires SO much time and energy. Thinking of my son’s schedule, which is grueling, I just don’t see how he could fit tap and hip hop into his week without foregoing a few ballet classes, or the character/historical classes, which, at a professional ballet school, isn’t going to happen. They are in touch with what ballet companies are looking for, and are training the students to be employable as ballet dancers. So it makes more sense to learn russian character dances, or historical dances than it does to learn hip hop, at this point, anyway. Things may change as ballet changes, who knows.
The other issue could be the way ballet has sort of excluded itself from these other forms. I feel that many ballet people are somewhat conservative and seem very concerned with following tradition (hence the character and historical dance classes, to familiarize the dancers with this sort of dance which crops up in the traditional ballet rep) I also feel there is this idea, held by many (not all), that ballet is somehow more “pure” and therefore “better” than forms such as tap and hip hop. I personally wonder about the connection to race and ethnicity in terms of this sort of thinking, also socioeconomic class.
So anyway, yes, it is smart to pursue a wide variety of dance styles if you want to be an all-around dancer. If you think you’d like to dance on broadway, or in film/video/tv/commercial type stuff, you definitely need a broad background in dance, and should not primarily focus on ballet.
For those pursuing a ballet career, or a career in a contemporary company that is based in ballet, it seems it is most important to focus on ballet and modern, possibly jazz as well.
I am merely a parent, not a dancer or dance teacher. This is all info I have gathered from reading and talking with ballet people, so it certainly isn’t well-rounded in the sense that I have explored the opinions of those outside the scope of the ballet community. I haven’t had much contact with the rest of the dance world, due to my son’s own preferences and interests.