Julian returned in mid July from Dresden, Germany, for the first time in a year. He was on his summer break—one month off—from Semperoper Ballett. During that time he transitioned from apprentice to a member of the corps de ballet. He returned to California not only as a 19-year-old with a ballet contract he had […]
Mark Foehringer on Preparing a Dancin’ Boy for the Professional Dance World (Part 2)
Boys mature at a different rate than girls. They deal with their emotions differently, and often have different issues as they move through puberty and into young adulthood. I think this can become even more pronounced for the young male dancer who may find him self sticking out like a sore thumb amongst his peers […]
Wilhelm Burmann Talks About How Boys Can Succeed as Dancers (Part 2)
It’s been over a month since I posted Wilhelm Burmann Talks About How Boys Can Succeed as Dancers (Part 1)—or anything else here on this blog. I apologize. My life has been crazy. You’d think it would be calm and simple without my dancin’ boy at home. Life works in mysterious ways, and just as […]
High School Graduation and SAB Workshop Approaching
The end of the year is fast approaching. When it comes to dance, everything seems to be moving along well for Julian. His foot seems to have healed up, although I’m not there to speak to anyone. The physical therapist says after spring break he need only come back once a week, and he has […]
Summer Intensive Auditions End, REAL Auditions Start
A lot has happened since my last post…I’ve just been too busy to write. I apologize. I’ve got a non-dance related book coming out in a few months, and getting ready for that launch has been taking up all my time. Anyhoo. Since I wrote last Julian has been struggling with his tendon tear. He […]
Time to Start Auditioning for Companies & Summer Intensives
The School of American Ballet (SAB) students receive guidance about summer intensives and company auditions just before Thanksgiving break. The boys are brought in to see Jock Soto, the head of the men’s division, and he asks them what summer programs they might be interested in attending. He then advises them on their choices. He […]
Our First Regional Dance America Experience
We returned from Regional Dance America (RDA) in Los Vegas a week ago. We haven’t had a break. My husband, Ron, flew in from Germany the day before we left and flew out to Missouri to care for his mother a day after we returned. Julian had rehearsals up until the evening before we left […]
College or No College: That’s the Quandry
Here’s a heads up to parents of young male dancers heading down the ballet route. If your son becomes a ballet boy, by which I mean a serious ballet student, beware that he likely will begin to think he should ditch the idea of heading for the hallowed halls of higher learning and head instead […]
Joey Dowling on a Dancer’s Education and Training (Part 3)
One of the issues we’ve been struggling with lately has been whether or not Julian will go to college. We’ve always assumed he would, but in the back of all of our minds we knew a chance existed that he might simple end up dancing. As they say, dancers dance. (Expect to see more posts […]
Driving to Dance Keeps this Mom Busy
I must apologize. I haven’t written a post in over a month. Actually, it’s been a month and a half. Today, Julian asked me to write a post. Seems he received a question on Formspring.me asking him why his mother had stopped blogging. Well…I haven’t stopped blogging. I’ve just been busy. In fact, I blog […]
What Goes Into a Dance Resume?
While tweeting on Twitter today (yes, you can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ninaamir), I saw a link offered as the answer to a question about the difference between a regular resume and a dance resume. So, of course, I clicked on the link. I discovered a short and sweet explanation of what goes into […]