All performances have been completed, finals have been taken, graduation is (almost) over, and suitcases are being purchased as I write. In three and a half days we take off for New York City and Julian’s second American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive. I am nowhere near as ready! Julian’s TDC performance was phenomenal! I am […]
Tips on Surviving the ABT Summer Intensive
I’d like to direct you to a guest post I wrote for DanceAdvantage.com that offers numerous tips on how to survive the ABT Summer Intensive. However, the advice pertains to anyone attending a summer ballet intensive in New York City. Please go to the site and read the article. And check out DanceAdvantage while you’re […]
Whoo Hoo! Julian's Into ABT and We're Off to NYC Again!
Just a short note to say that Julian received notification late last week that he had been accepted again into the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive Program in New York City. Whoo hoo! However, we were a bit upset at first to see that he had not been awarded a scholarship. Last year he received […]
Tech Week and ABT Summer Intensive Auditions this Week
Seems like we just got back from New York City, but Julian and his Dad went off to San Francisco today for his American Ballet Theatre summer intensive audition. I think he was a bit less nervous this year, but, of course, this year everything is riding on it. Last year, he did it on […]
What I Learned from the ABT Summer Intensive Experience
For all the mother’s and father’s out there considering the pros and cons of sending their kids off to a summer intensive or of chaperoning them during the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive in New York City, this mother offers up the lessons she learned while chaperoning her son for seven weeks in New York this past summer while he danced.
ABT Summer Intensive Ends with Awesome Performance
The six weeks of American Ballet Theatre’s summer intensive ended with a bang! The final performance was awesome with the advanced students, in particular, offering up some really amazing and pretty professional-looking dancing. In particular, the violet level choreographed one number themselves (with the help of their instructor), and it was a stand out by far! […]
Three Days and Counting Until the End of the ABT Summer Intensive
The American Ballet Theatre summer intensive is winding to a close. The kids are rehearsing their numbers and getting ready to go up to LaGuardia High School, New York’s performing high school — the one the movie “Fame” was based upon — for a run through tomorrow. That’s where their final performance will be held […]
Week 5 of ABT Summer Intensive: Winding Down
OMG! We have less than a week and a half less until the American Ballet Theatre’s summer intensive ends! Hard to believe…Julian is still having a blast, but I’m a bit homesick at this point, stressed about work and wishing we weren’t staying for an extra week. We are just doing way too much. At […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Coming Soon! Rasta Thomas on How Boys Can Prepare for Summer Ballet Intensives
Yes…after much ado and a lot of requests, today Rasta Thomas called me and gave me a 30-minute interview on the subject of how boys can prepare for a summer ballet intensive. I had written to him several weeks ago, but he hadn’t yet responded; he and I have spoken before, because I interviewed him […]
Tips from Finis Jhung for Boys Attending Summer Ballet Intensives
I’m still trying to get a really great post from someone on how to get in shape for a summer ballet intensive – little late for Julian, who will have completed his first day at the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive by this time two weeks from now. In the meantime, however, I did get […]