Category Archives: summer intensives
One Moar For The Road
In the interest of reminding myself that, yes, I have progressed in the last six months, I cringed my way through the videos from last year’s ballet intensive the other night. Here are some screen shots so we can commiserate or what have you.
First one is definitely from Albrecht’s variation (with Don Quixote hands because #fml); second one is also, I think, but from the opening sequence with the gigantic sissones ouverts of doom, maybe? I think it’s also the part where I’m going, “Oh, shizzle, I’m way down stage from my mark!”
I used up too much of my ballet mojo in class and rehearsal, and my legs were dead (note complete turnout failure and shoulder feckery), but I did manage to swing the straight-pirouette-right-into-attitude-turn bit through sheer force of all our a minor miracle or something. And, yes, I looked 12 years old the whole time. I promise I’m not really 12.
I’m including this one as proof that you REALLY should always pull your tights up until the word “Nutcracker” takes on an entirely different meaning. Dat sag, doh. (Big obnoxious box is a screenshot-process artifact; stupid tablet.)
Off to Rep!
Adult Dance Intensives, 2017
You guys! David King of A Ballet Education may be doing a summer program open to dancers ages 11-adult!
I’ve found his writings on technique to be helpful, and I think this could be a great opportunity. Click on over for more information.
Sadly, I probably won’t be going this year because I’ll be at Pilobolus’ summer program. …Unless, of course, one of you could lend me a Time-Turner and a private jet? 😉
Anyway, Monsieur King has me thinking about summer programs, so here are some options for adult dancers looking for intensives for this year. Because, at heart, ballet is my jam, I tend to focus on ballet programs and programs with strong ballet components, but the final version of this list will probably include some strictly modern options as well.
I’m not going to itemize all the individual Sun King options. There are a lot of them, they span the summer, and they have their own website for that! Besides, everyone knows about Sun King. That said, everyone always seems to have a blast at their intensives, so consider them duly linked 😉
For your planning pleasure, I’m organizing these by date. Here we go!
As always, if you know of a great summer program for adult dancers—anywhere in the world—and you’d like me to list it here, please drop the info in the comments!
Summer Intensives for Grown-Ass Adults, 2017
April
- Dates: 29th – 30th April
- Ages: 18+
- Location: London, England, UK
- Idiom: Ballet
- Notes: This one has a LIVE PIANIST, you guys! Also, they feed you. The instruction sounds quite good, too. David Paul Kearce is from Australia, where apparently ballet is huge and adult ballet students are taken pretty seriously.
- Honestly, the order of these attributes says a lot about how I’m feeling today: LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT OMG !!!!!111oneone, FOOOOOOD!!!, oh and they teach you ballet as well…
June
- Dates: 1-4 June; 8-11 June
- Ages: 18+, I think?
- Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
- Idiom: Ballet, Modern
- Notes: LINES’ Intensive is very on my radar for next year. If I had the funds and didn’t have a performance immediately after, I’d drop everything and go. BW takes class at LINES he visits his family in CA, and he speaks very highly of their classes … And he’s BW, so that’s saying that. And, I mean, it’s freaking LINES, is much dance-for-dancers. Please, somebody —go! And blog about so I can live vicariously through your words.
Mam-Luft & Co Summer Modern Dance Workshop/Intensive for Adults (note: registration isn’t open yet)
- Dates: June 5 – 9
- Ages: 18+
- Location: Cincinnati, OH
- Idiom: Modern & Ballet
- Notes: The full-day program is incredibly intense and incredibly worth it. Last year, it also functioned as a company audition (by choice; they weren’t like AUDITION OR GO HOME). I’m not 100% sure, but I think that’s their usual approach to auditions.
University of Utah SaltDanceFest
- Dates: June 5 – 16
- Ages: 18+
- Idiom: Modern & Ballet
- Location: Salt Lake City, UT
- Notes: This program has a ballet and yoga foundation and actually sounds pretty awesome. I will have to choose between this and Mam-Luft. Based on some of the class descriptions, here, that’s going to be a difficult decision.
Mark Morris Dance Group Summer Intensive (OMG, you guys, I might have to audition for this, you guys. If not, it’s on the radar for next year. Because MARK MORRIS OMG OMG OMG)
- Dates: June 12-23 (dancers may attend first week only or both weeks)
- Ages: 16+
- Location: Brooklyn, NY
- Idiom: Modern & Ballet
- Notes: Admission to MMDG Summer Intensive is by audition.
- Dates: June 19-23 (Beginner/Elementary); June 26-30 (Intermediate)
- Ages: 18+? (specifically billed as an adult intensive)
- Location: Toronto, ON!!! W00t!
- Idiom: Ballet
- Notes: Oh, Canada! DanceTeq specialies in teaching older teens and adults. Their regular program includes advanced class five days per week, developmental pointe classes, and a rep class for beginners. Their Intermediate intensive sounds very tempting… ^-^
Repertory Dance Theater SummerDance 2017
- Dates: June26-30
- Ages: 18+?
- Location: Salt Lake City, UT
- Idiom: Limon Technique
- Notes: One of three … THREE!!! … workshops in SLC this summer, which are working together to bring the dance. Good on ya, SLC.
July
Lexington Ballet Adult Summer Intensive (note: at the time of this writing, the 2016 info is still up, but the Adult Intensive is on the calendar sidebar)
- Dates: July, TBA
- Ages: 18+; IIRC students 16 – 17 can participate with permission of parent or guardian
- Location: Lexington, KY
- Idiom: JUST THE BALLETS
- Notes: I loved this intensive last year. It sounds like it’s aimed specifically at beginners, but don’t let that fool you. They’ll meet you where you are as a dancer.
Pilobolus Summer Workshop Series
- Dates: July 17 – August 4
- Ages: 18+
- Location: Bethlehem, CT
- Idiom: Pilobolus!
- Notes: Pilobolus is about as far from ballet as it gets—but the two workshops I’ve taken with Pilobolus haven’t just made me a better dancer, they’ve made me a better ballet dancer. If you feel like you have room for growth in body-awareness and partnering (hint: you do; everyone does), Pilobolus’ technique can help you grow.
Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company Professional Workshop
- Dates: July 25 – August 4
- Ages: 18+?
- Location: Salt Lake City, UT
- Idiom: Modern & Ballet
- Notes: This isn’t specifically a ballet intensive, but it’s built around a daily 1.5-hour ballet class.
August
- 26 – 28 August
- Ages: 18+
- Location: London, England, UK
- Idiom: Ballet
- Notes: As with the Ballet Retreat, London, this one has a LIVE PIANIST and they feed you. Likewise, David Paul Kearce is in the house. If I wasn’t broke, I’d go.
At the moment, it looks like my summer intensive schedule will probably look like this:
- June 5-9: Mam-Luft & Co
- July ????: Lexington Ballet Adult Intensive
- July 22: Pilobolus Pedagogy Workshop
- July 24-28: Pilobolus Summer Workshop
I’m applying for a scholarship for Pilobolus. If I make the cut, I might be able to do more than one week.
Depending on the cost of attendance and a couple other factors, I’d love to hit DanceTeq’s Intermediate intensive.
I’d still love to do SunKing, because from what I’ve heard they usually have enough men to make men’s class and pas de deux really awesome, but it’s the most expensive of the summer program options out there for adult dancers, and probably still not really on the radar for this year.
Finally, A Thing
So DanceTeam is going well (though I am still convinced that at any moment our dancers are going to realize that I have no idea what I’m doing and revolt/go rogue/possibly eat me).
Ballet and modern were less than awesome last week, but the Pilobolus workshop made up for a lot of that, especially the part when one of the instructors tracked me down afterwards and told me I was a beautiful mover with a lot of presence. Definitely one of those “I can die happy now” moments.
Likewise, today’s Open Fly, during which I started formally building a dance to Hozier’s “Work Song” that’s actually going to happen (Finally!), felt like a leap forward.
Including myself, I have four dancers lined up. Aerial A, who went to the Pilobolus workshop with me, is also in, as are my DanceTeam partner-in-crime and a fellow I know from acro (upon whose very high shoulders I have literally stood). We’ve got a tentative performance date early next year (the performance is a definite; it’s just the date that’s undecided). Aerial A happened along while I was working on choreography this afternoon and we stepped through the first 41 seconds of the dance — at least, as much as we could, since there’s some partnering stuff that requires our compatriots.
Aerial A likes what I’ve got, and I think it’s going to really work.
Needless to say, the explosion of dance stuff in my life is both exciting and a bit overwhelming. I’m still in that phase during which you just kind of white-knuckle it whilst you adjust to your new schedule. Hence less posting. I’m somehow managing to scrape paint off the trim in the midst of all this, also, because miracles evidently do occur.
This week, we’ve got a dance event on Monday evening (a sort of “live interview” with Wendy Whelan), then I think a “normal” schedule again — wait, no, DanceTeam performs on Friday!
Anyway, here’s hoping that in class this week I won’t do dumb things like choosing too shallow a line in a bidirectional combination and almost colliding with someone in the next group.
Intensive plans for next summer are also in the works. Aerial A and I are hoping to hit at least one of Pilobolus’ week-long workshops. In addition, I’ll probably go to Cinci and Lexington again. There’s a remote chance of doing Sun King if our finances are okay, but in the current economic climate it’s really hard to predict.
No worries there, though. If I don’t get to go til 2018, I’ll be even better prepared than I will next year.
There are also a few audition-y things on the radar, but let’s file those under, “To Know, To Will, To Dare, To Keep Silent.” At least for now.
So that’s where I am at the moment. Still percolating other choreo projects, especially Simon Crane — but one of them is finally taking off.
How to Survive Your Dance Intensive for Grown-A** Adults (Version 1)
Now that I’ve got a whopping two (2!! Like the number of exclamation points I just used!!) adult dance intensives under my belt, I have lots of facts intel opinions about things you should do to make sure you get through in one piece — and, of course, as your faithful Danseur Ignoble, I am duty bound to share them.
You know, for the good of humankind, or at least dancer-kind, and all that stuff.
So, without further ado, here they are.
~
First, know that you’re capable of more than you think you are.
Let me say that again, with fancy formatting:
You are capable of more than you think you are.
Ballet Intensive, Days Five and Six: Sleep Dep and Crazy (Arms) Mode
Friday was interesting: I had no zip in conditioning and technique because I was running on three hours of sleep (did I write about this already?); variations went well because in those three hours I seriously only dreamed about Albrecht’s variation.
Today’s performance was okay — I think I should have gone a bit easier last night; as such, my jumps weren’t awesome.
Also, I kept sort of forgetting what to do with my arms and just kind of waving them around in more or less the directions they were supposed to go, more or less. Jeez.
I know this because there’s video. I’m annoyed with myself for forgetting to just carry my arms through the opening two steps of Albrecht’s variation. Also for doing the world’s worst tour jeté and tiniest tours, but I understand why those happened.
That said, there are some nice moments in both pieces (one is the double turn that goes to attitude on the second rotation), and I’ll try to take KvN’s advice from Cincinnati and focus on those things!
Edit: I’m thinking now about ballet goals for the rest of this year, so I’m going to write them down.
- STOP DOING THE CRAZY ARMS AS A DEFAULT.This is a big one. This happens in part because I don’t always mark the arms with any clarity when I’m just walking through things, and the arms decouple from the choreography, and if I’m tired, I lose them. This morning, I lost a really nice moment in Albrecht’s variation specifically because of this.
The first rule of performance is: AS YOU REHEARSE, SO SHALL YOU PERFORM.
So I need to stop rehearsing my arms incorrectly, duh.
~
- Nail down the double cabrioles, because seriously, it would be good to have those in my balletic toolkit, and I think I should be able to get them down.~
- Polish the frack out of Albrecht’s variation and get a good video posted. I should also do the other one. It would be less awesome with only one person, but maybe I could teach it to someone else?~
- Get ballet video more often. For me, video makes a really good tool for analyzing and correcting my movement patterns.This week I discovered that I can learn and memorize demanding choreography pretty quickly; video can help me figure out how to make it cleaner and better.
~
- Tune up the basics well enough that I continue to execute them correctly even when tired (I’m looking at you, tour jete and legs that opted not to stay particularly turned out during simple arabesque balances).~
- Triple turns on tap.
So there you have my ballet goals.
Oh, and also: my turnout muscles are tired for realz. I suspect they’ll be very happy to know that they’re getting a day off on Monday.
One last edit: I think I actually forgot to do the turn from fourth to second at the end of my solo and subbed in a regular turn from fourth, but it worked out anyway.
Ballet Intensive, Day 4: In Which I Forget To Eat
(And then can’t stay asleep, either.)
Yesterday, I ate an early lunch, dithered around for a while (in the process remembering why I don’t bother with shopping malls even as places to take a walk when it’s abominably humid out), then transferred myself over to the hotel (which, alas, does not have a pool after all).
I then arranged my stuff, watched some videos of Albrecht’s variation, wrote a post about it and forgot to post it (hence the after-class posting), collected my dance junk, and finally rolled downtown just in time to be an hour early for class.
You’ll notice that I don’t mention food any time after lunch. You can guess why.
As such, technique class was … um. Interesting.
Things started out well, but by the time we got around to turns, I was feeling bonky. Not, mind you, bonk*ers* — I’m pretty sure that’s a normal state of affairs for me.
Rather, I was having issues with turns because my legs just didn’t want to passé — not at all a normal state of affairs; normally snapping right up to passé is one of the things I actually do well (my challenge in turns is a tendency to throw my head back).
Basically, my legs just didn’t want to go — and there was something remarkably familiar about the sensation.
That’s when it hit me: I was bonking like a Cat 5 climbing Alp D’Huez. Basically, I was out of gas. (In other news, balancés while bonking are hilarious, as is pas de bourée — “drunk step,” indeed.)
Between technique and variations I ate a granola bar with enough free sugar to get things ticking over again. Unfortunately, it was one of the caffeinated ones that Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time (what could possibly go wrong?). As such, I’ve been sleeping in dribs and drabs, alternately dreaming that I’m not asleep (which is incredibly annoying) and dreaming about Albrecht’s variation, whereupon I wake myself up trying to jump.
In my sleep.
Whilst lying face down.
You guys, that is no kind of way to cabriole (especially not avant).
Anyway, Variations involved a whole lot of marking coupled to a few impressive cabrioles. In sum, after running the duo three times, I blew my booster rockets on the first phrase of Albrecht’s variation.
Not my best day, though Mr. J remarked that I have the musicality down, and that first cabriole-assemblé-Sissone might actually have been worth it, because it was sufficiently high and light that it rather startled me.
The rest, however, was a bunch of flaily marking, though at least I was marking the right things at the right times.
Fortunately, I don’t have to go anywhere today until 11:30, when I’m wandering back to Louisville to collect Denis, so I can basically continue to attempt cabrioles in my sleep until 11 if push comes to shove.
Tonight will be our final full evening, and C and I promised that we would finally show the ladies our variations, so it should be fun. We’ll either knock their socks off or kill ourselves trying (or both — after all, dying at the end whilst surrounded by ghostly ladies is totally valid, and they are doing “Kingdom of the Shades,” which is at least kinda-sorta ghostly, though I think the Shades probably have a better deal than the Wilis).
Still going to try to hit at least one double cabriole, preferably in the second cabriole-assemblé-Sissone in that first phrase, because I think that makes more sense. The Wilis are like, “Dance!” and you’re like, “But it’s the middle of the night and I don’t see any champagne!” and then they’re like, “NO, SRSLY, DANCE!!!” And you’re like, “Dear G-d, my legs, what are they doing?”
Sorry, Albrecht — apparently, guilty get have way too much rhythm (but you’re still never gonna dance again, not if Mertha has her way).
Ballet Intensive Day 2: Albrechts, Pluriel
Yesterday, after a conditioning class in which I one again reflected on my gratitude for the grueling classes I take at Suspend and a technique class in which I had less-than-great balances but oh-my-G-d extensions and a fantastic time in terre-a-terre and grand allegro, our men’s class of two nailed down the rest of our first variation.
Mr. J then asked if we’d like to learn something else, and C requested something slower with beats — and so we found ourselves learning Albrecht’s variation (a little simplified, but not terribly so) from Gisele.
I had to mark my way through for the most part, as my right leg was feeling a little strain-y and I didn’t want to risk aggravating it, but I think I’m going to enjoy it immensely. Anything that opens with a lyrical croisée presentation and leaps immediately into cabriole avant is essentially right up my alley.
Also means we get to do a zillion tours en l’air, which I almost never get to do at home since we only very rarely do men’s technique.
So I’m quite excited about that, and it looks like we might perform Albrecht’s variation individually instead of the first one together.
Other exciting developments are taking place at home in my absence, which is lovely, though evidently my cat is extremely confused about my absence and keeps sort of despairingly loafing about, waiting for me to return. Poor kitty!
Anyway, I think I’ll come home from this week a better and more polished dancer than I arrived, which is the whole point.
Tonight I’ll probably keep my leg wrapped just in case, though I’ll see how it feels.
Ballet Intensive Dispatch: Day 1
This week involves four hours of class in the evening, so I suspect I’ll mostly report in the morning.
Yesterday, after a great class with Ms. T of Advanced Class, I took B out for a celebratory lunch, then dithered around buying the things I had meant to buy already but forgot, then hopped into my trusty Subaru and drove to Lexington.
After a near-miraculous parking space appeared (in which I parallel-parked like a boss), I snagged a tiny salad at a nearby Panera*, crammed it into my face, and wandered back to ArtsPlace, where the Ballet makes its home.
A quick aside: under most circumstances, I wouldn’t recommend “tiny salad” as the ideal energy source for four hours of conditioning and dancing. I was still feeling fairly stuffed after my enormous lunch calzone, which I nearly finished.
As a fueling strategy for this particular schedule, “Huge lunch; light supper” works brilliantly. I think, though, that I will also bring a light snack to eat before rep tonight.
We’re a group of fifteen or twentyish, and I am not The Onliest Boy this time — there are two of us, both fairly well matched in terms of technique and ability, though quite different in build (C is much more Hallbergian than I, and also a head taller).
Class began with an hour of Pilates-based conditioning led by Ms. A1. I spent the hour reflecting on how grateful I am for the conditioning we do at Suspend, without which I might very well have silently wept through most of the hour in question.
After a brief break (and a small wrestling match with my dance belt — I wore the oldest one, which is now slightly too big, which in turn frankly boggles my mind), we proceeded to technique class with Mr. J.
He explained that he’d be giving a fairly basic class so he and Ms. A could get a sense of where we were as dancers.
He kept his word, but it was still a very good class — I enjoyed his barre, centre, and adagio combinations, felt good about turns and terre-a-terre, and the tempo of the petit allegro (simply: glissade – assemblé, glissade – assemblé, glissade – changement – changement -changement) was such that, instead of being an ongoing train wreck, I got to show off some beats here and there.
It was also such that I didn’t crash and burn when I discovered the inevitable slippery spot on the floor.
I enjoyed the heck out of our medium allegro — the famous sauté arabesque/sauté passé that I love so ridiculously – and added cabrioles because everything needs more cabrioles.
Grand allegro was equally pleasant, and for once my saut de chat was fully functional, if a bit Third Reich-ish about the arms at times. Of course, there was also pas de chat, which is, at the moment, the joy of my existence.
After another brief break, we divided by gender for variations/repertory. Mr. J gave the two of us a lively, vigorous dance based on Petipa, with just enough bravura to make it shine but not so much that we won’t be able to master it by Saturday. I’m enjoying it immensely, even though it took me the entire class period to get my head around the fact that I’m supposed to do my first turn more or less backwards.
It should make one heck of an interesting foil to the ladies’ piece — the famous entrance scene from “The Kingdom of the Shades.”
We got to see their piece (which was totally unfair to them, as we didn’t show them ours!) and I was quite impressed with how well they had it down, this being only the first night, and theirs being a much larger group with a much greater range of skill. The moments that always give me chills succeeded in doing exactly that. I can’t wait to see the final performance!
I’m much less stressed-out about rep here than I was in Cinci. First, it’s ballet, which is my “mother tongue,” so it’s simply easier to memorize. Second, it’s a shorter piece than we did, and I don’t think there will be as much adding of a whole new scene on the day before the performance!
I feel like we’ll have our piece not only learned, but well-polished, on Saturday.
Funny little sidebar: in class, I noticed that C was wearing white shoes and I was wearing black ones.
Does that make me the bad guy? 😀
Dribs & Drabs
I’m mostly ready to go for the Lexington Ballet intensive, but still sort of managing the last bits of the to-do list.
Mr. Merkah approves of my dance bag:
Feline supervisor says the dance bag is okay to go!
…Though possibly less so now that it is one again crammed full of dance junk and waiting in my car.
(Of note: my dance bag is really a tool bag that I got on sale for $5 at a local hardware place. It has nifty inside pockets for essential dance things like shoes, VetWrap, a million bandages, a lacrosse ball, etc. Also makes it easy to spot in a lineup of properly dance-specific bags.)
This time I’ve remembered to pack bandages and cloth tape just in case I somehow wind up with a blister. I’ll be AirBnB-ing it the first three nights, then spending the last two at an inexpensive hotel with a pool (hope it has a hot tub!).
Today while I was demonstrating assemblé, Aerial A said, “Just like that, only without the beats.”
Didn’t realize that I had been doing assemblé battu, heh. It may have been an artifact of practicing cabrioles avant before class.
In other news, this picture about sums up how I feel right now:
Someone please get me a blanket?
After dinner, I am planning on a long soak in the tub followed by an early bedtime.
Tomorrow, we dance.
(And then we drive halfway across the state, and then we dance again.)
danseur ignoble 