Alli Riley has been training extra hard this year to ensure that a spot is saved for her in the Parsons Dance summer intensive, in the hopes of possibly getting a job in the company in the future. However, while Meghan Killian would love to attend a summer intensive, she has decided to wait so she can spend this summer working and saving money for the future.
“I’m interested in Parsons Dance company because I really like their repertoire and I really enjoy New York City, so I thought it would be a great choice to head back to New York to attend this summer intensive once again,” says Riley.
Many collegiate-level dancers have been receiving their acceptance letters from some of the top summer dance intensives in the nation that will allow them to further their dance studies and possibly find a job in the field.
While many dancers will be traveling around the U.S. to study with different summer intensives, others have chosen to save money and keep up with dance over the summer in other ways.
“I did consider doing a summer intensive but I decided not to so I could save my money to attend an intensive later on before going into the workforce,” says Killian. She will spend her summer teaching tap, jazz, lyrical, and ballet classes at a local studio.
Summer intensives are highly encouraged by college dance professors because they involve training with members of paid dance companies and allow students to learn new styles of dancing. Summer intensives can range anywhere from $500-$5,000 which set dancers back who are tight on money. However, there are also options of taking drop-in classes at local studios and companies so that one can still get a higher level of training but also save money.
Alexa Kruchten is one lucky dancer considering she lives in the city of Chicago, where the dance training opportunities are endless. Kruchten decided not to do a dance intensive this summer because she wants to have time to work a job and make money, but she has decided she will take drop-in classes at many different studios and companies around Chicago.
“I will be taking classes at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Visceral Dance Chicago, Lou Conte Dance Studio, and Extensions Dance Company to keep up with dance over the summer,” says Kruchten who specializes in contemporary and hip-hop and plans to do commercial work in Los Angeles after receiving her college education.
While taking drop-in classes at these many different studios and companies, she will be studying all different styles such as hip-hop, tap, jazz, ballet, and contemporary.
When traveling away from home, summer intensives can become pretty pricey, considering one has to pay for the tuition of the intensive, room, board and travel costs to get to the intensive destination and back home.
Angelica Jones has decided that she will take advantage of Point Park’s University’s summer intensive. As a student at Point Park, she will receive a discount of 50% off tuition.
“I have done this intensive before and found it to be very beneficial, so I thought it would be worth doing again considering I will get a discount this time,” says Jones.
Most summer intensives tend to put out promo videos and send out fliers to catch dancers’ attention and show the dancer what the intensive has to offer for them.
Madeline Kelso will be traveling all the way to the West Coast to spend four weeks at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance summer intensive.
“While looking at videos online, this intensive caught my attention because I found I really saw an interest in the classes provided, the teachers who will be teaching, the length of the program, and the fact that the location of it is on the West Coast,” says Kelso.
Summer intensives through a specific dance company allow dancers to see how that company works, what their style is like, and what life would be like as a dancer of that company.
Elizabeth Avakian is excited to explore Chicago this summer while training with River North Dance Chicago.
“What I most want to get out of attending this summer intensive is to get more of a feel of how a dance company works and be able to learn new techniques and styles through this company,” says Avakian, who aspires to be in a dance company in the future.
When looking for summer intensives to attend, one of the coolest aspects from a dancer’s eyes is being able to learn choreography from an actual company or show.
Alyssa Gallagher will be heading back to New York City to spend a week at The Radio City Rockette summer intensive with the leggy ladies.
“One thing I am most excited about is the fact that we will be taught actual jazz and tap combinations that the Rockettes do for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular,” says Gallagher.
One of the biggest perks of attending summer intensives is getting exposed to what it is like to work in the field and possibly getting job offers to be in a dance company.
Skylar Schultz will be attending the Houston Metropolitan summer intensive where she will study ballet, jazz, contemporary, improv, and company repertoire.
“Throughout the intensive, they will be holding an audition process where instructors will be looking for dancers to possibly recruit for their company,” says Schultz who would love to be in a dance company or Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vegas before settling down and being the chair of a dance department.
Riley will be returning to New York City to study with Parsons Dance because it is a company she is very interested in.
“Parsons Dance is very unlikely to hire a new member that they have never worked with before. They tend to take dancers who show interest in the company and know the style of Parsons Dance because they like to develop the dancers into the companies ‘type,’” says Riley.