Are summer schools abroad really worth it?

[Jan McNulty]

16 minutes ago, squaretoes said:

Hi there.  I know this topic is from a few months ago, but my daughter is considering summer intensives and upper schools in the USA and we were looking at San Diego as an option.  Did your daughter learn a lot in that one?  My daughter will be just coming up to her Upper School auditions and would like to dance professionally in future.  She chose San Diego as we have family and friends there, so we could turn it into a holiday as well.  We'd be happy to look at any other USA based intensives as well so open to further recommendations.  

 

 

Hello @squaretoes and welcome to the Forum!

[LGBalletTaxi]

Can anyone recommend intensives in Spain - wanting to combine ballet with improving language for GCSEs. 

[squaretoes]

On 26/08/2023 at 18:55, Neverdancedjustamum said:

Hi! If you’re looking at USA for full time, I have heard Miami City and Houston Ballet School often makes year-round offers to SI students. I also know of a full time offer to an international student at ABT JKO from this year’s SI. The Harid Conservatory in FL is also one to look at. I know they’ve made offers to internationals recently. 

Thanks! That is very helpful information.  Will look into all to see if it's something to explore further.

[FionaM]

Answer = yes.  
 

A British girl from Bristol Russian Ballet School was offered a place at the Vaganova Academy after participating in a summer school in Spain.  Some of the teachers were from VA

 

I should add … she did have a scholarship for this summer school which she won at a competition in Italy where Zenaida Yanowsky was on the jury. 

Edited August 28, 2023 by FionaE
Add info

[Kerfuffle]

23 hours ago, FionaE said:

Answer = yes.  
 

A British girl from Bristol Russian Ballet School was offered a place at the Vaganova Academy after participating in a summer school in Spain.  Some of the teachers were from VA

 

I should add … she did have a scholarship for this summer school which she won at a competition in Italy where Zenaida Yanowsky was on the jury. 

Hi Fiona she got her scholarship to the Alicante summer course earlier on in the year not at the festival in Italy. If you want to be considered for Vaganova they will watch you during the intensive, which is similar to the set up in many USA summer courses. 

[FionaM]

25 minutes ago, Kerfuffle said:

Hi Fiona she got her scholarship to the Alicante summer course earlier on in the year not at the festival in Italy. 

thanks for the clarification.   Best wishes to her.   Fabulous opportunity 

[Lifeafterballet]

My daughter did a summer intensive at The Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. She won a scholarship to attend at YAGP finals in New York. 
A couple of days after she had flown home we received an email offering her a year round place with a scholarship. It would have worked out considerably cheaper than her DaDa in the U.K. but we gave her the choice and she decided to stay at her ballet school. Good job she did as the A levels she took came in very handy when Covid hit in her graduate year and she decided to go to University. 

She made some wonderful friends and got an insight into training abroad. 
Harid select a lot of their students through their intensive. 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Lifeafterballet

[Lifeafterballet]

She also did 2 weeks at Houston Ballet Academy. Invitation from YAGP. This was during their term time. She stayed with the full time students in the accommodation which is in the same building as the studios. 
She found it very restrictive being inside 24/7. It wasn’t for her.
Again though she made some lovely friends, 3 of which she met up with recently when she visited her brother at his ballet company in Europe. It’s a small world really 😊 

[Peanut68]

A couple of indirect things on this thread that I’m curious about….wondering if there was support from the UK vocational school to enter YAGP… did the school select & enter pupil & assist with coaching & financing? 
Secondly, can Russian institutions currently send teachers to overseas intensives etc? Am I naive in imagining there would be travel   restrictions on that & on actively recruiting for students etc considering world events…?

[academicdancer]

As far as I know, there are no direct flights between Russia and several countries now, including the UK, but you can still go via Turkey/Finland and bus over the border/China and probably other countries too. And I don't believe that there are any restrictions on inviting students - there are still (some) international students at Vaganova and Bolshoi Ballet Academy, including from the UK. 

 

[Lifeafterballet]

8 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

A couple of indirect things on this thread that I’m curious about….wondering if there was support from the UK vocational school to enter YAGP… did the school select & enter pupil & assist with coaching & financing? 
 

Not at all.

The first time we went to YAGP Paris was on a scholarship that was offered at the Cecchetti International Ballet Competition which my daughter was entered into by her vocational school. They weren’t very happy about it but we went. Then when she made NY Finals there was nothing, no support, advise, coaching, help with costumes etc. The opportunities she was offered there and went too were classed originally as unauthorised leave until we took it up with the principal.
Already being on the naughty list 🤣 we went again in graduate year, we love Paris, and got some fabulous footage of her solos which she used for her company applications. At the time the school offered no help at all with filming. The students did it all themselves in the studio at the weekends with an iPhone and tripod. But that wasn’t allowed either 😏 due to health and safety. 
Travelling to different countries and meeting new people are the happiest memories we have of her vocational school time. 

[Kerfuffle]

9 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

A couple of indirect things on this thread that I’m curious about….wondering if there was support from the UK vocational school to enter YAGP… did the school select & enter pupil & assist with coaching & financing? 
Secondly, can Russian institutions currently send teachers to overseas intensives etc? Am I naive in imagining there would be travel   restrictions on that & on actively recruiting for students etc considering world events…?

The schools can and do recruit those who still want to go out there, in fact some of them need the money from the foreign students. The foreign office has serious warnings about going out to Russia and the ability for the consulate to bring British nationals back in the event of emergency. 

[Ballet Saga]

On 29/08/2023 at 21:56, FionaE said:

thanks for the clarification.   Best wishes to her.   Fabulous opportunity 

I don’t know if we would all agree on the opportunity. I certainly wouldn’t want my child in Russia right now 

[Ballet Saga]

23 hours ago, Kerfuffle said:

The schools can and do recruit those who still want to go out there, in fact some of them need the money from the foreign students. The foreign office has serious warnings about going out to Russia and the ability for the consulate to bring British nationals back in the event of emergency. 

I’m surprised this isn’t mentioned more. In my opinion it’s irresponsible of a parent to send a child to Russia at the moment 

[Kerfuffle]

It’s certainly not a safe place right now. Fortunately there are plenty of excellent schools offering fantastic training opportunities throughout Europe and the rest of the world. 

[FionaM]

9 hours ago, Graceful said:

I’m surprised this isn’t mentioned more. In my opinion it’s irresponsible of a parent to send a child to Russia at the moment 

I think the decision is personal, and will depend on the connections you have.  For instance the teachers at the Russian ballet school in Bristol know the Vaganova teachers personally. So any child from their school will be looked after, irrespective of the lack of UK govt support.  
 

 

[Guest oncnp]

1 hour ago, FionaE said:

I think the decision is personal, and will depend on the connections you have.  For instance the teachers at the Russian ballet school in Bristol know the Vaganova teachers personally. So any child from their school will be looked after, irrespective of the lack of UK govt support.  
 

 

I am sure they will as far as they can. But they have zero control over the situation and should the Russian government tell them to hand over the child they will. They have no choice. 

Not a position I'd put my child in. 

[Ballet Saga]

2 hours ago, FionaE said:

I think the decision is personal, and will depend on the connections you have.  For instance the teachers at the Russian ballet school in Bristol know the Vaganova teachers personally. So any child from their school will be looked after, irrespective of the lack of UK govt support.  
 

 

You’d hope so but maybe it’s naive to think that considering what the Russian government is capable of. 

[Pas de Quatre]

Unless you know the family personally, it is unwise to judge. They may have their own Russian connections, not just through the teachers. A Russian teacher friend, who trained at the Vaganova Academy, has lived here for many years in UK and has lovely children (not dancers). She goes regularly on visits to St. Petersburg to visit family who live there.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Pas de Quatre

[Ballet Saga]

4 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

Unless you know the family personally, it is unwise to judge. They may have their own Russian connections, not just through the teachers. A Russian teacher friend, who trained at the Vaganova Academy, has lived here for many years in UK and has lovely children (not dancers). She goes regularly on visits to St. Petersburg to visit family who live there.

I don’t think it’s ‘unwise to judge’. It’s not about visiting Russia. It’s about sending your child there to train during very uncertain and dangerous times. 

[Kerfuffle]

I agree. The situation in Russia is very unpredictable.  If things got more serious, even with the support of the nicest teachers back home your child could be stuck there unable to get help. If you are Russian then visiting is fine but as  a British National it would be totally different.

 

[Emeralds]

Just answering the original question posed, I think it’s not a case of going to summer intensives abroad because you might miss out on something important if you don’t go, or that they are better than intensives in Britain, but that by going to this intensive, your child may gain something unique from the experience (eg being in a different culture, meeting other students from a different country or countries they wouldn’t have had a chance to meet, and learning from teachers coming from a different tradition.)

 

Sorry not to be able to be more helpful with the query about intensives in Spain.