Dear Parents and students,

These days there are literally hundreds of summer programs to choose from and there are many factors that go into deciding what program is right for which student. The most important things that we think you should be considering are good safe training, safe housing and a faculty with a good reputation.

Some generalizations we feel comfortable making are:

1. Students under 12 years old should not attend programs away from home.
2. Students who are not excited about dancing for at least 6 hours a day should not consider going away for a summer program.
3. Students who are not comfortable in competitive environments should not consider going away for a summer program.
4. Summer intensives are for serious students, or students who would like to decide if they are ready to start getting serious about dance.
5. Summer intensives are a wonderful opportunity to improve technique in a short amount of time (hence, intensive!)

The links below are for schools that we think are good options for most students of the Academy (either because we have been there, know students who have done well there or know and can recommend the faculty members).

Washington Ballet: http://www.washingtonballet.org

Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet: href=”http://www.cpyb.org/summer_programss”>http://www.cpyb.org/summer_programs

Harid Conservatory: http://www.harid.edu

American Ballet Theater: http://www.abt.org/education/summerintensive.asp

North Carolina School of the Arts: http://www.uncsa.edu/summersession/dance.htm

Chautauqua School of Dance: http://www.ciweb.org/schoolofdance

Miami City Ballet: http://www.miamicityballet.org/school/summer_program.php

The Rock School: http://www.therockschool.org/summer

Pittsburg Ballet Theater: http://pbt.org

Royal Winnipeg Ballet School: http://www.rwbschool.com/pro/program/PDSS.htm

Alvin Ailey Theater: http://www.alvinailey.org

Boston Ballet: http://www.bostonballet.org

Again, these are general recommendations and the programs may not suit every dancer. We hope the information above can help guide you in choosing a program that might work well for your child.

Additionally, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering classes for all levels throughout this summer, including in August the two week programs “Miss Sori’s Extravaganza” for younger dancers and “Amsterdance ADA” for upper level students. Other week long programs will be offered and may be combined with either of these programs to create 5 or more weeks of intensive training at ADA and at a discounted price.

We hope this is helpful!

With our kind regards,

Nicholas and Shayne Mishoe

Directors, ADA

Before going into how to select a dance school, it’s worthwhile to look at a more basic question: Why dance?

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