BALLET HELP DESK

Summer Intensive Reviews

Programs Reviewed: 232
Total Reviews: 1867

ABT Young Dancer Program NY

Summer Intensive Reviews

General

Dancer age

3
3
1
2

First time at a summer intensive?

6
3

Year of SI

2
4
1
2

Weeks available

9

Weeks attended

9

Reviewer

9

Curriculum

Techniques taught

1
1
8
1

Partnering (based on age)

9

Dedicated men's program?

2
3
4

# of boys in level

1
8

Other dance genres

9
3
1
9
3
8

Quality of other classes

Not Helpful
2
2
2
3
Helpful

Injury Prevention

Strength classes?

1
7
1
1

PT offered?

4
3
2

Extra fee for PT?

9

Injury rate

6
3

Teaching

Who taught?

3
4
2

Guest teachers

1
2
6

Year-round teachers taught

2
2
5

Attention from teachers

Very Little
1
3
4
1
A Lot

Technique improved?

No
3
2
2
2
Yes - Tremendously

Studios

Dance floors

8
1

Studio space

Cramped
1
1
3
1
3
Lots of Space

Studio cleanliness

Dirty
1
2
5
1
Spotless

Schedule

Classes per day

9

Saturday classes

9

Saturday class duration

9

Leveling

Leveling

8
1

Leveling type

3
4
2

Did students move levels?

7
1

Leveling fair?

4
5

Students per class

5
3
1

Performance

Performance?

5
4

Rehearsals happened

4

Casting equitability

Uneven
1
3
Even

Rehearsals detracted from class?

Completely
1
3
1
4
Not At All

Housing - General

Housing provided

9

Where did they stay?

1
2
1
3
2

Activities

Weekend outings

9

Logistics

Quality of handbook

Spotty
1
5
3
Comprehensive

Program communication

Limited
1
1
4
3
Comprehensive

Transportation

2
1
2
1
1
1
1

Neighborhood safety

Not Safe
1
5
3
Very Safe

General Comments

Overall recommendation

Definitely Not
3
1
2
3
Absolutely

Best aspect

  • "Quality of instruction, friendly student atmosphere"
  • "Exceptional attention to dancers"
  • "Meeting other dancers as focused on ballet as my dancer is"
  • "Historical site. Three letter name experience"
  • "My dancer and I loved this program! She thought she was in the right level - challenging but appropriate. She loved the teachers and felt very motivated and inspired. She felt she got a good amount of attention. She loved the additional classes like the character, jazz and modern and loved the guest teachers. We thought it was a good amount of classes/instruction for her age and level. I though the teachers were great - very nice and supportive but also pushing the students. The area around ABT studios was very nice - clean and safe and close to lots of activities and transportation. She met a lot of nice girls in her classes."
  • "The inspiration and making new friends for a young dancer."
  • "Meeting new friends, experiencing the ABT studios, prestigious institution"
  • "Being in NYC and exposed to ABT"
  • "Being at ABT studios surrounded buy all its history is very inspiring."

Least liked about program

  • "Leveling seemed uneven, daughter felt classes too easy"
  • "Location lol NYC is expensive"
  • "Too much time spent on choreography for the final observation, would have been better spent doing variations, Pilates, etc"
  • "Felt generic"
  • "The first day was short on instruction (had a placement class and a nutrition/safety lecture/orientation) and the last day was a half day (parents observed the technique class and they did a short performance), so the program was a little shorter than 2 weeks. Also it was during a time when ABT was not in town, so dancer didn't get to meet any ballerinas."
  • "As expected, it is large and didn't feel like the amount of time and attention likely improved dance technique much. However, at age 10 that's probably to be expected."
  • "Hands on corrections were rare and primarily class corrections were offered and very little if any individual corrections. I recognize that the ABT curriculum is a bit slower paced to work on technique and there is always something a dancer can work on refining. At such a young age, I do not think the dancers appreciate that aspect yet. If you have solid training at home, I would recommend saving your pennies for the 5 week intensive when your child is older. My older dancer has been to the 5 week NYC intensive twice and the dancing was much more rigorous and she enjoyed the experience much more."
  • "No housing"
  • "That the kids have to eat in the studio."

Suggested changes to program

  • "Harder classes, better system of leveling"
  • "N/a"
  • "Smaller classes with more individual attention"
  • "Less crowded"
  • "Having full days of instruction on first and last days would be good. Also maybe having a way for parents and students to meet and get together (had to do this on our own). Opportunities to meet performers. Some support on housing would be good. We had to stay at a hotel and it was very expensive."
  • "More individualized corrections"
  • "housing"
  • "Maybe add some stretch and strengthening classes"

Culture of program

  • "Professional"
  • "Respectful and disciplined"
  • "Relaxed; not technically challenging, but fun"
  • "Can be snobby, but memorable"
  • "Positive and supportive yet challenging"
  • "Many of these kids were big fish in small ponds and the parents were very competitive. I did not love the culture of the program. It seemed very "elite"."
  • "positive"
  • "Nurturing"

Other comments

  • "No"
  • "We stayed at Hotel 32 32 bc it had a kitchen and although the place was by no means fancy, the staff and location made it a great choice. Would definitely stay there again."
  • "All in all, my daughter says she’d do it again."
  • "We loved this program and would definitely recommend as a great first intensive for younger dancers."
  • "My daughter loves this as her first study away experience. It fostered her dreams."
  • "This intensive is fine if you go into it knowing it is mainly for the ABT "experience" and the expectation is not to improve by leaps and bounds. We knew this going into it. We have very solid training at home so I would not do ABT again until the 5 week intensive if my dancer is accepted in the future. ABT young dancer is essentially a "money maker" for the company and a good resume builder if you have the funds. If you are looking for rigorous dance, this is not the intensive."
  • "It is a good program. Not sure I would commit to taking such a young dancer to it without housing etc."
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