BALLET HELP DESK

Summer Intensive Reviews

Programs Reviewed: 256
Total Reviews: 2345

Alvin Ailey

Summer Intensive Reviews

General

Dancer age

1
4
1
3

First time at a summer intensive?

8
1

Year of SI

1
4
1
2
1

Weeks available

5
4

Weeks attended

1
5
3

Reviewer

9

Curriculum

Techniques taught

4
1
5
2

Partnering (based on age)

1
8

Dedicated men's program?

7
2

# of boys in level

5
4

Other dance genres

8
2
7
1
1
1
9
5
1
1
7
3

Quality of other classes

Not Helpful
2
1
6
Helpful

Injury Prevention

Strength classes?

7
1
1

PT offered?

9

Extra fee for PT?

2
4
3

Injury rate

5
3
1

Teaching

Who taught?

2
2
5

Guest teachers

2
2
5

Year-round teachers taught

4
5

Attention from teachers

Very Little
3
3
3
A Lot

Technique improved?

No
1
1
2
5
Yes - Tremendously

Studios

Dance floors

8
2

Studio space

Cramped
1
1
2
5
Lots of Space

Studio cleanliness

Dirty
9
Spotless

Schedule

Classes per day

6
3

Saturday classes

9

Saturday class duration

9

Leveling

Leveling

1
8

Leveling type

8
1

Did students move levels?

2
1
6

Leveling fair?

9

Students per class

5
3
1

Performance

Performance?

6
3

Rehearsals happened

4
3
2

Casting equitability

Uneven
1
2
3
3
Even

Rehearsals detracted from class?

Completely
1
3
5
Not At All

Housing - General

Housing provided

8
1

# of roommates

1
3
4

Bathrooms

1
7

Coed bathrooms

8

Air conditioning

2
6

Housing comment

  • "The meal plan was optional. The dorms are apartments style with a full kitchen. My daughter prepared all of her meals."
  • "Stayed in Fordham's dorms, which were a few blocks from Ailey. My daughter's dorm was a triple room, with the RA in one bedroom and the 6 girls split between the other two rooms. The rooms were spacious and had a full kitchen, living room, and table. Each dancer had a desk, some dresser space, and a share of a large closet. Even with A/C, my dancer was grateful she brought a bunk fan."
  • "A roommate was able to purchase a vape pen and used it during the evening without the in Suite RA noticing."
  • "Housing for students under 18 are close to the studios and many grocery stores and restaurants. Having to stock a kitchen was a little inconvenient but we split the stuff between all the roommates."
  • "Housing is a 5 min walk to studio provided by Fordham University"
  • "Housing is at Fordham. The Professional Division and Junior Division students have different rules and regulations"

Where did they stay?

1

Housing - Supervision

Curfew

8

Curfew reasonable?

8

Room check

8

How strict were dorms?

3
1
2
2

Infraction handling

3
5
1

Housing - Cleanliness

Laundry available

8

Laundry free

2
6

Housing cleanliness

Dirty
2
4
2
Spotless

Cleaning required

3
5

Meal Plan

Meal plan

7
1

Food quality

Gross
1
Excellent

Enough food

1

Dietary needs?

1

Activities

Weeknight activities

8

Weekend outings

1
8

Attended weekend outings

2
6

Favorite

  • "Yankees baseball game. We are a baseball family"
  • "Some of the outings you sign up for before the program begins (the ballet, the zoo, etc) and others you can join once you are there like the 4th of July celebration."
  • "Yankees game"
  • "Baseball game"
  • "Brooklyn Bridge"
  • "The zoo"
  • "Yankees game (we are a baseball family)"

Least favorite

  • "N/A"
  • "Walking the Brooklyn bridge"
  • "Fourth of July outing was a lille late for early sleepers"
  • "The Zoo"

Logistics

Quality of handbook

Spotty
1
8
Comprehensive

Program communication

Limited
1
1
7
Comprehensive

Transportation

2
1
6

Neighborhood safety

Not Safe
1
1
4
3
Very Safe

General Comments

Overall recommendation

Definitely Not
1
1
7
Absolutely

Best aspect

  • "The diversity and the training! This was the second summer that my daughter attended. AIley is incredible! We highly recommend it."
  • "The Ailey culture is incredible. The instruction quality is wonderful. It was a gift to dance in this beautiful community and dance studios. My dancer was part of the Junior Division, and the chaperones were diligent and took their job seriously. Many rules and expectations were in place, and we felt incredibly confident that she would be safe at her first intensive away from home. The final Summer Sizzler performance was incredible. You do have to buy tickets, but you won't regret it! Wow! Overall, wonderful and super organized. She would love to go back as an older dancer."
  • "Focus on clean technique"
  • "Relationship between students and teachers"
  • "Fun city life, great field trips, lots of great restaurants around."
  • "My daughter danced with college students and she felt challenged. She learned so much about Modern. Very nice to not have to buy pointe shoes for the summer."
  • "The African influence"
  • "Training in the Ailey Facility, PT"
  • "The difficulty of the classes, the diversity."

Least liked about program

  • "nothing"
  • "The program is expensive (but worth it!). However, NYC as a whole wasn't as expensive as we thought it would be. Grocery prices were comparable to, or just a few cents higher than, what we pay at home. Also, the classes at her level were on the larger side, and even though the instruction was incredible and she felt mostly seen, she didn't think all her instructors knew her name."
  • "Overly legalized medical clearance forms to return to class after an injury or illness. The form made it impossible to show medical clearance because no provider wanted to take responsibility to say the dancer was clear for class."
  • "They have some antiquated forms for return to class after an injury or health issue that must be signed by a doctor. It is very difficult to get a doctor to sign because of the language in it that the Dr must certify the Student is completely recovered. Most doctors would not sign it because it sounded like they were liable if the student had an unforeseen reoccurrence of their issue."
  • "no meal plan"
  • "no partnering"
  • "I wish there were more classes"
  • "I would have liked maybe one more daily and a half day on Saturday"

Suggested changes to program

  • "Maybe offer a strength training class."
  • "My dancer would have loved longer hours and even more classes. She didn't feel terribly spent at the end of each day and would go to STEPS for evening and weekend ballet/pointe classes whenever she could convince her roommates to join her. Also, her level did very little pointe work, so if you are looking for pointe, this is not the best-fit program. In the future, she would be in the older division, and I think that older program is one week longer and has the longer hours that she was hoping for."
  • "Less medical strictness."
  • "Too many roommates."
  • "nothing"
  • "partnering class would be provided"
  • "More men's specific options"
  • "A stocked kitchen since they had to provide all of their own meals"

Culture of program

  • "Very supportive."
  • "Incredibly supportive, encouraging, and inspiring dancers to be bold and feel. They also set clear expectations about caring for your body because you are there to dance. The program had a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and drinking (which we didn't really encounter in the Junior Division, but we appreciated that as part of the program's overall culture)."
  • "Very friendly. Students were very supportive of each other."
  • "Positive and professional. Way too many forms abd policies."
  • "Positive and supportive"
  • "inclusive, challenging"
  • "warm, supportive, and non-judgemental"
  • "Whole dancer wellness"

Other comments

  • "Unless students are with their chaperone, dancers may only walk; no subways, carriages, Ubers, etc. Also, you cannot go beyond the set boundaries unless your chaperone is with you. However, you can access everything you need within the walking zone, so it doesn't feel as limiting as it sounds. Dancers have easy access to Whole Foods, Target x2, Trader Joe's, several drug stores, STEPS on Broadway, and many shops & restaurants. Also, move-in/out happens the Sunday before classes start and the morning after the final show. I just want to say again that this was an incredible experience that I can highly recommend to others."
  • "Although the company is more modern focused, my dancer grew tremendously in her ballet technique. Teachers were very picky and precise in their corrections to all students so my dancer cleaned up a lot of bad habits. She is returning to the program this year along with her brother."
  • "My daughter experienced some dizziness while there. They decided to take her to an urgent care and an ER both found nothing wrong but Ailey required a form signed by a doctor stating she would not have the issue ever again. No doctor is willing to sign such a form."
  • "The in suite chaperone smoked weed one night in her room. Some of my dancers roommates bought weed and vaped it one evening making my dancer feel very uncomfortable. One roommate was very messy and grossly left food and things out in the room and was not made to clean it up by the chaperone."
  • "Such an awesome show at the end! So impressed with everything."
  • "Highly recommend"
  • "Inclusive to hard working dancers with discipline not for hobbyists"
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Age: 17
Overall Rating

Attended 2026, Stayed In Housing
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 15
Overall Rating

Attended 2025, Stayed In Housing
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 16
Overall Rating

Attended 2025, Stayed In Housing
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 15
Overall Rating

Attended 2024, Stayed In Housing
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 15
Overall Rating

Attended 2023, Stayed In Housing
3 out of 5 rating
Age: 15
Overall Rating

Attended 2023, Stayed In Housing
2 out of 5 rating
Age: 17
Overall Rating

Attended 2023, Stayed In Housing
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 17
Overall Rating

Attended 2023, Stayed In Housing
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 13
Overall Rating

Attended 2022
5 out of 5 rating