BALLET HELP DESK

Summer Intensive Reviews

Programs Reviewed: 255
Total Reviews: 2234

Ballet Chicago

Summer Intensive Reviews

General

Dancer age

1
2
1
4
4
1

First time at a summer intensive?

11
2

Year of SI

1
1
2
3
2
4

Weeks available

12
1

Weeks attended

1
11
1

Reviewer

5
7
1

Curriculum

Techniques taught

13
1

Partnering (based on age)

6
7

Dedicated men's program?

2
1
10

# of boys in level

1
4
8

Other dance genres

5
1
4
3
12
1
7

Quality of other classes

Not Helpful
1
3
4
5
Helpful

Injury Prevention

Strength classes?

8
12
12
1

PT offered?

4
6
3

Extra fee for PT?

12

Injury rate

4
8
1

Teaching

Who taught?

4
9

Guest teachers

3
1
9

Year-round teachers taught

2
8
3

Attention from teachers

Very Little
2
5
6
A Lot

Technique improved?

No
1
2
10
Yes - Tremendously

Studios

Dance floors

4
10

Studio space

Cramped
2
5
3
3
Lots of Space

Studio cleanliness

Dirty
1
9
3
Spotless

Schedule

Classes per day

1
9
3

Saturday classes

13

Saturday class duration

1
12

Leveling

Leveling

12
1

Leveling type

11
1
1

Did students move levels?

4
1
6

Leveling fair?

13

Students per class

3
8
1
1

Performance

Performance?

10
3

Rehearsals happened

4
6
3

Casting equitability

Uneven
1
3
9
Even

Rehearsals detracted from class?

Completely
1
1
11
Not At All

Housing - General

Housing provided

7
6

# of roommates

6
1

Bathrooms

6
1

Coed bathrooms

6
1

Air conditioning

7

Housing comment

  • "Nice dorm living. Cleaning provided, plenty of amenities."
  • "Most interactions I had with the UC staff felt angry/hostile. But overall the staff was fine. food quality wasn't consistent, somedays it was perfect, and on others I would have to get another meal elsewhere. the bathrooms were nice but small and our toilet often had issues."
  • "The housing at University Center is amazing! Spacious rooms with big windows overlooking the city and a ton of storage! The cafeteria is in the same building and my daughter said the food was really good."
  • "Housing was at UC Chicago. Very very clean, linens were provided however I would recommend bringing your own as they arent the most comfortable. I shared a suite with 3 other roommates and did not feel crowded"
  • "There is a mini Starbucks next to the cafeteria. You’re also sharing the dorms with joffery and Hubbard st kids"
  • "Housing was a short 10 min walk from the studio - and the facility included music practice rooms (piano, etc)"

Where did they stay?

2
1
3

Housing - Supervision

Curfew

1
6

Curfew reasonable?

1
6

Room check

2
5

How strict were dorms?

4
2
1

Infraction handling

3
4
1

Housing - Cleanliness

Laundry available

7

Laundry free

1
6

Housing cleanliness

Dirty
4
3
Spotless

Cleaning required

4
3

Meal Plan

Meal plan

7

Food quality

Gross
2
2
3
Excellent

Enough food

7

Dietary needs?

6
1

Specific needs

  • "Vegetarian"

Dietary options

Limited
1
Lots

Activities

Weeknight activities

3
4

Weekend outings

13

Attended weekend outings

5
5
3

Favorite

  • "Broadway show"
  • "Musicals at the Nederlander and the Shedd Aquarium."
  • "broadway show"
  • "Boat tour on chicago river or movie day."
  • "Six the Musical"
  • "Six Musical"
  • "a touring Broadway show"

Least favorite

  • "Natural history museum"
  • "Whitesox game"
  • "they are all required - included in the tuition. some were better than others but she had fun on all of them."
  • "Boat Tours"
  • "Loved all of them"
  • "my dancer appreciated all of the activities, but found the walk to some of them longer than she wantede on her day off"

Logistics

Quality of handbook

Spotty
1
4
7
Comprehensive

Program communication

Limited
4
6
3
Comprehensive

Transportation

1
1
5
6

Neighborhood safety

Not Safe
1
2
7
3
Very Safe

General Comments

Overall recommendation

Definitely Not
1
1
11
Absolutely

Best aspect

  • "Ballet technique class, conditioning, great instruction, quality excursions, safe dorms, adequate chaperoning"
  • "Most of my teachers were incredibly technique focused. Ms. Bairs, Mr. Seymours, and Ms. Flags classes were phenomenal. Our Spanish was great and very educational on the culture we were portraying. I was coming from an incredibly Vaganova centred school and I was trying to become a more versatile dancer, I definitely felt the dancers already trained in Balanchine had an easier time and were treated a little better by certain teachers but I came back with my teachers raving about my musicality, expression, and footwork."
  • "I feel like Ballet Chicago is a bit of hidden gem. It's a smaller program- and I guess doesn't get as much national recognition because they don't have a professional company. The directors are both former OG NYCB dancers- part of that older Balanchine generation. My daughter received so much correction and attention from the teachers. Her confidence grew tremendously, and her technique improved dramatically. The technical training is impeccable but it is also a really nurturing environment."
  • "The teachers for ballet technique are really outstanding."
  • "The attention to detail from teachers."
  • "Great community and amazing teachers."
  • "Enthusiastic teachers who want you to improve and grow as a dancer. The workload was just right that everyone was pushed as dancers but not to the point of injury. I got a lot of very meaningful corrections and made a lot of improvement and progress during my time at BC."
  • "Level of instruction was top notch, studios were clean, able to watch if you wanted, outtings were fun but geared towards those who stayed on campus, observation class and full show at a theater was great"
  • "As a student in the youngest/lowest level, the class size and level of attention was great. I saw so much improvement over the course of the summer."
  • "Technique classes"
  • "My dancer was happy with her placement (felt it was appropriate) and the attention/instructions she received. She felt she grew as a dancer and improved technique. There was a small level of drama around casting (from girls that weren't highlighted in a piece), but it was minimal and what I think one would expect from kids of that age just being bummed and expressing themselves. That said, everyone was beautiful in the final show and all dancers danced in 3 dances. Also, parents also observed a class on the last day, so there was plenty of opportunity to see you dancer. This was nice. Students also had the opportunity to explore the city in the evenings and got out to dinner etc. for a treat."

Least liked about program

  • "The Horton-focused modern wasn’t my taste, which is fine, but the teacher caused a lot of drama with cutthroat casting, unnecessary stress due to disorganization and overall lack of experience teaching teenagers. Also this is not a knock against Ballet Chicago, but Chicago itself is a large city with its fair share of issues. As long as your dancer stays aware and in groups, should be no issue. We were comfortable with the safety of the program itself however."
  • "Placing was a mix of age and ability, depending on the dancer. I felt that some of the dancers from other programs were placed too low, whereas year-around dancers were placed too high. this caused classes to be dumbed down for the younger/less advanced dancers or classes to be drawn out longer due to teachers needing to give more correction or completely teach something from scratch when giving a more advanced class. some of our instructors were inexperienced handling large class sizes/just teenage girls in general, which resulted in favoritism and unorganized classes. Modern was especially guilty of this."
  • "Honestly, nothing!"
  • "My dancer was not a fan of the Spanish and Modern classes, especially as levels were combined, which reduced the challenge level. We were also told to purchase character shoes that were not utilized for the Spanish dance."
  • "So much sitting around/waiting between classes. 3 hours per days twice a week, 1.5-2 hours on other days…so the day was unnecessarily long."
  • "Walk to and from studios and dorm."
  • "There was a decent amount of favoritism towards their year round students in regards to everyone else, but not to the point that I felt as if I wasn't being paid attention to"
  • "Parking is hard for pick up bc state street is a no parking zone."
  • "The lunch break is very long. I would prefer a shorter day or workshops scheduled during lunch."
  • "Lunch wasn't provided, which wasn't a huge issue. But Saturday brunch was provided, yet the girls were in classes, so it was a weekly meal we paid for and they never ate. It would have been nice to have a trip to the local ballet stores a couple of evenings (they were not walking distance)."

Suggested changes to program

  • "An option to not pay for breakfasts on Saturdays due to not getting to use the meal plan due to odd hours. More locker room space for lower levels. My daughter regularly had items go missing because of the lack of proper storage during the hectic days, and so many girls using a small space to quickly change."
  • "more lenient placement, especially since there is a lot of growth that happens between the audition, and late June."
  • "A better living situation for students that want to train there year-round. My daughter was asked to join the Studio Company/Professional Training program, but there is no dorm set up for the year-round program, as most of the dancers are local."
  • "Some days there weren't lunch breaks. A thirty-minute break isn't enough time to properly fuel, especially when pointe shoes have to be put on and leotards have to be changed (also - why do they need to change colors multiple times per day?)."
  • "Nothing."
  • "More levels, while I was in a higher level with a class of around 16 people with similar skill sets, the lower levels had very drastically different abilities throughout the classes as they would be much larger"
  • "Nothing"
  • "Chances for the older dancers to mentor the younger ones, such as helping them learn to do their own hair or make-up for performances."
  • "Long lunch break for my level"
  • "meal plan re: Saturday meal issue described above; buses to some outings vs walking"

Culture of program

  • "Supportive and helpful with a high emphasis on producing expressive, technical dancers. Equal parts fun & hard work."
  • "overall, very welcoming. some cliques with year-round dancers but that is to be expected."
  • "Demanding yet nurturing; really enjoyable classes"
  • "The girls in my daughter's level grew really close. Friendships were formed!"
  • "Positive"
  • "Supportive."
  • "Really positive, everyone who is there, wants to be. There is a bit of a "clique" culture with the year round students but it's easy to ignore"
  • "Very nurturing but stern instructions"
  • "Positive, yet focused."
  • "Friendly, Focused"
  • "supportive and designed to help dancers improve technique and learn; as always I wish there was more men for partnering (there were 5 in total). My daughter had partnering 2x week based on her level"

Other comments

  • "I’d recommend this program to anyone looking for a Balanchine focused away intensive. We were very happy with the level of growth of our daughter in 5 short weeks, and felt a great deal of attention was paid to safety which I appreciate as a nervous parent."
  • "we loved it so much! it was an amazing "big city" experience with a lot of autonomy. the studios are absolutely beautiful, the other kids were really nice, and she loved the teachers- especially Mr. Duell. highly recommend!"
  • "Not as demanding on technique as I would have preferred, in terms of slowing down with younger dancers to demand straighter legs, etc."
  • "I couldn't recommend this intensive enough. Even if you dont like Balanchine technique, I think every dancer could get something out of it. Teachers here are incredibly passionate and due to the program's small size, you WILL be payed attention to. On a different note, the RAs are quite relaxed which makes staying at the dorms and going out to explore a more enjoyable experience. Also, if you have the ability or option to, I wouldn't pay the $300 activities fee and instead spend that money on your own activities. Most of the places we went were free and it felt pointless to have payed $300 and at the end, they didnt even add up to that much."
  • "My dancer had to reported an SA issue but it was handled very well"
  • "would recommend"
Reviews
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Age: 14
Overall Rating

Attended 2026, Stayed In Housing
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 14
Overall Rating

Attended 2026, Stayed In Housing
4 out of 5 rating
Age: 14
Overall Rating

Attended 2026, Stayed In Housing
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 13
Overall Rating

Attended 2026
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 11
Overall Rating

Attended 2025
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 13
Overall Rating

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

Attended 2024, Stayed In Housing, Special Diet
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 12
Overall Rating

Attended 2024
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 11
Overall Rating

Attended 2024
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 10
Overall Rating

Attended 2023
3 out of 5 rating