BALLET HELP DESK

Summer Intensive Reviews

Programs Reviewed: 240
Total Reviews: 1992

BalletMet Partnering Intensive

Summer Intensive Reviews

General

Dancer age

1
3
3
3

Gender

8
2

First time at a summer intensive?

8
2

Year of SI

5
2
2
1

Weeks available

7
3

Weeks attended

7
3

Reviewer

3
7

Curriculum

Techniques taught

5
1
6
4

Partnering (based on age)

10

Dedicated men's program?

2
2
6

# of boys in level

4
1
5

Other dance genres

1
9
2

Quality of other classes

Not Helpful
2
1
7
Helpful

Injury Prevention

Strength classes?

1
1
7
1
1

PT offered?

5
5

Extra fee for PT?

1
7
1

Injury rate

3
7

Teaching

Who taught?

2
4
4

Guest teachers

2
4
4

Year-round teachers taught

3
6
1

Attention from teachers

Very Little
2
2
2
4
A Lot

Technique improved?

No
3
2
2
3
Yes - Tremendously

Studios

Dance floors

1
1
1
1
7

Studio space

Cramped
1
1
4
4
Lots of Space

Studio cleanliness

Dirty
2
3
5
Spotless

Schedule

Classes per day

1
4
4
1

Saturday classes

3
7

Saturday class duration

1
6
3

Leveling

Leveling

4
6

Leveling type

2
5
3

Did students move levels?

6
2

Leveling fair?

3
7

Students per class

4
4
1
1

Performance

Performance?

2
8

Rehearsals happened

2
5
1

Casting equitability

Uneven
1
2
5
Even

Rehearsals detracted from class?

Completely
1
2
7
Not At All

Housing - General

Housing provided

8
2

# of roommates

3
2
2
1

Bathrooms

2
6

Coed bathrooms

7
1

Air conditioning

1
7

Housing comment

  • "1-week partnering intensive. First year, but showed positive reviews from all/most who attended"
  • "Not much around."
  • "There isn’t much you can do outside your dorm. Very limited boundaries"
  • "It was a suite so there were two rooms and a bathroom i had one other person in my room so i had four roommates also because it was two weeks they did not have excursions except one trip to target"
  • "So many ants! The facilities were pretty grim - metal office cabinets used as dressers. Each bedroom had one roommate and each pair of bedrooms shared a bathroom, the girls and boys were on separate floors"

Where did they stay?

2

Housing - Supervision

Curfew

1
7

Curfew reasonable?

1
7

Room check

1
7

How strict were dorms?

3
1
1
3

Infraction handling

1
6
2
1

Housing - Cleanliness

Laundry available

8

Laundry free

4
1
3

Housing cleanliness

Dirty
3
4
1
Spotless

Cleaning required

2
6

Meal Plan

Meal plan

8

Food quality

Gross
2
4
2
Excellent

Enough food

8

Dietary needs?

6
2

Specific needs

Repeated Responses:
  • "Vegetarian" (2 responses)

Dietary options

Limited
1
1
Lots

Activities

Weeknight activities

6
2

Weekend outings

10

Logistics

Quality of handbook

Spotty
2
2
1
2
2
Comprehensive

Program communication

Limited
1
1
1
3
4
Comprehensive

Transportation

1
1
1
5
2

Neighborhood safety

Not Safe
4
5
1
Very Safe

General Comments

Overall recommendation

Definitely Not
2
1
3
4
Absolutely

Best aspect

  • "One week with focus on partnering. Dancers had 5+ hours of partnering each day and a 2-hour technique class"
  • "Challenging technique class and plenty of partnering instruction"
  • "Attention to the dancers"
  • "An opportunity to focus on partnering"
  • "You get both classical pas and contemporary pas"
  • "Lots of partnering and all the men were good partners"
  • "I just had fun with my friends"
  • "the "partnering intensive" is early in the summer and didnt conflict with other things"

Least liked about program

  • "Studio floors"
  • "Too short"
  • "Men always dance - 2-3:1 ratio while girls sit around waiting. Crowded studio Not very challenging"
  • "Ballet, pas technique, and pas rep was all on pointe. So you had about 5 hours on pointe a day"
  • "For it being a partnering intensive there was not enough boys at all there was only 8 or 9 in my level so there was to many girls there was about 40 girls so there was like 5 girls to a partner so it was a lot of just standing around and not a lot of dancing for the girls so we were in pointe shoes from 10:00am till 6:00pm so for not dancing that much and having to stand killed my feet also on another note i felt like i was being ignored by a bunch of teachers and i didn't get a lot of corrections also there were only two levels and it was done by age so me being fourteen and the program is 15-18 or 20 i was one of the youngest. So if you do end up going i recommend going when you are at least 18."
  • "My problem is, this is advertised as a partnering intensive - its better characterized as "a ballet intensive that offers daily partnering""

Suggested changes to program

  • "Lunch time was late; move it forward or have a quick break prior."
  • "Studio is not in the greatest part of the city…I would not want my daughter walking there alone."
  • "No protocol for dancers paired with injured partner. Male partner could not do lifts"
  • "the age groups, There being more boys, and for all of the teachers correcting everyone"
  • "They need a placement class to level dancers. Classes are broken up by age - and maybe 1 or 2 move on day one. But if you place an advanced dancer with an inexperienced partner, there is no overcoming that to show potential for growth. Or even just an honest survey about what partnering experience dancers have - or break it up into no experience, some experience and extensive experience. A strict age cutoff really limited any growth of the dancer"

Culture of program

  • "Supportive"
  • "Challenging but fun and inclusive"
  • "Accepting,"
  • "Seemed to emphasize men Corrections were generally directed to the group"
  • "Very kind! All teachers were super nice but also strict."
  • "I would say it was pretty good because a lot of the kids are nice also i had friends who i knew from past intensives or competitions"
  • "It was fine, aside from the annoyance that it was much less partnering than anticipated, 2 out of 3 of the teachers were great. One was terrible toxic"

Other comments

  • "BalletMET summer partnering intensive was a great opportunity. 2023 was the first year this intensive was offered, but we are hoping it reoccurs upcoming years."
  • "Not much going on in the area but the dance was wonderful"
  • "Presentation revealed obvious spacing issues Partners should be alternated daily"
  • "Very helpful for partnering and overall technique with company members teaching and also taking technique classes along with students to give a little inspiration. And all the partners were great and easy to trust coming from someone who doesn’t trust partners easily!"
  • "At the end of the day all of the girls would take there trash cans and put a new bag in there and on every floor they had coolers so we would dump ice in there and use water from our showers to ice our feet"
  • "If you just want an intensive that incorporates some partnering, this is fine. If you are hoping for an immersive partnering experience, I would pass."
Reviews
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Age: 16, Female
Overall Rating

Attended 2026, Stayed In Housing, Special Diet
1 out of 5 rating
Age: 16, Female
Overall Rating

Attended 2025, Stayed In Housing, Special Diet
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 14, Female
Overall Rating

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

Attended 2024, Stayed In Housing
3 out of 5 rating
Age: 16, Male
Overall Rating

Attended 2024
4 out of 5 rating
Age: 15, Male
Overall Rating

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

Attended 2023
5 out of 5 rating
Age: 17, Female
Overall Rating

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

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

Attended 2023, Stayed In Housing
4 out of 5 rating