BALLET HELP DESK

Summer Intensive Reviews

Programs Reviewed: 223
Total Reviews: 1727

Bolshoi Ballet Intensive Connecticut

Summer Intensive Reviews

General

Dancer age

2
1
4
3
3
2

First time at a summer intensive?

10
5

Year of SI

1
14

Weeks available

1
14

Weeks attended

11
4

Reviewer

2
5
1
7

Curriculum

Techniques taught

15

Partnering (based on age)

1
3
11

Dedicated men's program?

1
14

# of boys in level

11
4

Other dance genres

15
3
8
2
13

Quality of other classes

Not Helpful
2
5
8
Helpful

Injury Prevention

Strength classes?

1
4
1
1
1
1
1
2
14
2
2

PT offered?

2
3
10

Extra fee for PT?

5
10

Injury rate

4
9
2

Teaching

Who taught?

15

Guest teachers

12
2
1

Year-round teachers taught

14
1

Attention from teachers

Very Little
5
4
6
A Lot

Technique improved?

No
1
7
7
Yes - Tremendously

Studios

Dance floors

1
1
1
12
1
1

Studio space

Cramped
1
5
9
Lots of Space

Studio cleanliness

Dirty
1
1
13
Spotless

Schedule

Classes per day

5
4
6

Saturday classes

11
4

Saturday class duration

3
12

Leveling

Leveling

1
14

Leveling type

9
4
2

Did students move levels?

3
10

Leveling fair?

1
14

Students per class

5
10

Performance

Performance?

13
1
1

Rehearsals happened

2
10
2

Casting equitability

Uneven
2
2
2
8
Even

Rehearsals detracted from class?

Completely
1
3
11
Not At All

Housing - General

Housing provided

12
3

# of roommates

1
11

Bathrooms

12

Coed bathrooms

12

Air conditioning

12

Housing comment

  • It seemed a bit too much for the older dancers. BBASI CT has dancers as young as 8 years old and the supervision seems fine for that age. In my opinion, 14-15 year old dancers do not need young college students supervising their every move on a closed campus. I don’t know if this level of supervision is normal, or if it was just in place due to Covid cohort/distancing policies.
  • My daughter’s roommate was moved to a lower level and she did not get a new roommate so was a bit lonely.
  • It was a beautiful secluded boarding school. There were single and double rooms.
  • Air Conditioning did not work for the first few days.
  • The dancers had to hand in their phones overnight
  • Air conditioning was not consistent throughout the dorm rooms. My room was warm
  • Air conditioning was not working in my DD's assigned room. It was a known issue and still placed the girls in the room. It was very warm for them. It never got fixed. The provide big box fans for the rooms and plenty of furniture. Plenty of food in the cafeteria. There were several cases of food poisoning from contaminated food. They tracked it back to a specific item and several students were sick in their rooms for a day or two. DD attended the 3 week SI with a friend and requested to room together. Worked well for the first live-in SI for both girls.
  • If you come with a friend and you change group in placement, you might change dorm building and you will NOT be with the friend you came with!

Where did they stay?

1
1
1

Housing - Supervision

Curfew

12

Curfew reasonable?

12

Room check

5
7

How strict were dorms?

3
2
6
1

Infraction handling

2
10

Housing - Cleanliness

Laundry available

12

Laundry free

12

Housing cleanliness

Dirty
8
4
Spotless

Cleaning required

7
5

Meal Plan

Meal plan

12

Food quality

Gross
1
2
6
3
Excellent

Enough food

12

Dietary needs?

9
3

Specific needs

1
1
1

Dietary options

Limited
2
1
Lots

Activities

Weeknight activities

1
11

Weekend outings

1
14

Attended weekend outings

3
11

Favorite

  • Amusement park
  • Amusement park
  • NYC to see an ABT performance
  • The Westfarm Shopping Mall
  • N/A
  • Westfarms Mall & Lake Compounce Amusement Park
  • She enjoyed all of them - amusement park, mall, show
  • Theme park
  • Both the mall and amusement park were great, but repetitive for 6 weekers
  • Amusement Park
  • The mall

Least favorite

  • N/A
  • None, they were all a lot of fun.
  • N/A
  • N/A
  • n/a

Logistics

Quality of handbook

Spotty
1
5
9
Comprehensive

Program communication

Limited
2
6
7
Comprehensive

Transportation

1
1
3
1
7
1
1

Neighborhood safety

Not Safe
1
14
Very Safe

General Comments

Overall recommendation

Definitely Not
4
11
Absolutely

Best aspect

  • Vaganova training was top notch!
  • Making new friends and improvement of my technique
  • The training and the beautiful facilities
  • Training
  • The training and the campus was so pretty. The teachers gave great corrections and the Russian classes were so much fun. Overall, it was a very rewarding experience!
  • My daughter is 9 and says she felt very safe in the program. All of the instructors were extremely kind and the showcase was extremely well run. She had a fabulous time!
  • The attentiveness of the faculty. We were surprised and happy to receive written feedback above the verbal feedback shared with our dancer. We were also very pleased with the privates, which were led by her technique teacher. We were impressed by the faculty’s intentionality during the private time - focused upon technical needs observed in class.
  • The rigor as well as the sense of community and acceptance.
  • My daughter absolutely loved the Bolshoi teachers. She really enjoyed how they focused on little details. She also made fantastic friends and loved the food. All around - it was great!
  • Friendships made and excellent training by Bolshoi teachers
  • The excellent ballet training. My daughter came home a different dancer
  • Technique
  • It was a positive and supportive program for a first live-in SI. Safety and security of my young dancer in the dorms. Friendly girls and instructors. A great live-in experience to feel what it would be like in a year-round residential program and dorm. Helped build independence and confidence living alone. International students at the program created a wonderfully supportive environment as all students welcomed non-English speaking students. Overall, was a positive experience.
  • Dorms,Community,PA's+all the activities and training

Least liked about program

  • The dancers had back-to-back activities all day long with a total of 4 hours of mandatory extra-curricular activities per day. Students were expected to attend all extra-curricular events but could choose not to participate. Activities included swimming, “outdoor fun”, arts and crafts, Russian language lessons, and Movie Night. Student days were completely planned out from 8am to 8:30pm Monday-Saturday. Due to Covid, students were only allowed to interact with others in their level (DD was in a cohort of 15 students). They could not roam the campus, go into other dancer’s rooms, or even go into the common room. All interactions were monitored by RAs at all times
  • The schedule was the same every day
  • No roommate for my daughter so lacked the camp bonding with friends experience
  • Strictness of supervision
  • There’s not a lot of downtime. Classes/extra-curriculars take up most of the day, except for an hour before bed and short breaks in the dorms between certain classes. Also very supervised. If you want to walk around campus, you must have a chaperone at each of your destinations.
  • Nothing.
  • The classes were a bit larger than we expected, but it did not appear to negatively affect anyone’s progress.
  • Placement seemed primarily by age and not be ability.
  • A little strict for older kids - but that's better than being overly permissive!
  • The day was over scheduled (from 9am - 9pm) the schedule included extra curricular activities but dancers would have liked a little more down time.
  • A bit too much of a schedule, not much downtime for older dancers
  • Communication
  • The lower levels didn't offer rigorous training and instructors had to cater to the lowest ability level in the classes leaving stronger students unchallenged. This was at the lower levels/ages in the program-cannot speak for higher ages. If you have a young Vaganova-trained advanced dancer, this SI will be a break from typical rigor of training year-round. The dancers admitted into the SI had widely varying abilities at the younger level-some without stamina for long classes en pointe or full days training.
  • Dorming Systems (if you change group you most probably change building you were og at)

Suggested changes to program

  • Get rid of the mandatory extracurriculars and loosen up the supervision of older kids
  • N/A
  • Roommates or “bunks” so girls could become friendlier
  • More free/down time, give older kids more freedom
  • It would be nice to have less supervision.
  • My daughter said she would like the option to pack a lunch for day students vs. eating the cafeteria food.
  • N/A
  • I wish the dancers had a little more time to themselves. We began classes at 9 and did not return to the dorms to shower and rest until 8:45-9 in the evening.
  • I can't think of anything
  • More free time after dance classes
  • Maybe more options for extra curriculars
  • Increase communication with day student parents.
  • Smaller class size with more rigorous training. Less extra-curricular activities required in the schedule. Offer capable young students the opportunity to dance at higher level classes in their schedules to keep them challenged.
  • Dorming Systems (if you change group you most probably change building you were og at)

Culture of program

  • The atmosphere didn’t feel as intense or competitive as other programs DD has attended. DD felt like there was a real mix of abilities and passion/dedication to advanced ballet training in her upper level.. That being said, DD really liked the instruction and felt like she improved her technique over the 3 weeks. This program gives you true Vaganova training in the US.
  • Everyone felt like family
  • Professional
  • Friendly
  • It was very encouraging and supportive.
  • She thought the culture was welcoming and warm. She also enjoyed learning the Russian language and being immersed in that culture via the instructors, etc.
  • Very well-run, organized and attentive to student growth. I have a younger dancer, and so safety was top of mind. The campus was very secure and the chaperones were friendly and aware of any typical issues one would find with a large group of adolescents. Any challenges were handled quickly and appropriately without ever needing parental involvement. It was nice to be able to drop my child off, know she was growing, well cared for, and developing independence as well as as a dancer. We only attended 3 weeks, were we to return we would attend all 6 and all feel comfortable with our child staying in the dorms.
  • Attention was based on ability rather than appearance. The directors, PAs, and teachers promoted body neutrality and encouraged proper fueling.
  • Very supportive and fun + great training
  • It was competitive (in a good way)
  • Professional, disciplined, and non competitive. Excellent Summer Intensive for those dancers who are hard working and want to progress in their ballet technique.
  • Very supportive and friendly. Very fun!
  • Very good culture amongst the girls, many hard workers and was inspiring

Other comments

  • Seems like this would be a wonderful first SI experience for any dancer eligible from 8 years to 15 years. Lots of supervision, good quality instruction, and a summer camp type vibe. Might feel a little restrictive for an older dancer who has attended other less structured away SI programs.
  • We were very pleased with our first intensive experience
  • I would definitely recommend if you looking for very Russian and Vagonava based training. My favorite intensive that I’ve been to so far. It’s the perfect first intensive for staying in the dorms.
  • The teachers were very nice and the pianists were also excellent and kind.
  • Classes were taught by Russian speaking teachers with an interpreter plus live piano music. The program included Russian language classes which were very interesting! Some students were moved to a different level class after the first day or two. Partnering classes were offered to select students doing the 6 week program. My assigned studio was beautiful and I met lovely friends.
  • Everyone, kids, faculty, parent volunteers raves about how amazing the food is!
  • The Vaganova instructors for the younger levels were very warm and loving. Lots of hugs and tears shed at the end of the performance when saying goodbye to friends. Overall, the performance was excellent. I recommend this program for first-time SI students 11-14. Wonderful live-in facilities. The organizers of the SI were exceptional and communicated well. I felt very well informed.
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