they didn't follow their own policies listed in the handbook in regards to allowing people t0 leave the dorm. The handbook stated that if the student was 17 or older they could leave campus as long as they had one other student with them and they checked out with the RA. This wasn't allowed.
They were required to have groups of at least 3 to leave the dorm, even to just sit outside. That was hard.
Remote area where there was nothing to walk to within safety bounds
There wasn't anywhere, really, for the dancers to go during their free time (very restricted area that they could traverse, even in groups) and not much in terms of organized activities outside of the big weekend adventures. Bedtime was late (11:00 weekdays, 12:00 weekends), so my dancer had a lot of downtime after dinner without a ton of options to occupy her time. She made friends and did things with them, but what they could choose from was limited and she got bored in the evenings.
Better food options for GF people. There were no GF breads available in the cafeteria.
Building was newer, and relatively well maintained, laundry room tended to get very crowded, so it could be hard to get your laundry done at busier hours, food was okay
Air conditioning was good, nice dorms just small rooms within the suite. Food was a problem sometimes and other times ok.
Beautiful, modern new dorm building at Northern University of Kentucky.
The RAs had favorites and were mean to those not their favorites.
Nice new facility at Kentucky University. Students had to go out in groups of 3 to take out the trash. Dorm was pretty lenient otherwise.
Amazing housing!!! Very new, modern, and perfect.
Rooms are very big and campus is large. Though it is very strict with even leaving the building.
It is super well ran and they always have nightly events every weeknight and on the weekends have bigger events too! And stuff planned for the students not participating in the outings and activities you pay extra for!
Lovely, clean dorms. 1 roomate-3 suite-mates
We stayed at the dorms in NKU and the suites had two bed rooms and a common area connecting the two. The bathroom and shower were separate and across from each other. There was a mini fridge in each room but no microwave. There was a kitchen on the first floor though. There was also a lounge area and desks with chairs on each floor. You had keys for each suite and bedrooms within the suite. You also needed a keycard to get into the building use the elevator from the lobby. There also weren’t a lot of places or stores outside to walk around to.
Housed at Northern Kentucky University, really not much there except for the dorms and dining hall, which we shared with programs passing through. The dorms were fairly new with many public lounge areas to hang out in.
In order to take out the trash, you had to have the appropriate amount of people (in relation to age) and you all had to check out even for walking right out of the building. The laundry facilities were much smaller than they looked in the pictures so you had to wait around for an open washer or dryer.
NKU is a very safe campus, but it is quite isolated.
Where did they stay?
Rented an apartment or house
Stayed with local family or friends
Student lived at home
Housing - Supervision
Curfew
Yes
Curfew reasonable?
No
Yes
Room check
Yes
How strict were dorms?
Just about right
Somewhat lax
Somewhat strict
Very strict
Infraction handling
A little harsh
Fair
N/A
Skewed depending on student
Skewed depending on the RA
Housing - Cleanliness
Laundry available
Yes
Laundry free
No
Unsure
Yes
Housing cleanliness
Dirty
1
2
3
4
5
Spotless
Cleaning required
No
Yes
Meal Plan
Meal plan
No
Yes
Food quality
Gross
1
2
3
4
5
Excellent
Enough food
No
Yes
Dietary needs?
No
Yes
Specific needs
Low protein
vegetarian
vegetarian
Gluten Free- There really wasn't much to select from. She made due with what they had.
Allergic to Nuts
pineapple allergy
Vegetarian
Nuts
Dietary options
Limited
1
2
3
4
5
Lots
Activities
Weeknight activities
No
Yes
Weekend outings
Yes
Attended weekend outings
I didn't attend any of them
Yes, all of them
Yes, some of them
Favorite
The King's Island trip
Kings Island and Reds game
Kings Island
Kings Island and the Red’s game
King's Island
All of them, really.
Kings Island Amusement Park
King’s Island
King's Island and Museum
Kings Island
Cincinnati art museum
Kings Island or the Riverboat Cruise
The Zoo
Kings Island
Riverboat Trip
Baseball game, game show, target
Amusement park
Kings Island
Kings Island
Visiting the Cincinnati zoo
The Cincinnati Reds game
Seeing Moving Arts show and the Cincinnati Zoo
Kings island
Kings island
Underground Tour of Over the Rhine, Mini Golf ,Kings Island
Queen City Underground tour
Baseball game
Kings Island is the best if you love roller coasters, and the escape room was pretty fun too.
FC Cincinnati
Kings Island
Kings Island
Least favorite
The baseball game
She loved them all.
None
All pretty good unless it’s super hot
BB Riverboat Cruise
She enjoyed all the ones she attended
Art museum, zoo
Art Museum
Pool Pary
Not sure- art museum maybe- small: short outing
Museum
Opera
Museum trip
N/A
n/a
The game show
Pool day was boring
Art museum, boat ride
Game show
Art museum, Cincinnati Museum, Reds Game
Putt-putt
All sounded fine.
Mini golf because the courses were small and unimpressive.
Walking tour of underground Cincinnati (too hot and not much underground)
Underground Tour
Mini golf
Logistics
Quality of handbook
Spotty
1
2
3
4
5
Comprehensive
Program communication
Limited
1
2
3
4
5
Comprehensive
Transportation
Private bus
School bus
Walked without chaperone
Neighborhood safety
Not Safe
1
2
3
4
5
Very Safe
General Comments
Overall recommendation
Definitely Not
1
2
3
4
5
Absolutely
Best aspect
The small class sizes.
The facility was gorgeous. My daughter enjoyed both the intensive classes and the recreational activities.
Great instruction.
Getting to work with the artistic director!! And the on-site PT.
The variety of teachers and the attention paid to the dancers was great
Dancer enjoyed the variety of teachers and learning a new style (Balanchine)
Scholarship
The variety of techniques taught.
we got a lot of different teachers and different dance styles offered
Getting to work with the faculty and guest teachers while improving technique.
Excellent training, teachers
The ballet repitore was good, we performed Bolshoi Ballets Waltz of the Hours
The teaching from the academy teachers as well as the “meet the artist” we had every week to learn about the guest artist we were taking class from.
There were multiple great guest teachers that taught technique class, and it changed daily. Teachers came from New York City Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, UNCSA, as well as Cincinnati Ballet and School.
The staff and their teaching methods
How positive and encouraging the environment is for all of the dancers and how the energy was so good everyday!
The teachers were all very nice, and I learned a lot from the classes.
Studios
The instructors and the level of their knowledge, patience and technique.
Lots of evening and weekend activities provided
Intensive level training in a supportive environment with high level dorm oversight for younger dancers
The ballet instruction with a lot of focus en pointe
Very fun!
The levels are by age and my dancer was advanced for her age so she got featured in the show
The friendships and kind teachers
So many teachers and styles that dancers arent regularly exposed to.
The people
How uplifting everyone is and how the staff truly cares if a student has an issue or problem and tries to resolve it as quickly and as effectively as possible. As well as an awesome facility and good amount of rest breaks and lunch time.
Definitely being able to dance in iconic studios and experience different teachers everyday.
Beautiful facilities with great training
The community and teachers were really nice and encouraging and you really could push yourself to become better.
All of the teachers were super kind and gave a lot of helpful corrections. The classes were all very fun while also being challenging enough and there was a lot of variety in teachers and dance styles allowing dancers to get lots of experience.
Repertoire classes and diversity in teachers
Least liked about program
It didn't seem that the ballet teachers were consistent enough to be able to be able to get to know the dancers to really work on their technique individually.
I didn’t live there wasn’t a performance after the first 3 weeks. We got to observe class.
Auditions for year round program took place during week 2 and we were told it would be 7 days for the results. After not receiving them by the beginning of week 5, I emailed to find out when we could expect them. I was told in 2 days. Well, now it is beginning of week 6 and still nothing. If they knew it wouldn't be til the end of the program they should have said so then.
The level placement seemed a little off
Lack of housing programing weeknights, ability to go out in groups to do things.
Boys got pulled from class to do Pas with other levels too often
The scheduling had some overlap and issues for the men.
i didn't feel like i improved that much and the way of teaching isn't "my type" but i'm sure it is for other dancers
Leveling seemed a bit off for my dancer. She still improved,and of course worked hard.
They took a really long time announcing PD placement.
Leveling seemed unfair at times, year round students were given special treatment, classes sometimes felt inconsistent due to guest teachers teaching a variety of styles, hard to focus on specific parts of technique or steps
They had to many guest artists and we weren’t able to have consistent teachers throughout the weeks.
We were not allowed to leave the building during lunch time
I wish I had more of my favorite teachers for technique
Having so many different teachers for ballet technique classes
The location of the dorms. It was in the middle of nowhere and there was nothing to do around.
Food was not balanced and low quality. Hard for dancers.
There wasn’t anything that I didn’t like.
Dorms were strict and you can only hang out in common areas. Leveling was mostly by age and less about ability. Also we were told partnering was at every level but it is only in the upper levels.
Rotating teachers kept teachers from being able to really focus on individual needs of students throughout whole session
The way the levels are set. A lot of variation of skills within one level.
I had 6 no show teachers which was disappointing since we paid for guest faculty (not just replacement conditioning class instead of technique classes).
My dancer was not pushed
Not having partnering very often
The dorms were like a prison. We could barely leave and when we could it was a hassle.
Nothing
The amount of different teachers you had and you maybe would have the same teacher 2 or 3 times over the whole intensive, sometimes for different classes other than ballet and they would just keeping adding and taking away teachers. But I did love the Cincinnati full time staff and the company dancers that taught!
They definitely have a tendency to favor shorter dancers and their own dancers.
Would like to have filmed final performance
The level placement for the second section wasn’t done very well because some dancers that could have been moved up stayed in the same level and other new dancers in higher levels didn’t meet the standards of dancers already in that level.
The leveling felt more like it was based off of age rather than ability even though we took a placement class. Some of the ages were split in the original placement classes allowing those that were in older groups to have an advantage and were put in higher levels.
Only 4 men in the program so partnering class was very limited. We had it every week, but the class itself was not very challenging for the ladies. They did the best with what they had.
Suggested changes to program
Have maybe 2 consistent ballet instructors per level. Also, improve the food options. There was very few fresh fruits and vegetable options at meals.
More partnering classes
Would be nice to include day students in a few activities. It took them much longer to get to know other students.
THE FOOD! Very few vegetarian options for any meals. All tofu in vegetarian lunches was not cooked. Vegetarian protein options were not offered at every meal. The fresh fruit with lunches was either oranges or apples and sometimes not ripe. We ended up sending/ buying food to supplement.
Better boys scheduling
Have the schedules work better for the men.
more focus on technique and proper placement while dancing
The food at the dorm. Additional pas class for higher levels. Saturday classes.
Closer, walkable housing
Make classes fair more intense, make supplementaly classes more useful and relevant, have a more consistent style of instruction so classes feel more consistent, improve healthy opens in dining hall, less sweets, ice creams and pizza, more salads and veggies
Reduce the amount of classes such as musical theater and street dance. Add contemporary class into the weekly schedule. Have Saturday class for half a day.
For partnering class, the level of experience among the male identifying dancers varied quite a bit, so I felt the class could have been split into two levels, and matched to different groups for female identifying dancers. This way, everyone could learn at the appropriate partnering skills.
While Partnering class was offered every day, mens specific classes were only scheduled 1-2 times per week. Could have had more mens classes such as Allegro, Variations, and Coaching everyday.
Include Horton modern technique class
More freedom in studios and dorms and more chances to explore the city.
Use one instructor for technique and pointe for a couple weeks at least for improvement gains.
I don’t think I would change anything.
Older RAs who are more professional and not “friends” with certain students.
Consistent teachers and longer technique and pointe classes at lower levels and less of the varied style classes but this was a lower level thing. Upper levels didn’t have this issue
Make levels more based on skill than age
Have everyone have tech and pointe in the morning
Less strict dorm system
Less street dance and musical theater etc.. and more technique based ballet classes. The only ballet classes you would guarantee to have is 2 hour technique and every other day is changed and the schedule was so different everyday.
Encourage all dancers not just ones who go to well known studios.
Although lots of ice available in cafeteria, a freezer section in room fridges would have been nice.
I would have changed some of the level placement for the second section.
More men and earlier bed checks during the week
Culture of program
Positive and supportive.
Seemed nice. My daughter loved her friends.
Positive and supportive.
Very supportive (encouraged PT, didn't mind if a dancer missed class due to PT or had to rest)
Overall, supportive, active and organized.
Positive
Generally seemed positive and supportive
Friendly and hard working
Open, inviting and modern.
very very friendly and supportive environment, maybe a little too supportive and kind for people like me
Supportive. Teachers were invested in helping to improve the student's technique.
Very positive, excellent training, enthusiastic and kind teachers- the whole vibe was wonderful
Pretty chill
It is very positive and welcoming. The teachers uplift and keep a positive environment.
Very positive, and people are nice
Community oriented
Amazing, nurturing and very helpful
Welcoming Environment
Positive and caring but could improve with following up with auditions and year round placement options
Very positive and welcoming. Kindness all around.
Positive
There was a lot of gossiping by students about other students due to the levels being so skewed in age rather than skill set.
Very body and injury positive
It was very cliquey and my daughter was alone
Very good
10/10
Very fun and in a way laid back, definitely a very good one to try for your first intensive and for younger dancers. Everyone there truly wants you to have a memorable time and it is really up to you to make the decision how hard you want it to be vs laid back it had a lot of flexibility on how serious you want to take it but everyone is super respectful and hard working at the same time!
It’s an extremely well and encouraging environment from both fellow dancers and teachers.
Positive
Inspiring, encouraging, and fun
Very supportive environment that met each dancer where they were at, great first summer intensive
Everyone was super kind and it was easy to communicate with everyone
Positive, encouraging, nurturing
Other comments
The dorms were nice but there was no freedom for the students once they returned from classes. They could go to the dining hall and then had to return to the dorms even for the older students.
Love the people at CB! they are all so helpful, friendly and nice.
When I asked my dancer to compare this program to her previous SI, she stated she would choose Cincinnati for the training and her other one for all the other aspects of a SI (housing, social, food, etc.)
My dancer said she'd go back!
My dancer went to a big name, highly competitive SI immediately after her experience at Cincinnati Ballet and the difference in feeling was remarkable. There was no question CB was a wonderful, welcoming, and incredible place to train and grow as a dancer. She loved her entire experience there, and had nothing but good things to say about staff, leader ship, and teachers. I would highly recommend this summer intensive option to any aspiring dancer. They had incredible guest teachers, the Cincinnati Ballet on staff talent was fantastic, and it was a beautiful experience on every level.
Cincinnati Ballet's facilities had very large studies, and everything was very new
It was one of my favorite summer intensives I’ve done so far.
You usually get to meet/ and or get taught by the principal dancers of the company!
Communication regarding year round process. Some dancers never received audition results.
No
The performance was nice but depending on the level only a few girls performed while others mostly stood in the back posed.
No
Great instructors who provided more general feedback to group rather than specific feedback to students. Dorm is beautiful, but not close to city activities.
Lots of kids
I love the unique classes they offer such as a nutrition class, music theory, meet the artist, careers in dance and much more! They often have fun surprises such as a Greaters ice cream truck comes and LaRosas pizza. I had a great experience last year so that is why I wanted to come again for another summer!
It’s a very well rounded program!
Lunches were picked up each morning by student in insulated bag provided by CB - sounds like that worked well.
If you want a really encouraging and friendly environment, you should definitely go to Cincinnati Ballet’s summer intensive. Also they need more guys to come too.
