BALLET HELP DESK

Summer Intensive Reviews

Programs Reviewed: 255
Total Reviews: 2241

Ellison Ballet Premier Coaching Intensive LA

Summer Intensive Reviews

General

Dancer age

1
2
1

First time at a summer intensive?

4

Year of SI

1
1
2

Weeks available

4

Weeks attended

4

Reviewer

3
1

Curriculum

Techniques taught

4

Partnering (based on age)

2
1
1

Dedicated men's program?

4

# of boys in level

2
1
1

Other dance genres

4
1

Quality of other classes

Not Helpful
1
2
1
Helpful

Injury Prevention

Strength classes?

3
1
1
3

PT offered?

3
1

Extra fee for PT?

1
2
1

Injury rate

2
2

Teaching

Who taught?

4

Guest teachers

4

Year-round teachers taught

4

Attention from teachers

Very Little
1
1
2
A Lot

Technique improved?

No
1
1
1
1
Yes - Tremendously

Studios

Dance floors

1
3

Studio space

Cramped
1
2
1
Lots of Space

Studio cleanliness

Dirty
2
2
Spotless

Schedule

Classes per day

4

Saturday classes

4

Saturday class duration

4

Leveling

Leveling

2
2

Leveling type

4

Did students move levels?

4

Leveling fair?

4

Students per class

2
2

Performance

Performance?

1
1
2

Rehearsals happened

2

Casting equitability

Uneven
1
1
Even

Rehearsals detracted from class?

Completely
1
1
1
Not At All

Housing - General

Housing provided

3
1

# of roommates

2
1

Bathrooms

2
1

Coed bathrooms

2
1

Air conditioning

3

Housing comment

  • "The rooms were in the suite set up (two or one to a room depending on request, and four or two to a suite.) They were very spacious, and had desks with rolling chairs which I thoroughly enjoyed spinning around on!"

Where did they stay?

1

Housing - Supervision

Curfew

3

Curfew reasonable?

3

Room check

3

How strict were dorms?

1
2

Infraction handling

3

Housing - Cleanliness

Laundry available

3

Laundry free

2
1

Housing cleanliness

Dirty
1
2
Spotless

Cleaning required

2
1

Meal Plan

Meal plan

3

Food quality

Gross
1
2
Excellent

Enough food

3

Dietary needs?

3

Activities

Weeknight activities

3

Weekend outings

4

Attended weekend outings

2
2

Favorite

  • "There was only one planned outing, which was a trip to Disneyland."
  • "There was only one, which was to Disney"
  • "They only had 1 outing to Disney."

Least favorite

  • "The trip was fun despite the fact that I am a bit scared of roller coasters!"

Logistics

Quality of handbook

Spotty
1
1
2
Comprehensive

Program communication

Limited
1
1
2
Comprehensive

Transportation

1
3

Neighborhood safety

Not Safe
2
2
Very Safe

General Comments

Overall recommendation

Definitely Not
1
1
1
1
Absolutely

Best aspect

  • "The training was very very solid! We had the same teacher (who was amazing and quite detail oriented) every day and I gained a stronger understanding of the Vaganova technique."
  • "The housing was really nice and the USC campus is really pretty. There were also opportunities for private lessons."
  • "Learning from excellent teachers who were hands on."
  • "The teacher was very detail oriented and was very strict. This helped me to really focus on my technique and improve. It was nice to learn the Vagonava style. The contemporary class was fantastic. It was my favorite contemporary class that I’ve ever had at an intensive. I loved the contemporary teacher. The conditioning class was intense and helpful."

Least liked about program

  • "This is probably not a problem for most people, but if you like to go to bed early it is rather hard... Room checks happen at 10:30-11:00 on week nights unless everyone in the suite agrees to 9:00 and as someone who physically can't seem to sleep in I was always a bit sleep deprived."
  • "I went to the Premier Coaching Intensive in LA, not the International Repetoire LA, but the atmosphere is most likely very similar. The biggest issue for me was the lack of correction I got over the two weeks. Leveling was based on age and I was at the younger end of my level, so I was obviously not the best one in my class. There were also a lot of very well known dancers/prodigies in my level or people who already attended Ellison, so those people were the only ones corrected. We had the same teacher every day for two weeks, which was a little bit disappointing because I was looking forward to getting to learn from more people at Ellison. When we rehearsed variations, the teacher had us go in groups of three or four but only corrected the first 3-4 groups (she chose who was in each group and who went first). Whenever the remaining groups went (aka my group), all she would say is "next" and wouldn't give us anything to work on. She also only learned three peoples' names out of a class of about twenty people, which I thought was a little bit weird because I feel like it would be better to know all of our names or none at all. Even if someone took each correction that was directed towards someone else and used it for themselves to improve and get better, she wouldn't pay attention or help anyone besides her favorite students."
  • "The floors were not sprung."
  • "I didn’t like the specialized work class because we just did more variations class instead on working on something different. Since the groups were so big in the variation class we would be standing for an hour and twenty minutes of the hour and a half and only dancing for ten minutes. Most of the focus was on the year round students."

Suggested changes to program

  • "The room check situation... Aside from that the program is excellent! (Although we had over three hours of variations class in total some days which my feet weren't to happy about. Haha!)"
  • "The teacher I had"
  • "Start dance earlier. They started after lunch."
  • "I would have enjoyed more variety in the classes. I would have preferred thirty minutes for pointe and only an hour for variations since there wasn’t a dedicated pointe class. A smaller class size for the variations class would have been preferred."

Culture of program

  • "The teachers were demanding, but for the most part it was a very supportive yet serious program!"
  • "The culture among students was really positive, but my teacher just kind of discouraged some of us (at least the people I talked to)."
  • "If felt very challenging if a good way."
  • "It was serious and strict. All the students were nice."

Other comments

  • "I could go on and on about how great UC village is! Let's just say that there is a Trader Joe's 300 feet from the dorms and Cafe Dulce is outstanding! I did find the age ranges in the classes a bit odd, but that was mostly because I just made the cut off for the junior girls and was nearly the youngest in my class. If you attend, you are bound to be in a class with some insane prodigies which is both inspiring and intimidating."
  • "I would definitely recommend the program if I had a better teacher, because I liked the campus and the studios a lot."
  • "The talent level was extremely high. I really enjoyed the USC studios. I liked the location of the intensive. The proximity to restaurants for lunch that we could walk to was a highlight."
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Age: 14
Overall Rating

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

Attended 2026
3 out of 5 rating
Age: 15
Overall Rating

Attended 2025, Stayed In Housing
4 out of 5 rating
Age: 17
Overall Rating

Attended 2024, Stayed In Housing
1 out of 5 rating