Sprung floors with marley but with wrinkles and missing tape
Sprung floors with secure marley
Studio space
Cramped
1
2
3
4
5
Lots of Space
Studio cleanliness
Dirty
1
2
3
4
5
Spotless
Schedule
Classes per day
3
4
5
Saturday classes
No
Yes
Saturday class duration
Half day or less
N/A
Leveling
Leveling
Assigned after placement class
Leveling type
Ability
Age
Unsure
Did students move levels?
No
Yes
Leveling fair?
No
Yes
Students per class
10-15
16-24
Performance
Performance?
Full show
Small demonstration
Rehearsals happened
Both in and out of class
During daily class
Outside of class
Casting equitability
Uneven
1
2
3
4
5
Even
Rehearsals detracted from class?
Completely
1
2
3
4
5
Not At All
Housing - General
Housing provided
Yes and my dancer lived there
# of roommates
1
2
3
Bathrooms
Private in room
Private in suite
Coed bathrooms
No
Air conditioning
Yes
Housing comment
Separate boys and girls wings, on campus with ballet studios
Housing and studios all within one area. It's like a mini compound. Contained & safe.
They are strict and require chores. RAs are strict and hand out write up if you break any rules. Harid doesn’t play around and is not lax on dorm rules.
Washing machines were out of order for 2 weeks; also no hot water in dorm for 2 weeks
The shower in the room didn’t work a majority of the intensive and they had to use the extra/quarantine room showers.
Everything is all on campus, the dancers just have to walk across the courtyard to class.
Excellent, clean, spacious, comfortable housing
some rooms had refrigerators. Some did not. They should make an effort to ensure ALL rooms are similar in this regard.
N/A
These were the largest and nicest dorms we've seen over the years.
Housing - Supervision
Curfew
Yes
Curfew reasonable?
Yes
Room check
Yes
How strict were dorms?
Just about right
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
Yes
Housing cleanliness
Dirty
1
2
3
4
5
Spotless
Cleaning required
Yes
Meal Plan
Meal plan
Yes
Food quality
Gross
1
2
3
4
5
Excellent
Enough food
No
Yes
Dietary needs?
No
Yes
Specific needs
Food allergies
Multiple food allergies
vegetarian
Vegetarian and no eggss
Dietary options
Limited
1
2
3
4
5
Lots
Activities
Weeknight activities
Yes
Weekend outings
Yes
Attended weekend outings
Yes, all of them
Yes, some of them
Favorite
Japanese gardens
Beach trip
Beach & 4th of July Fireworks
To the Keys -snorkeling
Water Park
Snorkeling
Water Park
Snorkeling in the Keys
Snorkeling
Snorkeling in Key Largo
Beach trips, waterpark. The activities at Harid are great.
Water park day
Snorkelling in the Keys
Snorkeling
Snorkeling in Key Largo
Water park
Least favorite
n/a
Trip to Keys was fun, but a long bus ride. Everyone had to attend. Specific excursions were optional there. Long day!
All were wonderful
Zoo
Lion Safari
Can skip the Japanese garden
Safari trip
Lion country safari
Japanese Gardnes
All are good
NA all were good- the weather just did not always cooperate
They were all fun!
Japanese gardens
Logistics
Quality of handbook
Spotty
1
2
3
4
5
Comprehensive
Program communication
Limited
1
2
3
4
5
Comprehensive
Transportation
Buildings next to each other, so walked. Loved being able to go back to room between some classes. It's that close!
On campus
Private bus
Small Self-Contained Campus. No Chaperone Needed.
studios were on the same campus so no transportation was needed
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
Training was excellent
The training
Very small program, lots of attention to details. Is a 4 week audition for the year round. My daughter loved having the dorms so close to the studios. Great SI for her age. Older ages might find it too restrictive.
The focus on technique
Safe program for students, Excellent technic clases, very profesional faculty
Quality of instruction
It is obvious they care deeply for their students wellbeing in and out of the studio.
The teachers were very experienced and the studios were nice.
Definitely the experience of being away and being with kids from all over the world
Very Safe and Very technique focused
Excellent, competent faculty and serious about dancing, NOT a puppy mill of dancers accepted just for money
My daugter liked that the teachers rotated each week and also that they rotated studios so they got the full experience. Very Technically focussed. Musical Theatre / Jazz was a lot of fun.
small, safe environment
The very detail focused technique classes plus the chance to work with Harid faculty.
teachers and small class size
Least liked about program
Campus was remote, lots of rules, overly stict
The fact that her assigned chore was the same all four weeks and didn't rotate.
Food
Too short
Classes weren't long enough; didn't
have true variations class (ran group rehearsal instead); hardly did grand allegro in technique class, did not do pointe every day, dance more at home studio
Food options were limited as were portions.
The food options, the bathrooms in the dorms, and the overbearing residential staff.
Not very rigorous. Very little individual attention. Short classes.
Loved it
My daughter didn't like the food, it was bland and limited. A lot of chicken and rice and not much variety of fruits offered. (However there was a fridge in the room and the dancers were able to get to a grocery store and buy supplementary food / snacks)
antiquated thoughts on body and physique.
The food
food
Suggested changes to program
Kids have a little more freedom
She would have loved for it to be a little longer.
Get better food
Make classes longer (technique class is 100 minutes), add another partnering class, have variations class instead of rehearsing during variations class
More food available to the kids.
The food.
Extend class time, add more classes each day, and more on Saturdays.
Not sure
Other than the menu, I'm not sure whether my daughter would change anything
Longer Saturday classes
more fruits, vegetables, variety of food, and quantity of food
Culture of program
Strict with high expectations
A Family
Very serious, but also fun. She felt supported and improved a lot!! Dancers were a close group since each level was small. Felt like a family.
Small but intense Nurturing but firm high expectations are set early
Excellent combination fun and they learn a lot
Welcoming, strict, organized
Positive and supportive
Strict, but good training.
Very welcoming and fun
Its a great intensive
Serious, safe, all about growth
Seriously Vagonava, technical, small program
strict and serious
Very positive but competitive. The summer program is an audition for year round and all of the students know it. There is a definite , professional “look” and all students are talented.
Students and staff were very friendly and helpful, teachers were excellent but I wouldn't call them warm and fuzzy
Other comments
Intensive is a 4 week audition for year round and is only open for high school age, so must be at minimum a rising freshman. Absolutely wonderful teachers & staff!
Harid’s program is great for focusing on technique or to help fix problem areas. They are strict for many reasons. You don’t want your children wondering off campus. The location is not like you get on many other intensives. It’s in a residential area on the back area of a college campus. With Harid everything is centrally located on their small campus. They make plenty of target runs and beach runs or mall runs on top of other activities to keep you children. Great people that really care about all their students.
Very secure an fun program for young dancers
Great program for first summer intensive but might not be intense enough for older dancers. Boys seemed to have more dance time than the girls. Loved it but probably wouldn't go back.
I was so impressed how they go above and beyond to bring total excellence to the students.
This would be a great intensive for incoming freshman who have parents that are concerned about safety and oversight.
It's a wonderful experience because the campus is beautiful. However if you are an older dancer and looking for more rigorous training, I wouldn't recommend it. Lovely place for a first summer SI.
I would recommend.
The students also took music class and had classes on nutrition and kineiology which I thought was great! There were three levels and no more than 60 dancers in the program some of whom are already full time at Harid. RA's were great!
We’ve known Harid to be a small, select, and elite program and after experiencing it first hand, we 100% agree. The school has an incredible reputation and they’re very committed to helping their students reach their goals.
Not all of the summer students were invited to year round at the conclusion of the program.
This is a very strong, truly Vaganova based school and I would highly recommend it for anyone.
This program was better than we expected on many levels. The dorms were large with tons of storage even for three dancers. The supervisors (RAs) and staff were amazing and all of the students were friendly and kind. My daughter made many friends. This is a very small intensive with only about 60 students total divided into three levels of women plus two levels of men. Classes varied from 2 one day to six on another.Overall, it was a good amount of classes. In general students aren't allowed to leave the campus except for scheduled outings and runs since the campus is in a residential area. As a result, there were a lot of planned activities.The studios were absolutely stunning and the campus is very well maintained. This intensive is different than other intensives in that every student is being evaluated for their year round program even if they are not hoping to get accepted. This made the intensive seem more stressful than other intensives. This was especially true for my dancer because when she arrived she had no intention of attending year round but changed her mind after one week because she liked it so much. The teachers are excellent but tough. All of the students were very talented. I felt like the students got a real taste of what it would be like to attend year round. The program is not for everyone but my daughter loved it.
