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
4
5
More than 5
Saturday classes
No
Yes
Saturday class duration
Half day or less
N/A
Leveling
Leveling
Assigned after placement class
Assigned when accepted
Leveling type
Ability
Age
Unsure
Did students move levels?
No
Yes
Leveling fair?
No
Yes
Students per class
10-15
16-24
25-30
Performance
Performance?
Full show
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
Yes but my dancer did not live there
# of roommates
0
1
Bathrooms
2 small bathrooms on each floor
One big bathroom on the floor
two big bathrooms on the floor
Coed bathrooms
No
Yes
Air conditioning
No
Yes
Housing comment
"Housing was far from the studios where the intermediate training took places. Changed studios but still far."
"Great"
"No"
"Newer dorm!"
"Gorgeous new dorms downtown."
"New clean building, key card to enter building, and safe campus"
"Strict when students wanted to leave and go anywhere."
"Very old building this year due to convention in town; previous years have had nicer housing I think. This one had no gathering place for kids and kids were not allowed to enter each others rooms"
"The hallways were air conditioned but the rooms got quite hot. They were in middle of renovations. We were told that we shouldn’t drink from the water fountains because of how old they are."
"Housing was at one of the the Margaret Loock building on the campus of Milwaukee School of Engineering. It was an older dorm building with no in-room air conditioning. They brought in portable air conditioning machines which piped cool air onto each floor through an open dorm room, but it mostly just cooled the hallways - individual rooms were hot. A personal fan is a must!"
"Good walking distance from stores"
"dorms were newly renovated!"
"Nice, new dorms requiring 3 key card swipes to get to the room. Plenty of common space for kids to hang out."
"Dorms were great. There was a hub that most kids hung out in which was a lot of fun"
"The cafeteria is in a different building. At bed check they expect you to be in bed with the lights off and everything put away."
"The infraction system was a little strict. People would get offenses for minor things like forgetting your room key and would get an early bed check. Since i was part of the younger age group (11-14)that had a bed check at 9:30, no one wanted to have an 8:30 bed check but many people got offenses."
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
No
Yes
How strict were dorms?
Just about right
Somewhat strict
Very strict
Infraction handling
A little harsh
Fair
N/A
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
Yes
Food quality
Gross
1
2
3
4
5
Excellent
Enough food
No
Yes
Dietary needs?
No
Yes
Specific needs
"Gluten free,"
"No dairy"
"gluten free"
"Allergic to Pork and Gluten"
"allergic to nuts"
"Kosher"
"Nuts"
Dietary options
Limited
1
2
3
4
5
Lots
Activities
Weeknight activities
Yes
Weekend outings
Yes
Attended weekend outings
I didn't attend any of them
Yes, all of them
Yes, some of them
Favorite
Repeated Responses:
"Baseball game" (2 responses)
"baseball game" (2 responses)
"Six flags" (2 responses)
Unique Responses:
"The mueum"
"Water park"
"six flags"
"Brewers game and water park"
"Six Flags, Beach Day, Water Park, Museum of Art"
"Six Flags Amusement Park"
"She enjoyed the trip to the shore of Lake Michigan & the Six Flags trip most"
"Wisconsin Dells waterpark"
"Baseball game, shopping downtown."
"Six flags and Zoo"
"Six flags and the beach"
"Waterpark"
"Brewers Baseball Game"
"Six Flags and the Milwaukee Art Museum"
"Noah's Ark Waterpark"
"The baseball game"
"Six Flags"
"Noah’s Ark Waterpark"
"Third Ward"
"Atwater beach"
"I loved both of the outings I went on. We went to the beach and the baseball game. The beach was definitely my favorite"
"My favorite was the trip to six flags"
"noah’s ark"
Least favorite
Repeated Responses:
"none" (2 responses)
Unique Responses:
"N/a"
"the zoo"
"Zoo"
"Water Park- it was the weekend before their performance"
"None - if dancers are responsible with sunscreen & hydration all the field trips are great"
"NA"
"They are all great and fun"
"Don't do them all, take time to rest"
"beach/lake day. water was freezing"
"None, the other students enjoyed all of the excursions/outings."
"She liked all the excursions but her least favorite was the Milwaukee Domes (botanic gardens)"
"Botanical Garden"
"Water park was an excessive drive"
"She had a rainy day at Six Flags, but that's nobody's fault."
"None"
"The drive to Noah's ark and to Six flags sounded long but I didn't go on these so I wouldn't know."
"I enjoyed all of the outings I went on"
"none!"
Logistics
Quality of handbook
Spotty
1
2
3
4
5
Comprehensive
Program communication
Limited
1
2
3
4
5
Comprehensive
Transportation
I drove myself as I did not stay in the dorms
Private bus
Public transportation without chaperone
Was not in dorms
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 growth in my dancer"
"Having the same basket teacher all week teaching technique class, pointe class and variations daily allowed faster growth and improvement."
"The duration, the head RA was experienced."
"Son made good teacher connections"
"the class sizes were small but not too small and all the teachers gave corrections that were personal to each dancer"
"A 3-week intensive offered in the Midwest with a solid, professional company in outstanding facilities with excellent teachers. A decent first intensive compared to other short intensives from what we have heard from other students."
"Teachers, small classes"
"Amazing teachers with incredible choreographing skills! Enjoyed being choreographed on! Impressive, fun and energetic end of summer performance. Beautiful photos and video of performance. Well organized program! Professional, Collegial Team Environment! Nurturing & supportive teachers!"
"Rehearsals and Variations Class"
"My daughter thoroughly enjoyed the whole program. She loved all the teachers she got to work with and enjoyed the various styles offered throughout the intensive. She also appreciated being grouped with dancers of similar ability versus being grouped by general age or years of dance and then making adjustments from there. She was grateful for the positive and supportive environment that everyone fostered."
"Small classes, clean dorms and lots of time to get to know dancers"
"Cool city, just enough freedom for young dancers."
"Long dance days"
"Variety of teacher. Amount of time dancing. As parent I felt my child was emotionally and physically safe."
"Styles offered. My daughter enjoyed the African classes."
"The rigorous training and small classes"
"The teachers were so amazing"
"Experiencing different types of teachers and experiencing a different, more diverse environment"
"The training was more exceptional than promised. If you're a dancer who is looking for an intense program to help you progress tremendously this program is perfect for you. All of the teachers were nothing but outstanding, along with the housing management."
"There were two identical shows on the last day, they had full costumes and lighting and most levels peformed a ballet piece and a style piece coreographed for the show. You had different teachers each week for technique, pointe and variations however you had a consistent teacher for rep. It was a challenging program and I felt very supported and that my technique improved tremendously."
"The facility"
"Environment"
"My teachers were amazing and the other people in the dorms were so nice!"
"The community found in the dorms was immediate. RAs were dancers and very kind and responsive. My dancer loved the whole program, even her bus drivers and cafeteria food."
"The staff"
"The program really worked to improve dancers. My dancer loves the instruction as well as the outings. I also really liked that there was a sports med doc on fridays if needed."
"No class on Saturday.
You had the same classes everyday for a week and the classes and teachers would switch each week.
I had variations classes every week except pas week.
The end of intensive show was the best show I’ve been in and I’ve been to 6 other intensives."
"I felt like I got a lot of individual corrections and this helped me progress greatly."
"I enjoyed that are schedule was the same for the whole week. It allowed us to grow in our style classes because we were having it daily for a whole week."
"I loved my teachers. My ballet rehearsal teacher, Ms. Sejain, was amazing and our piece was so fun to perform at the end! The staff they have is very dedicated and wants to help you progress."
Least liked about program
"Start time switched each week"
"Nothing … great program"
"The kids in the lower levels spent a lot of time commuting to the studios far away from the downtown location, the kids not staying in the dorms had to wait for the bus to arrive (and sometimes it arrived late because of traffic or went to the wrong address), some of the teachers were young and did not seem to be interested in learning the kids' names or giving individualized corrections, there was a wide variety of skills in the same level and there were kids with very little experience on pointe in the lower levels (regardless of what was theoretically required/advertised)."
"No partnering"
"the all black leotard dress code every day"
"Unfair leveling. This was a major problem & if we had known about this before, we would not have chosen this intensive unless our dancer was placed at a much higher tech level & we would have jumped into a 5 or 6 week program elsewhere as our daughter was offered that other places. From watching the performance, it was obvious to anyone with a dance background that only tech levels 6, 7, & 8 were without major flaws in leveling, maybe 5 for the most part. Many dancers were commuters who do this intensive yearly & despite their older ages, should not have been placed in the 6-week program in tech levels 3, 4, & 5. The huge variation in abilities detracted from the classes & the performance. Dancers with many years of pointe experience were placed with dancers of only a few weeks (!) of pointe experience in the 3-week program, so unless your dancer has very little pointe experience, the 3-week intensive is not worth the time & money. If your dancer places in a higher tech level, then it appears worth the efforts."
"Students are not too good"
"N/A (levels were organized differently than I'd experienced before but all worked out well, teachers were adept at differentiating instruction to accommodate different skill sets within each level)"
"Not being able to move levels"
"She did not like the food. Be prepared to pay for lots of shipt/Instacart grocery orders or door dash/Uber eats."
"Food variety"
"The younger dancers (lower levels) danced in a dark facility out in the burbs while the older dancers got beautiful city studios."
"No strengthening classes"
"No level switching, no conditioning/Pilates"
"Dorms were strict. Students had a hard time leaving without a chaperone or a large group of people. Because this was during COVID, levels were determined during audition and there were no placement classes the first week and levels were not changed at all. So levels were not great this year."
"The dorms, food and strict RAs"
"The showers were kind of gross"
"No conditioning"
"I thought that despite how much fun I had that there weren't any boundaries in the city for how far we could go when we went out."
"There was inconsistent standards of class rules (such as dress code and accesories), however this was not that big of a deal and they still overall were very good about inforcing the important rules."
"The bathrooms at the dorms were crowded"
"I liked everything"
"Lots of style classes"
"Dorms were very strict- kids got "infractions" for locking themselves out, forgetting to sign out, leaving lunch on the bus, being late, not having a clean space, and more. It's a lot for a group that's pretty perfectionist on the whole."
"African dance"
"Nothing. Would return again next year"
"7 classes a day.
Only 30 minute lunch.
Sometimes dining hall food would run out because of the other camps.
Community showers."
"They would not move any students up after the first day of classes so as to not mess up the rehearsal process for the show. They do their leveling based off of the entrance audition. I did their NSIA audition, and so did a couple of other people in my level. Our level showed a wide variety of ability levels, but this was not clear just after watching the first day of classes. Some people could have definitely been moved up or down, but they couldn't have been after the first day."
"Our level was only given four days to learn our style piece for the show. Which was a style the majority of us were unfamiliar with. Every other level was given much more time with some even starting there’s week one."
"I thought that there was definitely a range of abilities in my level but we all still improved a lot!"
Suggested changes to program
Repeated Responses:
"N/A" (2 responses)
Unique Responses:
"The price, more experienced teachers, uniform level of teaching across all levels, more varied food, better lunch options."
"More boys!"
"colored leotard fridays"
"The poor leveling as noted above. Also, longer days dancing for tech 1-5 & dancing Saturday mornings. My dancer wanted to dance more!! Dancers spend about an hour traveling on the bus every day & though they dance 5.5 to 7 hours depending on the tech level, they spent a lot of time commuting from the dorms to the 3 studios. The buses actually made mistakes & went to the wrong studios some days, too! The wasted time was unfortunate."
"Being able to move levels-"
"I’m not sure there’s much I would change… she came home with a reinvigorated attitude towards dance, improved technique, and made some good industry connections & new dance friends."
"NA"
"Add strengthening classes"
"Cross training like Pilates,"
"Proper leveling classes at the beginning of the program."
"Nicer dorms, and a little less strictness especially within the dorm for older kids"
"Air conditioning requirements"
"Adding a conditioning class"
"The boundaries and curfew. The showers need to be cleaned, but otherwise it's great."
"More consistent transportation to and from the studios. Sometimes people staying in the dorms wouldn't be there on time because the bus came late."
"PBT or some kind of conditioning"
"More strengthening and injury prevention such as pbt and conditioning."
"More pictures on their social channels. They should've shared the happy dorm photos, too."
"African dance"
"Nothing"
"A longer lunch and more breaks in between classes to take pictures.
A workout class or yoga type thing."
"I would change the leveling process so that there is a placement audition. I feel like dancers could be leveled properly and more fairly if they were seen in person by the staff."
"I would say just add in a stretching or conditioning type class maybe."
Culture of program
Repeated Responses:
"Amazing" (2 responses)
Unique Responses:
"Positive!"
"Supportive and fun"
"Friendly midwestern."
"Very inclusive and supportive"
"everyone was incredibly nice and supportive toward all the other levels"
"Good."
"Very intense"
"Professional, focused, nurturing, collegial, career readiness, positive!"
"Supportive"
"The overall culture of the intensive is supportive and positive."
"Nurturing, FUN, city vibes"
"Teachers were encouraging"
"Positive, social,"
"supportive"
"Intense, not for everyone since it is 6 weeks long"
"They treated everyone very well this includes sick and injured students. If that means taking the injured students to get x-rays and/or sick students to get antibiotics or taking them to a hospital"
"Relatively inclusive and positive"
"I would say that the program is so great when it came to their training, and everything that was advertised was so much better in person."
"Everyone is very kind and supporting, all of the teachers were very dedicated to helping you improve."
"Very nice and productive"
"Friendly & welcoming"
"Other students are very focused but classes are fun and teachers look individually at each dancer. Dorms are fun and inviting!"
"Midwestern warmth, supportive, welcoming, and encouraging. Talent was high, especially at the final show."
"The culture was very positive. The instructions joked with the kids and had fun as well as instructing them. The kids were very kind to each other for the most part. Loved everything about it"
"Very welcoming and positive. My level had a lot of injuries and the teachers were very open about how they’d rather we sit or take it easy than dance and make it worse."
"My level had a very good culture. We were all friends and nobody felt left out or not included. I heard about other levels having drama or disagreements because of roommate problems or other things, but our level was completely fine."
"Very positive while maintaining a hard working environment and good corrections"
"It was amazing, both in classes and in the dorms. Everyone in my level got along really well and all got to know each other very well throughout our time together."
Other comments
"They didn’t focus on teaching styles … They focused on technique"
"It was not as intense or difficult as expected (based on previous reviews or reputation), at least for the intermediate/short intensive, but it seemed to increase in complexity as time progressed. Unless your dancer is very young, I would recommend waiting until the dancer can place in the higher levels and longer intensive when you seem to get more bang for your buck. Leveling is done based on skills at audition time so you'll know the level when invited to the program. They don't seem to reevaluate or change levels later. It was a good intensive overall."
"They had one week of dedicated men’s class and it was my son’s favorite"
"The teachers from the company were excellent & tried to work with the huge variation in ability in their classes but did give the dancers feedback that they could only do so much with dancers who were obviously dancing with more pointe experience."
"Wonderful experience!"
"My daughter loved it and would do it again"
"If you’re looking for an ABT/RWB summer intensive equivalent, this isn’t it, but this is a solid summer intensive that gives dancers a good supplemental session to their year-round/school year programming.
Be sure to read through the available information on the website regarding the purpose of the two variations of the summer intensive (the 3 week intermediate level intensive and the 6 week pre-professional level intensive) before accepting your dancer’s spot to avoid frustration with the program.
I found that using the resources provided (their website, the handbook on the website, the PowerPoint deck emailed from the welcome meeting, and the weekly update emails) I was very well-informed and knew who I needed to contact when my daughter had a muscular issue one morning a couple weeks in. They were able to get her seen ASAP and even called to let me know my care package (shipt delivery) had arrived to help her care for what turned out to be a really cruddy crick in the neck. They were really responsive & great!
My daughter found all the teachers great to work with. While she got corrections & constructive criticism, she also got healthy doses of praise, which is always nice to get."
"A great first intensive!"
"Was a great first away intensive, would definitely recommend"
"Amazing final show. Program is a nice balance between technique instruction and developing a performance. Level 8 Tech is able to audition for Milwaukee Ballet II."
"There is a check-in check-out system that is very strict. If you wrote on your card that you would be back @6:45 and you actually signed back in @6:50 you would now have your first offense. After three offenses you would be taken to the directors office for a disciplinary discussion of sorts."
"If you're a dancer who wants to go professional, this is the program for you. Its an intense program but the challenge made it fun, and taking style classes will definitely help you in the long run. The teachers were so great to everyone, and the smaller sized classes meant that everyone could get more one on one attention from teachers, and I saw tremendous improvement in my dancing."
"Love the teachers"
"no"
"It's hard for the leveling to happen in a January audition for a July start- my dancer had a lot of growth and probably should have been placed higher, but there was no movement. She made the best of it though."
"Mrs Tatiana and Mr Parker were amazing!"
"I did not stay in the dorms, but I was still able to feel included in the group and did not have problems making friends. I attended a few of the excursions and had so much fun."
"I really enjoyed it both dance and housing wise and would strongly recommend."
