First room: shared with her roommate; Second room: private bathroom in her room
Private in room
Private in suite
Coed bathrooms
No
Air conditioning
Yes
Housing comment
"Showers weren’t great being cleaning supplies, beware of leaky ac"
"Attendees were all on one floor. Attendees were bussed to and from the studios on high end charter busses."
"The dining hall was shared with other camps and groups. This caused a demand in excess which sometimes resulted in lack of breakfast and dinner choices. DoorDash was available."
"University of Central Oklahoma Dorms. They were older but decent. Large rooms shared with 1 roommate. 4 girls shared a bathroom with 2 vanities, 2 showers, 1 toilet."
"Four girls shared a bathroom with one toilet two showers and two sinks. Food was decent, there was a church camp from Utah there for 2/3 of the weeks, after they left half the food stations in the cafeteria closed down. They claim they close at 7:30 but they started shutting down a whole hour early leaving some dancers without food. DoorDash was available."
"Safe!"
"We started out in suite-style housing but moved to apartment-style housing on the same campus halfway through the program due to issues with the first location. There was maintenance being done on many of the rooms. The food was mostly great with plenty of options, but there were sometimes camps that made the dining hall very crowded and hard to get food. There wasn't a lot to do close to campus and most stores and restaurants were a 20ish minute walk away."
"The first dorm had construction going on and some students reported items stolen; after that, they moved the dancers to an apartment-style dorm. OKCB had excellent communication with us about the construction, thefts, and moves. I never questioned my daughter's safety at the dorm."
Where did they stay?
Air bnb
Rented an apartment or house
Stayed with local family or friends
Student lived at home
Housing - Supervision
Curfew
Yes
Curfew reasonable?
Yes
Room check
Yes
How strict were dorms?
Just about right
Somewhat lax
Somewhat strict
Infraction handling
Fair
N/A
Housing - Cleanliness
Laundry available
Yes
Laundry free
No
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
"Vegetarian"
"Tree Nuts"
Dietary options
Limited
1
2
3
4
5
Lots
Activities
Weeknight activities
No
Yes
Weekend outings
No
Yes
Attended weekend outings
I didn't attend any of them
Yes, all of them
Yes, some of them
Favorite
Repeated Responses:
"OKC Zoo" (2 responses)
Unique Responses:
"Botanical Gardens"
"Water park, First American Museum, Science Museum"
"Science Museum, Native American Museum"
"She enjoyed all of them."
"The water park, museums, arboretum/ gardens."
"Zoo"
"The zoo! The scavenger hunt was so fun and they had prizes for the winners!"
"Oklahoma City zoo"
"My dancer didn’t attended outings"
"Science Museum!"
"Pelican Bay"
"Oklahoma science museum"
Least favorite
"No"
"None"
"Not sure, wish they could have seen a performance for OKC."
"Mary popping musical"
"The contemporary art museum"
"the water park"
"Waterpark"
Logistics
Quality of handbook
Spotty
1
2
3
4
5
Comprehensive
Program communication
Limited
1
2
3
4
5
Comprehensive
Transportation
Parent drove student
Private bus
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
"Supportive and welcoming environment, daily conditioning, instructors were all former dancers but they also know how to teach"
"The variety of instructors and being taught by MAIN instructors form OKC, including the artistic director"
"Being taught by Ms Natasha and Ms Nye"
"Faculty and technique classes"
"Faculty was excellent, smaller sized men's program allowed a male dancer to grow and get personalized feedback. Dorm life was safe and fun."
"Instructors"
"Technique; approach; nurturing faculty ; top notch and welcoming to new students"
"The positive and friendly environment. The teachers give individual corrections. My dancer definitely improves her technique and comes back happy and feeling confident after training at the summer intensive."
"Different types of guest teachers"
"Rachael Nye changed my daughter’s entire perspective on dance. She gave her confidence to leap higher and the tools to turn more fluidly. My daughter improved IMMENSELY in this program and I am SO grateful we sent her."
"The breadth of experiences and the kind but helpful corrections"
"The difficulty and being able to improve"
"The teaching staff was great."
"The amazing culture and the faculty—every class was great."
"Teachers were very attentive, caring, respectful and kind. The studio was exceptionally beautiful and clean. Security was exceptional."
"Being taught by Mrs Nye and Mrs Natasha, they are very attentive to detail"
"The teachers"
"The teachers and environment were amazing and the studios were gorgeous! I also loved having conditioning every day."
"Beautiful facility and well structured. Most instruction was great. Great area."
"Outstanding faculty"
"The availability of two three week sessions."
"The teachers were very supportive and gave a ton of detailed corrections. Also, we had daily conditioning."
"My daughter liked having conditioning every day and liked the teachers a lot. From my perspective, I would say the communication of the program and friendly atmosphere while also pushing her to be her best."
Least liked about program
"Placement process"
"There were days Church campers also staying on campus ate most of the food before dancers arrived"
"level placement and attention"
"Some men were alone during the first three week session due to the way they did dorms. Not a deal breaker or even a big deal, just something that was a bummer for a kid eager to be social."
"Afternoon classes during 2nd 3 weeks was mostly choreography."
"Like most- dining hall: perhaps more activities during the week: the area is very safe but no public transportation/ bus so exploration is limited. You can walk to Target/ show about a mile away-that was hard with the heat."
"My dancer and I were both very happy with the program!"
"Housing"
"My daughter only went for the first 3 weeks (vs all 6) and there was no show or performance to see what they had worked on. We wish they would have let parents at least watch the classes on the last day."
"Leveling. My daughter was not challenged in class and had to push herself hard because of the simplicity of it."
"To many variations classes"
"Too many different classes and not enough focus on primary things."
"The lack of partnering “fairness” level D and E got contempary pas and pas rep. Level C and B got contemp pas as well and Level A just got regular Pas."
"Powdered eggs!"
"I didn't love how the schedule/teachers changed sometimes without notice. I also don't think we got enough hours of dancing per day/intense enough classes."
"Not a lot of individual corrections and a couple of instructors seemed mentally “checked out”. Very heavy on the instagram influencer culture and class sizes were large."
"leveling was unclear"
"The bus ride was long, and sometimes the bus air conditioning was not turned on."
"N/A"
Suggested changes to program
Repeated Responses:
"More partnering" (2 responses)
Unique Responses:
"Partnering more than once a week"
"Nothing. Excellent experience!"
"more ability focused placements"
"I would have liked a longer move in day."
"Attend the first 3 weeks or full 6 weeks"
"More week day runs to the stores/ weekday activities for socialization."
"Different food options. I would have also liked more partnering opportunities."
"A small show halfway through."
"Leveling"
"Modern classes"
"Less classes"
"Nothing!"
"After trainee and year-round offers are made, have some classes/activities for all being made offers. This might help make friends and roommates."
"I wish the schedule could be longer (we only went 9:15-3:30) by maybe adding another class at the end of the day, and that we could have had more different styles of dance."
"Class size & more conditioning"
"I wish they would have emailed out our weekly schedules before the week started. We didn't know what our weekly schedule would be until we got to the studios on Mondays, so we had to prepare for any/all classes on Mondays."
"Breakfast could be better (have more healthier options) - lunch and dinner were great with lots of options. Overall, food was very good!"
Culture of program
"Extremely positive, welcoming and supportive, in a very professional atmosphere."
"Wonderful, inviting and open"
"Per my dancer - Very positive and welcome; very supportive environment"
"positive"
"Inviting, educational and positive."
"Healthy and encouraging."
"Excellent: medium sized company that looks to train new talent and recruit for future opportunities. Positive environment/ my DD loves it!"
"Definitely the most positive and friendly culture my dancer has trained in while still working very hard."
"fun and inclusive"
"Joyful and uplifting"
"Fantastic"
"There was definitely class favorites and I was bothered to see some 7/8 year olds on pointe already."
"Inviting and supportive."
"Culture was focused on helping each dancer improve. Everyone was caring and helpful."
"Very supportive, I had a pre-existing hip injury before I came and when I told the teachers they let me do Adiago with lower legs"
"Caring Teachers each brought something"
"Positive and supportive but also pushes you."
"Fine- nothing I’d rave about but it was fine."
"Pushing dancers to become their best, but in a non judgmental way."
"Teachers want you to work really hard, but also have fun."
"Friendly, welcoming, teachers pushed her but also wanted her to have fun."
Other comments
"My dancer loved her 6 weeks at OKCB! She feels she grew a lot in her technique and made wonderful friends. She loved being taught by Ms Nye, Mr Nye, and Ms Natasha. The end of intensive performance was very well done."
"Well run program, genuinely cares about the students. Choreography excellent"
"115 kids total. About 25 or so were boys. If parents are looking for hotel accommodations, The Ellison Hotel was right by the studio and it was lovely!"
"They care about the dancers. And want to give a good program. The partnering was remarkable!"
"I wish some of the teachers critiqued more than just class favorites."
"There were about 25 men, and we were split into 4 different levels. For the second session, there were 4 in II, and about 10 each in III and IV. We had men's class together each day, as well as pas de deux. Most levels of women had pas once a week."
"Highly recommend they take people from the intensive directly into their day program/studio company. The teachers are amazing and the facility is gorgeous"
"There are 5 levels. Each had about 20 kids. There were about 10 boys. The top level was typically trainees/2nd company or kids from prior SIs. If you're older, then you had a lot of freedom as long as you traveled in a group - like to a mall! Teachers were amazing and caring. Each one brought something different. Racheal was great about explaining combinations and then ways to correct. Natasha brought the good Vaganova intensity. Ryan was about the artistry. Dayoung was great and intense. True, no classes on the weekend, but gave the body time to recover because you were working during the week! Attended the first session, where there was no show - it was nice! OKC is a unicorn."
"I did just the second session and a lot of classes were very focused on learning/cleaning pieces for the demonstration. I understand that this is because it was the second session, but I wish we could have gotten regular classes with more instruction too."
"Overall I think it’s a good option."
"The lunches that were provided at the studios were really good. The RAs at the dorms were super nice and always available. I had an amazing experience, and learned and improved so much!"
"This was our daughter's first intensive away from home, and it was excellent! I'd like to mention that during her six weeks there was a tornado threat where they had to shelter in the laundry room of the dorm; a fire evacuation of the dorm after smoke was spotted on their floor (all was fine); unexpected construction at the dorm + reported thefts during said construction which led to moving dorms during week 4. For each of these events, OKCB staff was present for the dancers and in communication with us via email. Actually, for the move, staff helped the girls plus local parent volunteers. I felt that she was safe and so well taken care of by the OKCB staff. I also want to mention that there is a Target, a Walmart, and several restaurants about a 20 minute walk away. The walk got pretty hot in Oklahoma in July, but it was nice that things were close by. The OKCB studio is beautiful, and we enjoyed getting to see the small show/demonstration at the end of the program. Highly recommend this program!"
