In this episode, we are joined by Patrick Frenette, a dancer with the American Ballet Theater and one of the co-founders of the Boys Ballet Summer Intensive.
Mr. Frenette shares his insights into the challenges and triumphs of boys who dare to dance through a candid conversation, heartfelt anecdotes, and valuable advice, shedding light on the transformative power of dance and the importance of breaking gender stereotypes in the ballet community.
Boys Ballet Summer Intensive: https://boysballetsummerintensive.com/
Patricke Frenette in Dance Magazine: https://pointemagazine.com/patrick-frenette-ballet/
Danseur Documentary: http://danseurmovie.com/
Today we are talking with Jennifer Sommers, the Director of the Houston Ballet Academy. Tune in to hear how students can audition to get into the academy, how scholarships work and what traits students need to possess in order to be successful in a residential ballet program. This episode also covers what life is like once dancers arrive for their time at the school.
Ballet Help Desk sat down with Lauren Richter, School Principal for the Tulsa Ballet Center For Dance Education to learn more about the school, its trainee program as well as the second company, known as TBII. She talked about how the programs recruit, the performance opportunities available, the best ways to audition and how students can progress through the school and into the main company.
Links:
Ballet Help Desk sat down with Vanessa Léonard, Director of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Anna McCowan-Johnson Aspirant Program. She covered not only how the program is structured, but how dancers work with the main company, where dancers get jobs and also how students can audition to join the program. Ms. Léonard also covers the unique challenges that dancers face when trying to dance in a country that isn't their own, especially when it comes to visa issues. Tune in to hear more about this unique Canadian company!
Interested in auditioning for Royal Winnipeg Ballet School? Video auditions being accepted through June 1, 2024:
https://www.rwb.org/school/professional-division/audition/video-auditions/
Vanessa Léonard Bio
Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Vanessa Léonard has been gracing the studios
and stages of the Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet since 1994 as a student, principal
dancer, and ballet master. In 2021, Ms. Léonard was honoured to be appointed as
Director of the RWB’s Anna McCowan-Johnson Aspirant Program. She received her
early training from the Edmonton School of Ballet and the RWB School Professional
Division before being hired into the RWB Company in 1997.
During a fifteen-year career, Ms. Léonard portrayed the lead female role in many
well-known works; the first of such roles was in David Nixon’s Butterfly when Nixon
picked her from the corps de ballet to perform the lead. In the 2001/02 season she
worked with Sir Peter Wright to dance the dramatic and technical role of Giselle.
Other roles that Ms. Léonard enjoyed dancing include Odette/Odile in Galina
Yardonova’s staging of Swan Lake, Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Lucy in
Mark Godden’s Dracula, Pamina in Mark Godden’s The Magic Flute, the tender Cours
D’Amour in Mauricio Wainrot’s Carmina Burana and the lead role of Nancy in Val
Caniparoli’s A Cinderella Story. Ms. Léonard is known for roles that have been
created on her including Tinker Bell in Jorden Morris’ Peter Pan; Destiny in Mauricio
Wainrot’s Carmen, The Passion; March Hare in Shawn Hounsell’s Wonderland; and
Natalie in Jorden Morris’s Moulin Rouge® – The Ballet. In 2009 Ms. Léonard danced
the role of Juliet in Rudi van Dantzig’s Romeo & Juliet for which she was called
“simply stunning” by the Winnipeg Free Press.
Ms. Léonard has appeared as a guest artist internationally, performing in galas with
the Compania Nacional de Danza in Mexico City, the Benios De La Danse in
Moscow, the 10th and 13th International Ballet Festivals of Miami, and the Encore
International Dance Festival in Quebec. She has also been invited to dance with
various companies and schools in full-length productions of Nutcracker, Swan
Lake and The Sleeping Beauty in Canada, the USA and Spain. In 2009, Peter Quanz
selected Ms. Léonard to perform a new piece called In Tandem at the Guggenheim
Museum in New York City and at the 2010 Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa. As part
of the Cultural Olympiad for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games she
performed the lead in Iztik Galili’s Hikarizatto.
Since retiring from dance in 2013, Ms. Léonard has staged and coached many
ballets for the RWB Company, Professional Division and Aspirant program. She has
also staged full length ballets for Orlando Ballet, Louisville Ballet and the National
Ballet of Cuba and has enjoyed guest teaching for schools and companies around the world.
Peter Stark, President and Director of The Rock School For Dance Education, talks with us about the current state of the job market and what he thinks about the growth of post-graduate ballet programs. He also provides valuable advice for any students who are hitting the audition circuit, including what to look for in a post-graduate program, how to approach auditions and how to stand out from the crowd.
Links:
We talked with TaKiyah Wallace-McMillian, founder of Brown Girls Do Ballet, to learn about its evolution from a personal photography project to a major philanthropic force. She discussed the organization's impact on diversity in the arts, highlighting their advocacy work, scholarship and grant programs as well as their and their global mentoring program. Tune to hear more on how Brown Girls Do Ballet is driving the conversation around diversity and getting results.
Links:
Ballet Help Desk sat down with Maria Torija, Director of the Academy at BalletMet. Tune in to hear all about how the trainee program is structured, how the school recruits and how they work with BalletMet2. Dr. Torija also discusses how the school provides career support for its students as well where trainees and second company dancers ultimately end up.
Links:
Maria Konrad sat down with Ballet Help Desk to share her experiences working with Nashville Ballet Two's trainees and dancers, preparing them for future ballet careers. Gain insights into the unique blend of training and performance opportunities that shape the dancers' journeys and get the inside scoop on this crucial stage of professional development.
Links:
Nashville Ballet: https://www.nashvilleballet.com
Nashville Ballet 2: https://www.nashvilleballet.com/nb2
Ballet Help Desk: www.ballethelpdesk.com
Submit Year-Round Reviews: https://forms.gle/DQXvQbJqtdnREjHQ7
Support Ballet Help Desk: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=JBTG3G2W77EJ8
Instagram: @BalletHelpDesk
Subscribe To Our Newsletter: https://ballethelpdesk.com/newsletter/
We sat down with Alan Hineline, Director of the Pre-Professional Division & Resident Choreographer at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet to get his take on the growing world of post-graduate ballet programs. We asked him why so many programs seem to be popping up, how he helps his students figure out the best fits and the role he sees post-graduate ballet programs playing in the future. For anyone trying to make sense of this new world, this episode is a must-listen!
Note that CPYB is currently auditoning students for both summer as well as year-round placement in its school. Information about auditions can be found here:
Links:
Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Website: https://cpyb.org/
Ballet Help Desk: www.ballethelpdesk.com
Submit Year-Round Reviews: https://forms.gle/DQXvQbJqtdnREjHQ7
Instagram: @BalletHelpDesk
Subscribe To Our Newsletter: https://ballethelpdesk.com/newsletter/
Join us as we chat with former San Francisco Ballet Soloist, Julianne Spratlin. Julianne now runs Dance Training Center, San Francisco a pre-professional ballet program. We discussed the current state of ballet training and how she sees the role post-graduate or "bridge-level" training plays in a dancer's journey.
Dance Training Center SF: https://www.dtc-sf.com/
"Becoming a professional ballet dancer in the United States requires years of training, dedication, and luck. With only a few thousand full-time jobs available, navigating a ballet career can be challenging and filled with uncertainty." These are the words that open the seminal report, the DataPointes Guide, developed by former dancer, Jason Yeung. We sat down with him to discuss how he crunched publicly available data to develop an insightful guide that illustrates which ballet training programs are producing the greatest number of professional ballet dancers. For any dancers considering serious ballet training and even a career, the DataPointes Guide will serve as a fantastic resource to help in the process.
DataPointes Guide: https://datapointesguide.com/
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