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5 Tips For Getting The Most Out Of A Summer Intensive

January 17, 2013 by 4dancers

ballet students at barre
Students at Ballet San Jose’s School, Photo by Scott Belding

The Summer Intensive. Both exciting and a little frightening, this type of training can really be beneficial to you as a dancer. It can also be a little bit intimidating, offering a new environment, new teachers and students you may not know. For some dance students, it may also be their first time away from home.

Dalia Rawson, Principal at San Jose Ballet School has “been there, done that”. Not only has she attended summer intensives herself, but now she also hosts them at the school. Dalia was kind enough to take the time to offer 4dancers readers 5 great tips for getting the most out of a summer intensive.

Here they are:

Dalia Rawson
Dalia Rawson, Principal, Ballet San Jose School

1. Do your research.

Be sure to pick a Summer Intensive that offers what you need to get the most out of your summer of training. If you are an advanced dancer, and are looking to find an Intensive that will help you take steps towards a future as a professional dancer, you will likely want to attend a Summer Intensive at a School associated with a professional company. Some Intensives, including Ballet San Jose’s Summer Intensive, offer the chance to work with the associated company’s Artistic Leadership, providing excellent exposure to the people who will ultimately be choosing Trainees, Apprentices, and future dancers in their company.

2. Embrace classes in dance styles outside your comfort zone.

The more uncomfortable you feel in a class, the more important taking that class likely is for you. It can be hard for a bunhead who has never taken a jazz class before to be able to let go and move their pelvis, or for someone who has never tried to improvise to find the freedom to create their own movement vocabulary. But if it feels foreign and uncomfortable, take a deep breath, have a sense of humor about yourself, and give it a try!

The ability to adapt and have an open mind is critical to dancers working with new choreographers, and even if you never professionally end up having to do a musical theatre number, the ability to get over feeling uncomfortable and give it your all is a valuable skill to develop.

3. Give some thought to the challenges of living on your own that you may face for the first time if you are living in a dormitory. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Summer Intensives Tagged With: advice, ballet san jose, ballet summer intensive, dalia rawson, dance summer intensive, summer intensive

ABT National Training Curriculum — Teacher Training, Part II

July 26, 2012 by 4dancers

Today we’re continuing with Dalia Rawson’s reflections on the teacher training portion of American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum…

Ballet San Jose Faculty and Staff with Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens, in the Ballet San Jose studios

by Dalia Rawson

Sunday, June 3: 7:48AM

A few days have passed since I last had the time to write about my experiences in training, so I should go back a bit. I’m sorry to say my bunny combination was not a complete success. I started my presentation with an explanation of the aim of my combination, thinking that was part of the assignment, but was told to go right into the combination without any explanation. I got so flustered that I just did a version of the arms without any bunnies or stars or anything fun! There were some great examples of imagery offered by some of the other instructors, who presented combinations that included peeking over a shelf to look for cookies when you do a releve, and imagining a mouse lives under your instep to prevent rolling in. The process helped me realize that it’s not really complicated to teach younger students, as long as you present material that is appropriate for them developmentally, keep the class fun, and present the material without artifice, in a way that suits your own personality. I’ve never felt more ready to teach a class full of five year olds!

Our days have been packed! What a lot of information! We’ve now covered the material for Levels 1, 2, and part of 3. One very inspiring aspect of this training program for me has been watching our Ballet SJ School students take class with Franco and Raymond. Ballet SJ School was asked to provide at least five student demonstrators per class level to participate in demonstration classes for the teachers in training, and Franco has been teaching Master Classes for different age groups, which our students have enthusiastically attended. Watching them in class with these master teachers has been an honor and a thrill. I love seeing the students’ faces light up in delight in hearing new analogies and finding new ways of thinking about ballet, and seeing them clarify technical elements and grasp concepts of technique through simple yet challenging combinations. I am trying to control my face so I don’t look like an over-involved doting grandmother in the corner, but I don’t think I am succeeding. If you ever have the chance to attend a Master Class or send your students to a Master Class with either of these men, don’t miss it. They teach every class as if it were made up of their own favorite students, with great attention to detail, personal corrections, charm, and wit. Everyone in the studio leaves inspired. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, 4teachers, Editorial Tagged With: abt teacher training, american ballet theatre, ballet curriculum, ballet san jose school, dalia rawson

ABT National Training Curriculum — Teacher Training, Part I

July 25, 2012 by 4dancers

4dancers has been following along with Dalia Rawson from Ballet San Jose as the school participates in American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum program. Today and tomorrow we’ll feature posts that reflect on the day-to-day experience of the teacher training portion…

(You can find the very first post in this series here if you’d like a little more background.)

Ballet SJ School Students with Franco De Vita, happy after an inspiring demonstration class

by Dalia Rawson

Tuesday, May 29, 9:37PM: The Day Before

Tomorrow is the day. Teacher training at Ballet San Jose School for certification in the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum finally will begin. Fifty-two people – about half dancers, faculty, and staff from Ballet San Jose, and half from the Bay Area, out of state, and even as far away as Japan – have signed up to take the first of three training courses necessary to become certified in all levels of the ABT National Training Curriculum. This course covers the Primary Classes and Levels 1, 2 and 3 of the Curriculum, and I can’t wait to get started, not only to learn the material, but to learn more about how the implementation of the Curriculum will benefit our student body.

I look forward to welcoming people early tomorrow morning into the 1920’s era building that is home to the Ballet SJ Studios here in downtown San Jose. I think we are ready. We have studios and pianists scheduled, and twenty student demonstrators confirmed, five for each of four days of demonstration classes. Franco De Vita, Raymond Lukens and Meaghan Love arrived earlier today from New York, and we showed them around the Ballet SJ Studios. It seemed we had everything they needed, and it looks as if we’re all ready to go!

I’m so excited that the training session is about to begin, and am finding it hard to calm down and get ready to bed. One final very girly question remains to be answered tonight: what on earth am I going to wear tomorrow?

Thursday, May 31, 9:23PM: After Day One

What a day! So many excited instructors arrived, filling our hallways and lobby as they registered. We each received an enormous binder with the curriculum guidelines, illustrated glossaries, and sections on health and development. After welcoming us to the program, Raymond introduced himself and Franco, and then began a detailed discussion about the motivation behind creating a National Training Curriculum. It seems that the administration of American Ballet Theatre had scheduled a retreat to deal with the issue of dancers who were so stylistically specific that it became problematic. This was not only an artistic issue for the dancers who had trouble adapting to various choreographers, but became a physical liability, as learning new movement vocabularies was so foreign to these dancers that it was leading to injuries. Additionally, dancer health issues, such as younger and younger dancers developing serious injuries, and the dangers of over stretching were discussed. The idea was put forth that a National Training Curriculum should be developed, not only to benefit the 5% of people who have the natural potential to become professional ballet dancers, and to help them to safely develop solid technique and artistry, but to create a broader base of love, support and understanding of the art form, through healthy, safe, and appropriate training for people with all ranges of natural ability.

We dove right into the National Training Curriculum’s ten principles of classical ballet training, which broke down the concepts that ballet teachers need to be able to explain and pass on to their students into easy to understand and comprehensive categories, defining fundamental but sometimes vague terms such as “placement,” “posture,” and “turnout” clearly and specifically. Ballet terminology was addressed, and the need for a standard naming of steps was explained. Considering the international nature ballet training, and the wide range of names for each step that are in common use, it is easy to appreciate the need for standardized glossary. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, 4teachers, Editorial Tagged With: abt, abt national training curriculum, american ballet theatre, Ballet, ballet san jose, dalia rawson, Franco De Vita, meaghan love, Raymond Lukens

Three Days At ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School

May 16, 2012 by 4dancers

Please join me in welcoming our newest contributor Dalia Rawson, who will be writing about ABT’s National Training Curriculum for 4dancers…

by Dalia Rawson

I was finally there, at 890 Broadway in New York City. This building, which houses the Laurence A. Wien Center for Dance and Theatre, is the legendary home of the American Ballet Theatre and ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. The building boasts floor after floor of dance studios, and it has been the site of rehearsals, classes, and auditions for countless dance companies, dance schools, and Broadway shows.

The building’s rich history is apparent the minute you step out one of its two operator-controlled elevators, into a maze of hallways and staircases leading to countless dressing rooms and dance studios. Innumerable legendary dance teachers have taught in these studios, and I was about to meet one of the most notable. American Ballet Theatre’s Franco De Vita, the co-creator of ABT’s National Training Curriculum and Principal of ABT’s JKO School had invited me to observe three days of classes. Ballet San Jose School is moving towards implementation of ABT’s National Training Curriculum, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled by this opportunity.  Raymond Lukens, who co-created the Curriculum with Mr. De Vita, was out of town, so I would be learning about the Curriculum through watching classes taught by Mr. De Vita, as well as classes taught by other faculty members of the JKO School.

I had arrived early, not sure how long it would take to walk from the Chelsea apartment where I was staying to the studios, and found myself with a moment to catch my breath and reflect before classes were to begin. As I waited with the ABT receptionist, sitting under the framed Resolutions passed by the US Senate and House of Representatives recognizing ABT’s service as America’s National Ballet Company, I felt a growing excitement regarding what was to come. Having spent the previous night on a red-eye flight from San Jose to New York after Ballet SJ School’s Summer Intensive Auditions, I was slightly disoriented, adding to the almost surreal surge of anticipation I was feeling about seeing some of our nation’s most talented dance students up close in class. As it turns out, I wasn’t disappointed.

American Ballet Theatre Lobby, with the Senate Resolutions, Photo by Dalia Rawson & courtesy of ABT

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, 4teachers, Editorial Tagged With: ABT’s National Training Curriculum, american ballet theatre, Ballet, brunilda ruiz, Carmella Gallace, dalia rawson, Franco De Vita, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, keith roberts, Moiseyev Company, paul sutherland, Raymond Lukens, suzanne daon

10 Questions With…Dalia Rawson

January 23, 2012 by 4dancers

I’m always amazed at the things I learn about dancers when I read these interviews, and today is no exception. Meet Dalia Rawson. Read her story. Be amazed. She’s one impressive lady…

Dalia Rawson in "Graduation Ball", Photo by Marty Sohl

1. How did you become involved with dance?

The first time I ever moved might be considered dancing. I had been either very small or very still while my mother was pregnant with me. She says that late in the pregnancy she had never felt me move or kick. My parents had a season subscription to the Joffrey Ballet in NYC, and while watching the performance in the theater, my mother felt me move, apparently reacting to the music by kicking and rolling, for the first time.  When I was a baby they called me twinkle toes, because I couldn’t keep still if there was any music playing. I was in local dance class by age two, a more serious ballet school at age six or seven, and San Francisco Ballet School at age nine.

2.    What are you currently doing in the field?

Currently I choreograph and set ballets and I teach. I am the Artistic Director of The Rawson Project Contemporary Ballet, a small company I founded in 2010 for which I have created a small repertory of original works. I am also the Ballet Mistress of Ballet San Jose School where I teach all levels of the professional division, and Rehearsal Assistant for Ballet San Jose, for whom I run rehearsals and re-stage works.

3.    Would you share a special moment from your career with readers? [Read more…]

Filed Under: 10 Questions With... Tagged With: balanchine, Ballet, ballet san jose, catharine grow, choreographer, dalia rawson, four temperaments, joffrey ballet, patricia perez, swan lake, the rawson project, todd fox

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