By Alicia Laumann, Artistic Director for Canyon Concert Ballet
As artistic director, I get asked all the time whether a student needs to go away to a summer intensive. In today’s social media climate, there is a lot of pressure in this direction. The answer from my perspective as an educator is definitively not. Attending a summer intensive is a very personal decision and depends on your child’s maturity and disposition, your family’s culture and finances, level of busyness, etc. etc. This year, for instance, my daughter will attend CCB’s Ballet Intensive and an intensive in Texas. As an only child, we like her to have the growing experience of having to live with other kids and my older sister lives close by and is really excited about getting to spend time with her. As you can see, these are very personal circumstances.
Dance magazine articles confirm that one of the most important reasons for going to a summer intensive is when an older teen is striving for a career in dance. It’s at this point that a summer intensive can be important in opening up the right doors. Having said that, summers are really valuable times of growth simply because a dancer can train multiple hours a day. How can this be done right here in your neck of the woods? Here is my idea of the PERFECT Stay-at-Home Summer Intensive:
- June 10-14: CCB’s Ballet Summer Intensive
- June 17-21: CCB’s Contemporary Summer Intensive
- July 8-August 10: CCB’s Summer Session – take everything you can, and ask the School Director if you can add classes from a lower level. Working below your level is a great way to work on fundamentals.
- July 8-August 10: Pick up private lessons from CCB faculty and find a Pilates instructor. Private lessons will help you work on specific areas and cross-training like Pilates will enable you to correct weakness and imbalances and add needed flexibility and strength.
- July 19-21: Attend Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop’s Weekend Workshop. This is a packed 3-day weekend with all kinds of genres and amazing instructors. Challenging yourself in other genres is very important to your education.
- July 26-August 10: Take a family trip to go to the Vail International Dance Festival! Seeing dance is as important as your training. It exposes you to too many important facets of dance to list here. As the largest and best dance festival in Colorado, you won’t be disappointed.
