Summer is coming! Have you decided what type of training you will be doing? Summertime is a great time to take advantage of all the different summer dance intensive programs that go on. As a guy, you have a lot more opportunities than you would expect.

What is an intensive?

Summer dance intensives are a great way to fit in a lot of training in a relatively small time period. They are also a great way to visit new studios or meet new dancers. Intensives are usually put on by professional ballet companies, college dance programs, or dance studios.

Summer intensives are often weeks long, and participants typically dance a full day, from morning to evening. Some intensives resemble a camp, with 5 or 6 days of dance a week, and lodging for dancers from out of town. A lot of these programs take place at colleges, where dancers are put up in the dorms. If you are thinking of going to college for dance, this can be a great way to explore your options.

How to find Dance Intensives

If there is a particular company or program that you are interested in, check their website for auditions in your area. Larger companies will often tour auditions and host them at professional companies around the country. Here is an example of ABT’s audition tour schedule: ABT’s Summer Program Audition Tour

If you can’t make it to an audition, check if they accept audition tapes, and ask your dance teacher for help recording your audition tape. For the larger companies, summer auditions happen pretty early in the year and you have to think far in advance to meet deadlines.

If you have missed the deadlines, it is worth checking to see if they will still accept your application. Most of the largest companies probably won’t, but local and less famous companies and programs may accept you. Many programs are in need of male dancers to fill out their pas de deux and male variation classes, so they are excited to find space for you.

I am often approached by local programs asking if I would like to participate in their program. Recently I was contacted by a really innovative program called Dance Wordz which was still looking for male dancers. Check out their summer intensive program: DanceWordz Summer Program

Scholarships

Summer dance intensives can be expensive, but there is usually always a scholarship available for guys who are willing to work hard. Make sure to inquire about them, or see if there are any work study possibilities. If you receive a full scholarship you may be getting free room and board and classes! Not to mention all of the great training you can get, that is a deal that is hard to beat!

Be sure to check out all of your options. If you can’t go away for a summer, find a local program. If you can’t commit for the whole summer, see if you can participate in a portion of it. Summer programs are a great chance to learn and you don’t want to miss out.

Have you been to a program you enjoyed? Leave a comment telling us about it, or about where you plan to go. Leave a comment if you know of a program that is looking for guys as well!

If you happen to be in Las Vegas this Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday and are at the Dance Retailer News Expo, you can stop by and see BalletForMen.com shirts as well as the other HD Wear shirts. They are on display at the Fuzi Dancewear booth!

I got a chance to sit down and interview Ken and Josie. They are husband and wife. They both danced professionally and currently co-direct a pre-professional company and ballet studio. Ken discussed how it was for him growing up in ballet. They both talked about studying ballet in college, and talked about what they think about male dancers from an artistic director’s perspective.

If you have any questions you would like to ask Ken and Josie, send them along to us, and we’ll get in touch with them: david@balletformen.com

Refresh your podcast or Download Episode 7 here.

Subscribe via iTunes:  Ballet for Men Podcast

non-iTunes feed: feed://www.balletformen.com/podcast.xml

Thanks for listening!

I also gave a heads up, Ballet For Men t-shirts are available on HD Wear. We also have more stock in our men’s and girl’s shirts. You can also follow HD Wear on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Check out this video on Bill Moyers Journal. It is an interview with American choreographer Bill T. Jones about “Fondly Do We Hope, Fervently Do We Pray.” It contains footage of the dance, which is amazing. It is consciously made for “an internet generation” as Jones puts it, and I think that comes out in the numerous visual elements and multiple literary aspects of the piece.

Watch the video Here.

Here they are! These have been in the works for a while, and there is a limited number currently available.
Both men’s and girl’s shirts are available. They are printed on American Apparel, so they’re extremely comfortable.

Shirts are $24 each, only available at HDWear.com. Check out some of the other great men’s and girl’s ballet shirts we have there!

Go check out this great new blog with lots of features. It is called En l’Air. It provides some really great posts about current events in men’s dance. I know that I found a lot of very interesting links there and I will for sure keep up on it. I’m excited to see the men’s dance community really grow and get represented online!

Become a Fan of En l’Air on Facebook.

And follow them on Twitter.

I’m working on an essay (just for fun) about becoming a better dancer. It gets very philosophical, but also has some grounding in developmental theory. It is becoming quite dense, so rather than post the whole thing, I’m going to include parts of it as I work on it.

Everyone would like to become a better dancer. There is not a dancer in the world who doesn’t have something to work on. Everyone has room to make progress. Practicing a lot will help, but having the right mindset, being able to recognize progress, and understanding how you develop, will help you facilitate that progress.

The Mindset

Having the right mindset as a dancer can help you get through the times you may feel like you aren’t getting any better. The right mindset comes form the way you interpret progress, failure, and even in the way you compare yourself to other dancers. A negative mindset can quickly frustrate and discourage new dancers. Experienced dancers can get frustrated as well, but they have devoted enough time, effort, and emotion over the years that they think twice before giving up. Newer dancers may have high expectations for their progress. The difficulty and skill involved in dance may seem overwhelming. The right mindset can help experienced and new dancers work through frustrations.

It helps to view progress as a continuous process. Understand that it is not something you will ever complete. There is no end, no point you will reach where you will feel you have completed dance… unless you give up. You may feel that you are content with where you are in dance, and that is a good thing to feel, but you will never reach a point where you could not get better.

Thinking about improving as a process requires us to change the way we assess our progress. When you assess yourself, do not look back to the day or the week before. Everyone has good days and bad days, and recognizing progress in dance requires us to look much further back. Instead of thinking “I am no better than I was yesterday” or “I still can’t do what I couldn’t do last week” try asking “how much better am I since I started?” or “what did I struggle with last week that seems easier now?” Looking at the process of change and progress on a longer timeline will let you see just how much progress you have made. Making progress is amazing, and it would be too bad to not recognize it. Thinking about progress as a long-term, never-ending journey, will give you a better chance to be engaged in this process. Being engaged in your dance progression will give you a sense of control as you advance.

This post was about interpreting progress. In the next part I will talk about interpreting failure and comparing yourself to others.

This was a really fun podcast to record. Katherine and I interviewed Mick Gunter, who has been dancing locally for 12 years, started a dance studio with his wife, and provides a highly successful boys class. Mick shares how much he owes to just being involved in the dance world, and it is really great to recognize how many opportunities it can provide.

If you have any questions you would like to ask Mick, send them along to us, and we’ll get in touch with him: david@balletformen.com

Refresh your podcast or Download Episode 6 here.

Subscribe via iTunes:  Ballet for Men Podcast

non-iTunes feed: feed://www.balletformen.com/podcast.xml

Don’t forget to rate the podcast on iTunes or write us a review. Thanks to everyone who has! We have a 5 star rating currently, and thanks to Rick from Socal for the great review.  Thanks for listening!

I also introduced Katherine and mine’s new Dance T-Shirt line, HD Wear. Two of our t-shirt designs are currently available, a men’s and a girl’s. You can also follow HD Wear on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook

Katherine and I have started a Dance T-Shirt Company!

It is called HD Wear.

We were sick of not having any really cool dance shirts other than cast shirts. So we decided to make some! Of course we not only made a girl’s shirt, we had to make a men’s shirt!

We just got our first run of shirts this weekend, and we’ve put a limited amount available for purchase online. They’ve been going pretty fast and it is exciting.

All shirts are printed on American Apparel, so they are about as high quality as you can get.

Get with your friends, because if you buy 2, you get free shipping.  We also ship international.

Visit The HD WEAR STORE to buy some awesome dance t-shirts!

I just wanted to let everyone know that on 4dancers.org’s great “10 Questions With…” feature, there is an interview with professional dancer Henrik Lamark. Henrik also runs the blog Tights and Tiaras. Henrik is Norwegian and dances in Czech Republic. He gives some great partnering advice, and solid advice for men who want to dance.

Check out the interview here.

You can also read my interview on 4dancers.org