Guest Blogger: Andrea D’Annunzio

Jacob's Pillow. Everyone in the professional dance world knows its name, and every professional company wants to perform there. The history of Jacob's Pillow is a reflection of the development of dance in America. It presents the highest quality of dance currently being performed around the world.

Every year at Princeton Ballet School's Summer Intensive, the five-week program culminates with a performance. One of the pieces performed is always a section from a full-length Classical ballet set by renowned teacher and former Maria Youskevitch. For the past two summers, Ms. Youskevitch has set sections from Act Two of Swan Lake on the Intensive students, and I have had the privilege of assisting her as she sets the choreography and rehearses the dancers. I am surprised and disappointed however, to say that over these two summers, there have been more students who are disappointed to find themselves in the corps of Swan Lake, than those who are excited. The general feeling is that you don't get to dance when you're in the corps de ballet, and that you just stand there and blend in, so it's boring and tedious. I'm not saying that it isn't tedious, but the skills a dancer learns by experiencing corps de ballet work are vital to their future as an aspiring professional ballet dancer.

When professional dancers are interviewed in magazines or documentaries they are consistently asked the question, 'How did you get your first job?' Aspiring dancers are always eager to know the tricks of the trade and any tips that could help them reach the top. But to my dismay the single response I hear over and over again is, 'I was in the right place at the right time.' I have continually found this to be an enormously frustrating and unhelpful response. Therefore, I've decided to share the tips and tricks I learned and utilized during my two years as a Trainee with American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School, and a few of the invaluable qualities that Artistic Directors may look for in a dancer.

Ever since I was thirteen I have been attending summer intensives. As a ballet dancer it's just 'what you do' to continue your training and prevent your technique and strength from slipping backward. But after high school things got tricky. Despite the continued importance of summer training for dancers no matter what their age, most summer intensives do not accept students over eighteen. After researching and finding a few that did extend their age bracket I took advantage of them when I could. What I eventually realized, however, is that once you pass that wonderful age of eighteen, becoming an RA, or Residence Assistant,' is just 'what you do.'