Summer Swans - An Update on Our Intensive Showcase

Our summer intensive dancers have been busy studying the finer points of ballet and contemporary technique, but another important part of their training is putting these skills into action: learning new repertory.

Studying classical works and participating in the creation of new ones is a lot like working in a ballet company. This aspect of the summer intensive simulates life as a professional dancer, which is helpful preparation for students of all ages. The practice they get performing these works in their End-of-Summer Showcase is another important piece of the puzzle in their development as dancers. Between now and then, there's a lot to learn!

Classical Repertory: Swan Lake

The cornerstone of our repertory has been Swan Lake, which the professional company will perform in April 2025. (You can read a little more about this classic narrative ballet in our Season Announcement post!) As a full-length work, Swan Lake has a wealth of choreography for dancers to draw upon.

The advanced group will be performing the Entrance of the Swans from Act II, in which swans emerge onstage one at a time and emboîté in a snake pattern until they fill the space. At this point in the ballet, the only swan maiden Prince Siegfried has met is Odette--when he stumbles on the entire flock, he is quite startled!*

The Entrance dance goes into the Act II Waltz, which is one of Swan Lake's showpieces. If the intricate corps de ballet work in this dance is done well, audience members will feel as if they're watching a flock of swans move in perfect formation. For summer intensive dancers, this is an important opportunity to show their skills as a member of the ensemble. The more a dancer can mesh themselves into the corps de ballet, the more likely they are to perform company-level roles. 

Conservatory teacher Victoria Siracusa works with the intermediate level on the Princess dance from Swan Lake Act III

This level is also working on "Little Swans," where four dancers link arms to perform precise footwork at a rapid pace. This is countered by the soaring jumps and long arabesque lines of "Big Swans." They finish out their classical repertory with the lively synchronization of Act II's Coda.

While the advanced group concentrates on these dances from the "white act" of Swan Lake, the intermediate group is working with Victoria Siracusa on the Princess dance from Act III. In this part of the scene, Prince Siegfried's mother has invited an assemblage of princesses** to the formal ball being held for Siegfried's birthday.

For our younger group of dancers, playing a princess is a great way to hone their grace and elegance.

New Works with Isaac and Madison

Although classical ballet is the main draw of a ballet intensive, today's dancers need to be well-versed in modern and contemporary dance techniques. In addition to classes on these subjects with faculty members Madison Sweeney and Isaac Martinez, students are also working with them on two new works.

The informal nature of the final showing--in the studio, with limited costume pieces--invites a more experimental, thoughtful process. Some works are just for the summer, while others may eventually emerge from the laboratory in a new form; my work Flow and Ebb, which premiered in 2023's Les Sylphides and Other Works, originated as a summer intensive piece.

I found that the new work process was an incredible way to get to know our incoming trainees and apprentices ahead of the season. Isaac relates a similar sentiment:

"They're a little shy [at first], but the more I work with them the more I get to know personalities and see some of them open up… It's really fun to see the less-experienced ones blossom and seeing the more-experienced ones have fun with it."

Isaac remarked on how his process as a choreographer has changed over the years as a result of working with dancers:

"The more I choreograph, the less I have a blueprint for it. At first I would go listen to the music and have whatever different kind of structure in mind...But the more I choreograph, the more I like having an idea and then materializing it as I go. That, to me, has felt like I don't get stagnant in my own choreographic process. And also, I feel more feedback and more together with the dancers when I use their kind of movement and their kind of energy. That, to me, is more important than using them like a tool--like AI or something."

This personal, instructive emphasis is something that Maddie echoed about her rehearsal process with this group. Some of the dancers were also timid for Maddie when she first worked with them. "But all of them are very receptive to input," she told me. She observed how challenging it is to improvise and "not care about what anyone is thinking" when you first arrive at a new company.

That confidence comes with time, and fostering an open and collaborative rehearsal experience is one of Maddie's goals for this new work:

"They have to do the brunt work, if you will, but I feel like as long as I am pushing and telling them, 'Okay, this is really great, but can you tweak this little aspect' then it can maybe blossom into something new…I want them to experience that choreographer-dancer connection and feedback and maybe they can come out of this with a little more understanding about how a rehearsal works."

That process of feedback between the choreographer and the dancer is one of many soft skills that dancers must master on the road to becoming professionals. The result of their practice this summer will premiere in the End-of-Summer Showcase on July 27.

New Works: Intermediate Edition

The Advanced level isn't the only group having new works staged on them—our Intermediate students are working on a few different pieces with their teachers. These include a Broadway jazz dance with Caroline Anderson and a new work with Madeline Jones.

A few dancers from the Intermediate group in rehearsal with Madeline Jones

These students have hit an important milestone by moving up from our one-week intensive last year into the more rigorous three-week program this year. With this added time in the studio comes a more comprehensive study of all subjects. Much like the Advanced group, being involved in the creation of a new work is an educational experience. Maddy Jones explains,

"Creating the piece has been experimental so far, and I've invited their input through improvised movement and verbalized thoughts. Themes of moving as a group versus as individuals have emerged through motifs of canons, mirrored duos, and structured improvisation. I'm excited to see the piece's continued evolution and the dancers' growth through experiencing the process of collaborative choreography."

No matter where dancers are in their journey, being involved in the creative process is an instructive experience. We look forward to seeing how these young dancers carry these ideas with them into the fall semester!

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*In case you're wondering, you can call a group of swans a "flock,""herd," or "bevy" on land and water, and a "wedge" or "flight" in the air. At BTM, we prefer "corps de ballet."

**My research is inconclusive on what you call a group of princesses. Strong contenders include a "royalty" or "bouquet" of princesses.