A Tale of Two Dancers

Take a look at the summer intensive experiences of two dancers, one a student from BalletMet Academy, the other a visiting student living in the dorms!

Wow! This year's summer intensive has been such an exciting experience. While the long days in the studios are pretty exhausting, they are also exhilarating since all of the dancers love what they do. The BalletMet summer experience is more than just sweat, blisters, and rehearsals. Throughout the five weeks, we have grown together as more than just roommates and peers, but as lifelong friends. From "So You Think You Can Dance"viewing parties, to having an impromptu photo shoot in the garden outside of our dormitory, we never had trouble finding fun things to do at night after a day of classes or on lazy Sunday afternoons.

But the dorm chaperones made sure to keep us busy with an array of weekend outings. We celebrated our country's independence at Red, White, and Boom, the acclaimed Columbus fireworks spectacle and slid down swirling slides at the water park Fort Rapids. We watched Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" and the classic musical "My Fair Lady" in the beautiful Ohio Theatre and were treated to a live performance of "The Producers" by the Columbus Children's Theatre. We even were lucky enough to have a few delicious ice cream socials in the cafeteria. And-of course-who could forget our epic, double whammy, back-to-back weekend trips to the Easton Town Center mall?

We've been named the greatest, and best behaved, group to ever grace the hallowed halls of the Schottenstein dormitory at Columbus College of Art and Design. But we'd like to think that what the chaperones don't know won't hurt them…. Only kidding of course!! It's been an unforgettable summer session, and the memories and friendships I've made here in C-bus I will always cherish.

-Shelby Shenkman

This is the last week of the pre-professional intensive, so my schedule is a little different than it was the past 4 weeks. My day starts at about 7 a.m every morning Monday through Friday and sometimes Saturday. I do my hair, then eat a healthy breakfast and I am out the door by 7:55 a.m. for the 15-20 minute commute to the Academy. First I check the schedule to confirm there weren't any changes, and then head to the dressing room where my locker awaits me. The reason I have a locker is because I am a year round student in the Pre-Professional (Pre-Pro) Program. I grab my warm ups and I head into the studio to warm up my muscles. Since this is Week 5, the Pre-Pros are living a typical week as a member of BalletMet's company. Most of the days we start out with a Ballet class which ranges from an hour and a half to a two hour long class. After that we get a 15 minute break to maybe grab a snack and to refill your water bottle.
We have two separate rehearsals that are either one hour or an hour and fifteen minutes. After dancing the morning away we get a 45 minute lunch break. Next we have yet another rehearsal for one hour, and lately we have been having a Flamenco class for one hour. To end the day we have a Modern class for one hour and thirty minutes. Yesterday, I took part in some demonstrations for the BalletMet Dance Academy Open House and was at the studio until 8:30pm! Once my day is over I go home eat some dinner, take a cold shower to refresh myself, then I relax and recharge for the day ahead.

Weeks 1-4 my day still started at 7am and was full of a variety of classes. Instead of long rehearsals, we had set classes like Ballet, Variations, Modern, Corps, and Enrichment, which could be anything from Yoga to Dance History. We get to work with the Artistic staff a lot which is an amazing experience.

I like the Summer Intensive because I get to meet people from all over the country as well as see people from past years. Last weekend I got to have a friend over who I met last year who I became very close friends with because she was moved up into the 5 week program. There wasn't a dorm room open so she spent the week at my house. She came over for a sleepover this year, and we went and saw the Titanic exhibit at COSI, accompanied by one of the other students that is in the intensive who is from Italy!!! After boarding the Titanic we went to Polaris and shopped a bit, came home had dinner and then we took them back to the dorms.

I really enjoy being a local student and having the opportunity to dance in my home studio, but with some different faces.

-Sarah Wilson