ABT Young Dancer's Workshop Orange County

A week before the workshop  my mom and I went to see where the program would be held.

It's at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Irvine. The facilities are stunning!

http://www.scfta.org

I am so excited!!

There are 67 dancers in the program.  Three are boys, and all the rest are girls.  The first day included a tour of the beautiful facilities, a placement class, a nutrition seminar, and a class on injury prevention and stretching.  We are fortunate to have two friends from our home studio here, but it is fun to make new friends as well.  The auditions were held across the country.  We have already gotten to know people from Georgia, Texas, and Las Vegas.

On the second morning placements were posted.  There are 3 levels:  blue, green and violet.  They are based on both age and ability.  I am so happy to be in the blue group with one of my closest friends.  The green group is on pointe, our group does pre-pointe instead.   The violet group has the oldest girls.  There are young counselors for each group that help us get from place to place, which is good, because there are a lot of studios and rooms.  Today we had a  lot more dancing, and were tired and a little sore by the end of the day.  We also had a class on the history of ballet.

Today we will begin character dance in addition to our technique and pre-pointe class.  Here is an example of the daily schedule:

9:30-11:15 Technique

11:30-12:15 Modern

12:15-1:15 Lunch

1:15-2:15 Choreography

2:30-3:30 Character