6 Ways to Make the Most of Your Summer Intensive Program

Lisa - Ballet on the Beach

At this time of year, most are in full swing of their Summer Intensive Programs (SIPs) or about to start them.  Many may think that going through audition season and receiving acceptance or invites to their respective SIPs, that the 'audition' part is over.  While you can proceed in this manner and still receive many benefits and experience great strides in your technical and artistic development, I always recommend that young, aspiring dancers take their SIP 'to the next level' using these six action items: 

1. Resume Development

Even if you are a younger dancer with years still ahead in your training before applying for professional dance positions and contracts, it's never too early to start putting together your dance resume, which I have provided a 4-part series to follow (see links below).  It's important to have some, if not all of these elements in place prior to starting off in an SIP. Why? Because it's important to view your SIP as one long audition/ interview marathon.  For some, this is the opportunity to gain visibility and exposure to professional ballet companies that you might not otherwise have in your normal settings. For others, even smaller SIPs, there is almost always at least one major Master Teacher/ Instructor who is well connected to many dance communities and would be an invaluable relationship, should you be able to garner favor with them.  So as with any interview process, it's important to get your resume in shape.

2. Marketing Collateral 

It may be an odd concept to accept, but think of yourself as a product.  You're the DANCER product and with any product, you have to market yourself.  Making sure you have the right marketing collateral prepared before you venture off to an SIP can make a huge difference in future job search efforts.  If you have all the elements of a resume together, I encourage dancers to go ahead and make up some business cards to take with them to an SIP.  These can be made for free with some companies, such as Vista Print, or you can invest a little money to make up more specific patterns and designs, but essentially it's important to provide your contact info as well as any social networking addresses that carry your dance activities and portfolio, like YouTube or Instagram.  This becomes an easy way to provide a Master Teacher or an Artistic Director you may meet or come across to let them know how to view your best dancing and how to get in touch with you.  It also opens a door to appropriately ask if they, too, have a business card that you can take with you, which will help to start building your network (discussed further below).  

Even if they respond that they don't have cards, or are out, that never stopped any salesperson.  Whip out another one of your cards and have them provide you at least an email address, and possibly their social networks that you have in common and can connect with or become a follower.  But business cards, although traditionally reserved for the adult corporate world, are just as effective in the dance world.

It's also a good idea to burn a few DVD's (or low-gig flash drives, depending on how much you want to invest) of your digital portfolio or compilations of your performances.  You can also add your resume info and DVDs and/ or flash drives are little more easily accepted than an unsolicited paper resume.  Again this is a quick and easy way to 'extend' the exposure you have with these professionals and the hope is they "keep you on file."

3. Consulting

I always called this consulting when I did it as a student, but I notice more and more SIP instructors are catching on, and here's what I mean by that: As a student attending SIPs, I would always bring my music of whatever variation or piece I was working on for the following season.  At the end of a class, usually proceeding a lunch break or transition into a rehearsal, I would very politely and humbly ask the teacher I was 'targeting' if I could please quickly run my piece.  This was usually allowed and I would also extend an invite for them to observe.  This inevitably led to some coaching from this Master Teacher, some only 15 minutes, others as much as 45 minutes to a full hour.  Most teachers can't help but want to coach anyone that is dancing in front of them.  

However, I have noticed over the years, more and more SIPs are specifying that an attendee must pay for a private lesson when seeking one-on-one time with one of the instructors.  So this tip may have to be played by ear, but again, most teachers will at least let you run a dance and maybe impart of few good tips without the expense of a private. This being said though, it can also be very much worth the expense to have that private time with a teacher.  Again, this is an investment into your future and a private is a way to gain a closer acquaintance with a Master/ Director among hundreds of other attendees.  If you can afford the expense, it is worth the exposure.

4. Letters of Recommendation

It's also a good idea to ask for a letter of recommendation from the Masters you encounter. This may be a tall order if your SIP was relatively short, but if it is 3-6 weeks or longer, it's definitely worth asking, especially if you feel like the Master(s) took a shine to you.  When requesting a letter of recommendation, it's always good to offer to write a form letter first for them to adjust as needed (and sometimes it's good to prepare these beforehand).  This is a win-win for everyone, you can write really wonderful things about yourself (which hopefully they agree with) and it becomes very little work for them.  The recommendations can later be used as part of your resume submissions for future SIPs or jobs.

5. Networking 

Networking is another area that can get missed while attending a SIP.  We already know it's good to make connections with Masters, Directors, Choreographers, etc.  But it's also important to connect and network with others, both inside the SIP and outside.  Within the SIP, if it's being held at a studio with a professional company, you may run into some of their apprentice dancers, or even their principals.  It's always a good idea to connect with these people, especially if this is a company you aspire to work for someday.  These dancers act as another foot in the door as well as can help guide you in your pursuits, or if you do get contracted, you have some acquaintances already and they can 'show you the ropes' and help acclimate you.  

It's good to do this with your fellow students/ attendees as well, especially if you are at that age when you will soon be seeking a contract with a professional company.  It can easily turn out that keeping in touch with people from SIPs (who have already secured a job or may secure one before you) may lead to 'insider' knowledge of job openings before they are posted as well as that foot in the door connection to a company seeking to hire.  It may also work out that if you have a pas de duex partner that you are perfectly matched to partner with, and if he has a contract (as they are in higher demand, it is sometimes an easier go of it), he may just be the person to drop your name to his Director as someone to consider because you do dance well together.  

You just never know what networks and connections can bring by way of opportunities.  And while I mention this from the 'business of ballet' perspective, let's be realistic.  One can never have too many friends in this world.

6.Follow Up

The first five tips are all about increasing your connections, but as with all things without the follow up and the follow through, those connections will be useless.  It's important to keep in touch, create followers out of your networking and keep posting relative content to your sites to ensure you are always on the radar for these connections and they are always in the loop as to what you are doing and achieving.  If this doesn't come natural for you, establish a schedule with calendar reminders to follow up with people at least every 4-6 months, perhaps more frequently depending on how close you are to start pursuing a professional contract/ apprenticeship.

Resume Links:
Ballet Resume Construction, Part 1: Paper Resume Content
Ballet Resume Construction, Part 2: Photography
Ballet Resume Construction, Part 3: Digital Portfolio
Ballet Resume Construction, Part 4: Social Media

Ballet Resume Construction, Part 1: Paper Resume Content

When the time comes to begin auditioning for dance jobs and company apprentice and corps positions, a proper and complete ballet resume can be an asset.  It is also wise to have one put together for audition season for prestigious Summer Intensives and/ or to have one together prior to attending your Summer Intensive Program since these are typically your first steps to getting professional company exposure and visibility. 

In addition, today it’s much easier to make an accompanying digital resume and utilize social media networks to expedite your job offer and reach company artistic directors far and wide, even without them visiting your city for a formal audition process.  Here, learn the fundamentals to creating a winning paper resume to provide with submission forms:

The paper resume is still a necessity, even in today's hyper e-world.  At an audition, you would still provide a copy with an application, or have copies in any other circumstance where you will have exposure to professional companies.  For many people, resumes can be tough, because it's not socially acceptable to brag about oneself and your accomplishments.  However, this is the one and only objective of a resume.  It's to sell yourself, to market yourself, so if you feel awkward or uncomfortable with presenting everything possible in that sales pitch, be sure to ask for help or seek professional consultation.

The header of your resume should include your body stats and your physical attributes, i.e., your height, weight, hair color, eye color and skin color.  While this may seem outdated in today’s world or even a bit politically incorrect, it is a critical component to applying to a company that will be the right fit for you, as well as provide you with the most opportunities.  Many companies still like all of their corps dancers to be a similar height and build. This aids with the aesthetic value to choreography for synchronization. While on the flip side, many other companies today want to show a lot of diversity and promote that diversity to their patrons. While still a major third factor is that the company's up and coming male dancers can only accommodate a certain height for successful partnership roles.  No one should see this information inclusion as some archaic attempt at discrimination, but simply a part of a necessary selection process that will afford you the best fit and the most growth and opportunity in your career.  Take my word for it, you don't want to be put in a company where all the males are a foot shorter than you or where you are an inadvertent eye sore in the corps.  This is not the way to making your career.  It's very similar to the plain and simple fact that models must provide this information in their portfolios as well.

Next include any professional experience you have had, including seasonal performances with a professional company.  For example, The Nutcracker, should be a fairly popular staple that most pre-professionals have participated in at some point, or more likely, multiple times.  If it has been multiple times, include all of those performances and your varying roles from year to year (the idea being of course that as you matured as a dancer, you were placed in better roles.)  But even beginner roles earlier in your career/ training count if this is part of a "professional production."  Many of the larger companies also allow for open auditions and participation from other dancers in the community for Spring performances.  If you have not taken advantage of these opportunities, make sure you remedy that as soon as possible. Check the companies' websites and see when auditions for professional productions are available.  Even if your home school/ studio does multiple productions already, it's always good to participate in other companies' productions to show you have variety in your background and can dance under other people's direction and style.

When you have participated in these productions, be sure to include the Artistic Director and Choreographer(s) of any production you participated in and your role.  If you assisted with anything beyond a dancing role, such as with tech or backstage management, include this as well.  

Next, include Summer Intensive Programs, Master Classes Instructors and the long-term coaches you have studied under.  This is where name dropping becomes an asset.  The ballet world can be pretty small and it's part of your investment in attending Summer Intensive Programs, Master Classes and attending professional training schools/ studios to be able to refer to the "ballet family" that has raised and trained you.  Even if you only had one class with one of the greats, include it (hopefully the class made a drastic impression on you and your technique or thought process, but either way, that's why you paid the big bucks to take from them).

Then make a list of all classical repertoire and variations you have personally danced, have performed and/ or have used in competitions.  If you have been in competitions, include the name, the year, the variation you performed and your placement.  If you did not place high, include the number of people you were up against.  For example, if you placed third in a category of over a hundred dancers, it’s still impressive for an apprenticeship or in some cases, a corps position, given an esteemed national or world-wide competition.  Each year, as you select your working repertoire, be sure to include a variety of roles and characters to show your performing diversity.

Last include any choreography and teaching experience. You want to be careful about how you present this information though.  It can work for you or it can work against you.  For example, including that you taught a summer pre-ballet class for young kids to help off-set costs of your costumes or pointe shoes, is a good thing to include.  However, including choreography experience without a demo to include, may come across as a resume filler and superfluous without the visual example to go with it.  

This part of your paper content resume should be included as the front page of your resume while the photography should be on the back side of your resume.  Ballet remains an area where a 1-page resume is still the smartest approach.  The additional features will come through in your digital and social media demonstrations.  You want to be sure that your resume material all collaborates towards a contract for hire, no matter how early in your career you begin this project.

Ballet Resume Construction, Part 2: Photography

Photography is a critical component of any pre-professional dancer to use in conjunction with your resume submissions.  It used to be the only way to show your performance level, athleticism and body before there was the age of easy digital resumes and social media. Even with the world of technology, photography still plays an important role, both in the traditional genres and the more modern advantages of its uses.  Photography is needed to submit applications and resumes to Summer Intensives and professional contract jobs; portraits, class work and backstage images are needed for social media and digital resumes and endorsement photography paves the way to endorsement deals and the hope of much needed additional income for a dancer.

Specific Submissions

When it comes to auditions and/ or audition submissions, most companies and Summer Intensive Programs (SIPs) will provide very specific descriptions on what to provide.  DO NOT DEVIATE from these specifics.   As a dance resume consultant, I will tell you that regardless of whatever amazing photograph (and/ or video) you have that you want a company or SIP to see of you, this desire can never replace what the company is asking for with submissions.  Most of the specifics will include the types of dance positions they want to see, a head shot, the size the photographs are to be and whether or not they should be in black and white copy or color.

Resume photo composite example

Resume Photography

When it comes to designing your resume, and you are not under submission specifics or maybe "cold-sending" your information somewhere, I personally still believe in submitting classic black and white photos for a ballet resume, however providing exact coloring may help you find the right fit more so than submitting black and whites.  In most cases I recommend a head shot in color with other photos in black and white or vice versa. Either way, photo composites should be printed on the back side of your one-page written resume.  Photo composites should always include a head shot of you smiling and showing off a long neckline, a good first arabesque on pointe, and a sauté chat on your best leg as basic necessities.  Other pictures are shots that show your extension, good technique (perhaps in a criosse or a la seconde tendu) and a more artistic, portrait photograph in costume, or a photo of you in a good corps position like Swan Lake.  You should always be well seen in your photos (do NOT use photos with other people in them or where you are wearing junk or your overall appearance is unkempt) and you should be in almost full make-up/ heavy street make up in these photos, otherwise you will look bland and washed out. 

Portrait, Class & Backstage Photography
While some portrait photography can be utilized in your open resume photography, the main goal of any portrait, class and backstage photography is to build up social media.  Portrait photography should be planned, staged, posed and shot by a professional photographer, while the class and backstage photography should be more candid, and can simply be taken with cell phones.  This mix is a recipe on social media mediums such as Instagram or Snapchat to start building followers and allowing people, whether it be early fans or professional companies, to view your work, your progress and your dance life, with regards to your environment and experiences:

IG & portrait photography example

To Parents - It may seem like a superfluous pursuit of the younger generation, but when done correctly, it is actually one of the best ways to gain exposure to professional companies and receive real endorsement offers.  

To Students - You need to involve your parents and instructors (and resume consultant) when pursuing social media as an avenue.  You may be the generation that specializes in how to work the technology, but you will not possess the understanding of marketing, image management and above all else - security and safety.  

Endorsement Photography
Endorsements can be a great way for popular dancers to make extra income.  Many social media icons utilize their popularity on social media to advertise other products and become brand ambassadors, and dancers are no exception to this opportunity.  When trying to become a brand ambassador or be offered endorsement deals, the best way to start is a) build a large and steady following and b) to "fake endorsements, until you make endorsements."  To attract endorsement photography, you want to have solid understanding of how you compliment product placement and marketing, as well as have someone savvy with a camera to capture not only a "dance photo" but photography that can appeal to the general public.

Dancer Model Credit: Elliana F.

Ballet Resume Construction, Part 3: Digital Portfolio

In today's modern world of technology, a digital portfolio is not only a must, but easy to put together as well in order to compliment your resume submissions.  In some cases, you would use a digital portfolio to submit for audition purposes as requested by the company or summer program if they aren't holding auditions in your area or you missed them.  In these situations, they may provide specifics as to what they want to see on video (again, never deviate from these specifics), however, there are needs to have a digital portfolio ready and available without being given specifics.  The content of your digital portfolio should include the following: 

Barre Work

You want to include basic barre work to show technique.  This should include demi and grande plies in first, second, fourth and fifth positions.  Be sure to adjust your camera angles from both side and frontal shots to provide a clear depiction of your technique.  You want to also include a tendu, deggage, rond de jambe, fondu and frappe exercises.

Center & Across the Floor

The center work should include grande battements, center tendu and pirouette exercises, a short adagio and petite allegro, with and without battu, depending on your level.  Across the floor should include a travelling pirouette exercise and grande allegro.  The last bit of the "class portion" should include coda exercises, such as fifth position pirouettes, piques in a circle and/ or fouettes (unless this is already part of one of your variations, don't duplicate for the sake of time).

You will want to have your instructor, coach or professional dance resume coach present to facilitate/ video your class portion.  They will provide the best exercises and correct your technique to ensure your best work comes across on video.  A professional dance resume coach will be able to do this as well as combine the best angles to shoot the video.  Always wear what you would in an audition for your class portion; pink tights, black or dark colored leotard, hair tidy and no jewelry or junk.

Classical Variation & Contemporary Choreography

Include a classical variation that shows you off well and should be one that you have had in your repertoire for awhile (a year or more to be really polished).  Next, include a contemporary piece that is as opposite to your classical variation as possible.  This is to demonstrate a diverse performance capability with only two dances.

For this portion, you may add a ballet skirt, or practice tutu, depending on the variation, or in some cases a costume; but only if you are able to shoot the video on a large scale, as on a stage.  Full costume can distract from the dancer in the studio for videoing purposes.

Depending on the goal of your digital portfolio (summer programs vs. a company contract position) you may want to include a pas de duex section as well.  This can be from a variation and/ or some basic partnering with turns and lifts.

All in all, your digital portfolio should be no longer than ten minutes, and I recommend to keep it right around eight minutes.  It may be difficult to select content for such a short amount of time, as most dancers have several pieces of choreography and variations to choose from, but remember this is "just a taste" of what you have to offer, and you can always use your social media content to demonstrate your other performance material and class work.  The goal of your digital portfolio is to make the recipient want to see more.

Ballet Resume Construction, Part 4: Social Media

In today's Internet-driven world, it is a great advantage to dancers and aspiring professional dancers to utilize social media.  What began as a socializing on-line network has in fact become the best innovation to job seeking for those who utilize visual and performing arts as their desired profession.  Not only does this open doors to connections and opportunities at great distances, both nationally and across the globe, it's also the best way to actively and consistently showcase your work and artistry.

Safe & Appropriate Use of Social Media

Since most pre-professional and aspiring dancers are minors, the very first topic to cover with regards to your social media resume is understanding security of your information, safety of your person and appropriate use of social media.  You want to always ensure that your identity information remains anonymous while at the same time, making it accessible for a company to contact you.  In order to do this effectively, it is important to always involve your parents and/ or a professional dance resume coach, to help you design your social media campaign. Things such as never using the geography tags or announcing your location, or at least waiting until after the fact, is a good practice.  Another is utilizing an alias, or your first name only.  I never recommend minors to utilize their full name unless there are extenuating circumstances of benefit, but those circumstances are extremely rare.  Even as you become a professional and perhaps gain fame, you want to be cognizant to utilize best, safety practices when it comes to on-line profiles.

Utilizing proper content is another big factor when utilizing social media for your dance career.  If you use social media for personal purposes, be sure to set up a separate campaign and profile for your professional purposes.  Your professional social media is essentially a 24/7 interview that anyone has access to view.  So posting personal opinions, immature videos or pictures (you might think they are funny, but it spells out that you are not ready for the adult world and therefore a company contract that would likely take you away from home and your babysitters, i.e. your parents!) or any other controversial topics (religion, politics, any negativity towards any groups or even other dance companies and dancers) is likely to do you more harm than you realize.  

In addition, you have to let your other social media active friends know that you can not be tagged on certain content that they might post.  Social media is a great platform but in the hopes of having many connections, followers, friends, subscribers, etc. you are essentially trying to build your fame, and with that comes attaining and maintaining an appropriate image.  That image should convey professionalism, maturity and the diversity of your dance training and artistry.  Again, a professional dance coach can lend a robust plan for your social media campaign and image while assisting with the other aspects of your resume building and job search strategies.  They will also be able to coach you on setting up profiles with appropriate safety settings, helping you to understand what you can post and what you can't (with regards to copyright laws) and back-linking all of your profiles to work with one another and raising your SEO.

YouTube & Vimeo

On-line videos are an excellent way to gain visibility with professional dance companies.  Many organizations and artistic directors and even Summer Intensive Program developers are utilizing social media to find talent and recruit dancers.  I always recommend utilizing both accounts, because while YouTube is more popular, Vimeo has a very high search index, higher than YouTube; therefore utilizing both, even if using the exact same content, gives you the best chances to get noticed.  These channels are best utilized for footage on classes, rehearsals, competitions & and your yearly variations work, performances and your digital portfolio.  If applicable, this is also a great way to feature your choreography, but again make sure you are aware of copyright infringement laws with regards to music.

Instagram vs. SnapChat

Now I realize that SnapChat with its various photo and video apps are a lot of fun and its gaining a lot of popularity, but again, when we think in terms of building your dance career, SnapChat, at present, has little to offer except as a platform to gain other followers and direct them to your other profiles.  Instagram, however, has lots to offer.  Because the images and videos can be as permanent as you want, this acts as an additional digital portfolio.  And its typically pretty easy to keep the content posted consistently using your phone and other resume building techniques. It allows images and 15 second videos and an unlimited follower base.  This profile is best used for class and professional photography, videos of you showing your best tricks, such as 32 fouettes on pointe, behind the scenes of your performances and competitions, etc.  Building followers (real followers, not fake ones) is important and Instagram is good because there is no limit on the number of followers/ connections (unlike LinkedIn and Facebook).  Followers are critical, not just for the ego boost or networking, but as you begin to build followers, Instagram is still the best and easiest way to becoming a Brand Ambassador.  Some companies may come across your profile on their own and send you info to contact them for information on becoming a Brand Ambassador or to model their clothing or shoes.  Other companies, usually the bigger and more legit ones that you would want to be tied to, have to be sought after and have an application process developed to submit for Brand Ambassador candidacy.  Utilizing your professional dance coach is the easiest way to make Brand Ambassadorship a success and helping you to create a strategy to gain followers that will garner you these opportunities. And receiving Brand Ambassador endorsements is a great way to earning additional income as a dancer. 

LinkedIn

Although LinkedIn was intended for corporate job searching and networking, it has trickled into the other professions as well, including the world of performing arts.  Part of this is due to the fact that dance organizations need corporate donors and sponsor relationships, so many of the Executive Directors, Board of Directors officers and other high profile staff, such as Artistic Directors utilize this social media platform.  Which means, dancers could, and should, also.  Since LinkedIn is usually set up with a person's actual first and last name, be careful of how this links to your other profiles when you use an alias or first name only, etc. or use the same discretion with your identity and to your geography.  LinkedIn can be set up with similar info from your paper resume (minus the body stats and specific contact info, of course).  The best advantage to utilizing a LinkedIn profile is to be proactive in making those dance connections yourself, rather than with other profiles, you are waiting for them to find you.

Facebook

Unfortunately, my personal opinion on Facebook is, nothing good ever comes of it.  This, of course, is not always true and there are several examples out there of how Facebook has been a successful medium for job searching.  But for me personally, I find that Facebook is best at and should remain a personal-only social media site.  I feel that the other platforms can be set up with a more professional image and it just becomes too easy for something on Facebook to harm that image. And when you factor in their friends limit of only 5000 people, it just doesn't do much for the individual dancer in terms of gaining visibility.  

Twitter

Twitter, in the world of job searching and with its short messaging niche, is best used as a reminder and announcement platform.  It's an easy way to link all of your social media profile activity, i.e. you can post notices of new things posted to your YouTube channel, you can post similar images and video clips that can refer to your Instagram, draw attention to activity on your LinkedIn, etc.   You can also post personal short notices so that your audience and followers start to know you as a person.  Favorite and inspirational quotes are good, something new you learned in class, that you are "nervous about a big audition or competition coming up soon, so wish me luck!" messages build that personal touch.

As you become more involved with posting content and building several events, performing opportunities and brand ambassadorships, at some point it may also make sense for you to build a personal website.  And, always, always, always exercise safety and security with social media, I can not stress this enough.  If you are a minor and your parents are not necessarily social media savvy, always employ a professional dance resume coach.  The investment is worth it for your safety and your career strategy success.