University ballet majors hoping to have a performing career may feel like they have to sacrifice typical college experiences in favor of their training. Instead of parties, they have rehearsal, and instead of attending football games, they have performances. But what about another common college experience: studying abroad?
Pointe spoke with two ballet majors and a ballet professor about how studying abroad can fit into a ballet major’s schedule, provide unique opportunities for growth, and even prepare them for company life.
Studying Dance
Christian Osby-Grande, a senior ballet major at Texas Christian University, studied abroad in France at the Paris Marais Dance School, a pre-professional school, during the spring semester of his junior year. The program was created by one of Osby-Grande’s professors, who encouraged him to apply. This was the first time TCU sent students to study abroad there, and the first time the Paris Marais Dance School hosted international students.
Osby-Grande took a full courseload of dance classes, including ballet and modern technique, choreography, dance history, career preparation, and repertoire, all of which transferred back to TCU and kept him on track for graduation.
Through a combination of scholarships, school funding, and FAFSA, Osby-Grande was able to fully cover the cost of the program and travel expenses. The study-abroad department at TCU assisted him with obtaining a visa. For lodging, he stayed in a residential dormitory for students from a variety of universities.
Studying in Paris brought Osby-Grande opportunities he couldn’t get anywhere else. Through his dance history class, he toured landmarks like Versailles and saw the Paris Opéra Ballet perform Sleeping Beauty and Onegin. “It wasn’t just the history of ballet and how it started, but how French history tied into ballet,” he says.
Osby-Grande says focusing on French ballet training helped to refine his technique. “It felt like going back to square one, because the French are very detailed. The structure of the class was the same, but it was very slow-paced.”
While he missed TCU’s spring performance, Osby-Grande unexpectedly got the opportunity to dance in a prerecorded piece for France’s version of “Dancing with the Stars.” The director came to the school to look for ballet dancers to perform in the background of a Versailles-themed piece.
“Before going to Paris, I never really considered companies in Europe,” he says. “Now it’s opened my eyes to companies around the world, instead of just America.”
Studying Another Subject
If you choose a program that isn’t dance-focused, there are still ways to maintain your training. University of Utah junior Kylie Chu is majoring in ballet and minoring in Korean studies. The summer before her sophomore year, she spent six weeks studying Korean language and the history of Korean music at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Chu’s trip was short enough that she did not require a visa, and the credits transferred back to her school towards her minor.
Chu, who is half Korean, applied for the study-abroad program through Yonsei University. She lived in an apartment across from the school. “I do have family that lives there, but when I go visit them, I usually stay around where they live,” Chu says. “I really wanted to go on my own to experience the language and culture.”
Though Chu did not take dance classes through her university, she says she made sure to look up studios that offered drop-in classes. “I reached out to one of my professors [at the University of Utah], who is native Korean, to ask for places where I could dance.” She also got recommendations from the staff at Yonsei University.
“The classes were in Korean, but luckily ballet is such a universal language, and the French words are the same,” Chu says. “They also tried speaking English to me, but I told them ‘It’s okay, I’m practicing.’ ” Chu also took advantage of hip-hop classes at local studios with famous Korean choreographers, and she tried traditional Korean dance.
When she returned to Utah, Chu says, she felt a little rusty going into auditions for the fall semester’s performances, which were held the first week of the semester, but she still recommends other ballet majors study abroad. “It’s such a unique experience that you really can only do right now in your college time,” she says. “As a ballet dancer, taking classes in a new environment can be really helpful. You can see how it works in Korea, or how it might work in Europe, and get a sense of how they teach and how the students are.”
A Professor’s Perspective
While the University of North Carolina School of the Arts doesn’t have an official study-abroad program, ballet professor Britt Gonzalez has taken students to Spain and Hungary for summer intensives. She says the participating dancers always return excited about the prospect of a dance career overseas. “They network internationally,” she says. “They [connect on social media] with dancers from places like Slovenia, Greece, and Holland, which gives them a global perspective of what’s going on in the dance world.”
Gonzalez also says dancing abroad gives students a taste of what it takes to be in a professional company. “They learn to deal with a rigorous schedule, to deal with jet lag and their feet being swollen from getting off a plane. It really broadens their perspective and gives them confidence.”
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