PROFESSIONAL
TRAINING PROGRAM
For pre-professionals looking to step into the professional dance industry.
The Performing Arts Center’s Professional Training Program is celebrating it’s 21st year and is designed to provide young performers with the opportunity to intensify and focus their efforts, allowing them to lay a solid foundation from which to pursue a professional dance career. It is our contention that this goal is best accomplished in an environment where one has access to working professionals and is given the kind of instruction that allows them to earnestly train and develop themselves. Along with expert training, this program’s intent is to teach you everything you’ll be required to know when dancing professionally, regardless of the medium. Rather than akin to a student choosing a college major, please be aware that this program is designed for each artist to develop themselves into a working professional. Therefore, studying in the Professional Training Program is, by its nature, very strict!
WHAT IS THE WEEKLY SCHEDULE? If accepted, you will be taking classes six days a week, including classes in ballet, jazz, modern, tap, hip-hop, strength and conditioning, singing, and acting; approximately 25 classes a week taught, with almost no exceptions, by artists currently working professionally in their chosen fields.
WHAT IS THE TIME COMMITMENT? The initial commitment for this program is one year; although we have found that the average time a dancer spends training is two years. The time necessary to develop into the kind of performer who is competitive in our field depends on each dancer’s work ethic as well as the amount and quality of previous training.
WHAT DOES THE PROGRAM COST? Since no amount of money can buy a professional career, the cost of this program is a modest $300 per month in order to help pay the teachers whose classes you are taking. If you paid full class prices for the classes taken in this program, along with the studio space required to practice your art each day, it would easily cost between $1,500 and $2,000 per month. The Performing Arts Center, therefore, awards each artist in this program a scholarship covering the rest of the cost. As training artists with a dream to create the foundation for a career is the goal of this program, we are happy to discuss other options if financial considerations prevent any qualifying artist from pursuing this path.
WHY DO YOU CHOOSE TO TRAIN YOUNG PROFESSIONALS? It is important to us that you know that our commitment to the Professional Training Program is borne from a debt of gratitude and a responsibility we have to try and repay our own teachers. If not for the countless hours they spent training us, neither this program nor our careers would have been possible.
HOW DO I GET MORE INFORMATION? If you are interested in finding out more about this program, please call 818.779.0428 and leave a message for the Artistic Director, Nanci Hammond.
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM POLICIES
