Summer Intensive 2024

January 12 – 14, 2024 at Center for the Creative Arts (COCA)

6880 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63130 

RSIA Information for Dancers

A faculty member will be in attendance at this conference to evaluate dancers that would be interested in attending a SI at Sacramento Ballet.

Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024 (registration opens the end of November)

10-13 yrs – 10:30 pm – 12:00 pm PST    Register 10-13 yrs $125

14-16 yrs – 1:30pm – 3:00pm PST    Register 14-16 yrs $125

17+ yrs – 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm PST    Register 17+ yrs $125

Sacramento Ballet Studios, 2420 N Street, Sacramento, CA 95816

Check in begins 30 minutes prior to audition start time.

NSIA is a collaboration of 13+ schools to audition dancers from all of the country.  It allows dancers to be seen by many schools at the same time.  Check back soon for the website link to learn about the auditions.

Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024

Senior – 1:00pm – 3:00pm   Register Senior SI $40

Junior – 4pm – 5:30pm   Register Junior SI $40 

Check in begins 30 minutes prior to audition start time.

The Grand Academy of Ballet

16422 Ventura Blvd., Encino, CA 91436

Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024

Senior – 10:30am – 12:00pm   Register Senior SI $40

Junior – 1:00pm – 2:30pm   Register Junior SI $40 

Check in begins 30 minutes prior to audition start time.

Long Beach Ballet

1122 E. Wardlow Road, Long Beach, CA 90807

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Junior – 10:30am – 12:00pm     Register Junior SI $40

Senior – 1:30pm – 3:30pm    Register Senior SI $40

Check in begins 30 minutes prior to audition start time.

Rock School for Dance Education

1101 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147

Saturday, March 16

Senior – 10:00 – 12:00  Register Senior SI $40

Junior – 1:00 – 2:30 Retister Junior SI $40

Check in begins 30 minutes prior to audition start time.

Texas Ballet Theater, Dallas School

300 N. Coit Rd, Richardson, TX 75080

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Junior – 1:30pm – 3:00pm    Register Junior SI $40

Senior – 3:00pm – 5:00pm (Technique and Pointe)    Register Senior SI $40

Check in begins 30 minutes prior to audition start time.

Sacramento Ballet Studios, 2420 N Street, Sacramento, CA 95816

Saturday, April 13, 2024

Junior – 10:30am – 12:00 pm       Register Junior SI $40

Senior –  1:00pm – 3:00pm (Technique and Pointe)    Register Senior SI $40

Check in begins 30 minutes prior to audition start time.

New Albany Ballet, 5161 Forest Dr, New Albany, OH 43054

We highly recommend that you audition in person, but if it is not possible, we are accepting video auditions until March 30, 2024.

Submit a Video Audition

Sacramento Ballet’s auditions are structured similarly to a ballet technique class. Dancers will complete barre and center combinations, including pointe work if applicable. Audition results for live auditions are emailed within two weeks of the audition. Audition results for video auditions are emailed within four weeks of the submission.

Please find the audition you are interested in attending in the Audition Tour tab above and click on the appropriate link.

If you register online, bring a copy of your audition registration confirmation and payment notification as proof of registration. If you uploaded an incorrect photo or document, you may bring the correct items with you to the audition.

If you register in person, you should bring a headshot. Payments must be made through the registration site. Credit cards and cash are not accepted in person.

Please audition for the age group that matches your age when the Summer Intensive starts.

Dancers may audition for the Junior Division at 9 years old, and for the Senior Division at 13 years old as long as they are the correct age at the time of the Intensive

A in-person audition is always preferred over a video audition. However, dancers not able to attend a scheduled live audition are allowed to submit a video audition through our online portal for $40.

Submit a Video Audition

Audition results for video auditions are conveyed within four to six weeks of the submission.

VIDEO REQUIREMENTS (10 Minute Limit)

BARRE WORK (ONE SIDE ONLY)

• Pliés
• Tendus
• Rond de jambe
• Adagio

For beginner pointe students, please complete center work on flat. Kindly add a combination en pointe at barre with sous sus and échappé.

CENTER WORK (DANCERS ON POINTE)

• Adagio 
• Pirouette combination
• Petit allegro
• Grand allegro

GENTLEMEN, PLEASE ADD:

• Tour en l’air
• Entrechat
• Big jumps

Wear a solid color leotard, skin-tone or pink tights, skin-tone or pink ballet shoes, and have pointe shoes ready.

Male students should wear a solid color leotard or t-shirt, black or gray tights, and black or white ballet slippers.

Program registration is first-come, first-served and will close when classes reach capacity. Students who are accepted for SacBallet Summer Intensive programs must register by the deadline on their acceptance notifications. 

If accepted students miss their registration deadline, they must contact us to request to be placed on the waiting list. 

Registration deposits are nonrefundable. 

If you have not been able to find the answer to your question, please click the button below to submit your question. We will reply to you and post additional FAQs as we soon as we can.  Please note: during Nutcracker season and holidays, we may be delayed.

Submit your question

Every day starts with classes with certified instructors in either stretching, conditioning, yoga, or pilates, leading into ballet technique class and followed by pointe, male or female variations class, or partnering. Our class schedule changes daily to accommodate a variety of classes and rehearsals. Lunch and snacks must be brought by the dancers. Students dance full days Monday through Friday (9:30 am – 5:00 pm), and half day on Saturday (9:30 am – 1 pm).

The class schedule changes daily but students may take classes in the following:

Ballet

Pointe

Jumps & Turns

Variations & Repertoire

Partnering

Contemporary

Modern

Hip-Hop

Stretch, Conditioning & Pilates

Yoga

Seminars & Workshop in Body Positivity, Injury Prevention, and Resume/CV Creation!

Students must bring snacks, lunch and water every day. Reusable water bottles are recommended as we have a water fountain for refilling water bottles.

Summer Intensive is by audition only. Students are assessed based on their technique, overall ability, physical attributes, strength, focus, attitude, and previous classical ballet training, as well as the ability to receive and apply corrections.

For in-person auditions, we will contact everyone by email within two weeks. 

For video auditions, we will contact everyone by email within four to six weeks. 

We are as excited as you are for the program! We kindly request you do not make follow-up calls to Sacramento Ballet as our small but mighty staff will be working on sending the results by email.

Accepted students must respond by the deadline in the acceptance letter. Registration fee, tuition, and housing deposits and their due dates will be listed in your offer letter/email.

All Summer Intensive participants take a placement class on the first day of their session and receive their level placement prior to their second day of classes. Level placement is subject to change throughout the course of Summer Intensive.

A limited number of scholarships are available and awarded on a case by case basis during the time of audition.

If you would like to apply for financial aid, please click the button below.

Apply for Financial Aid

Yes! Our resident faculty evaluate and recruit students who are interested in joining our year-round training programs. Summer Intensives serve as a vital entry point to School of Sacramento Ballet’s classes and training including Trainee Project, Second Company and opportunities to dance with Sacramento Ballet.

We encourage students to train with our Pre-Professional and audition for our Company when possible. Students with interest in these positions are encouraged, but are not required, to attend Summer Intensives.

Parents are not allowed to observe classes. 

We hold end of session performances. Students are encouraged to invite their families and friends to attend at the end of the session.

Yes! Students participate in a culminating performance on the last day of intensives. Friends and family are invited to attend.

If you have not been able to find the answer to your question, please click the button below to submit your question. We will reply to you and post additional FAQs as we soon as we can.  Please note: during Nutcracker season and holidays, we may be delayed.

Submit your question

Originally from San Francisco, California, he trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he was a YAGP finalist in 2014. He attended summer courses at San Francisco Ballet and Houston Ballet. Mr. Rogers joined Houston Ballet II in 2015 and Kansas City Ballet in 2016. He joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a soloist in 2021.

While at Houston Ballet II, Mr. Rogers performed leading and featured roles in John Neumeier’s Yondering, Ben Stevenson’s The Sleeping Beauty, and Stanton Welch’s The Long and Winding Road. At Kansas City Ballet, Mr. Rogers danced leading roles in Val Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellias; Devon Carney’s Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, and The Sleeping Beauty; William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated; Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort,and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room. Mr. Rogers is the co-founder of Creative Intersections, a Kansas City-based dance festival.

Born and raised in Tbilisi, Georgia, Victoria Jaiani began her training at the age of ten at V. Chabukiani Ballet School. She continued her studies in New York and in June 2003 was awarded a Bronze Medal at the New York International Ballet Competition.

Since joining the Joffrey, she has danced leading roles in many ballets, including Christopher Wheeldon’s Swan Lake (Odette-Odile), Stanton Welch’s La Bayadère (Nikia, Gamzati), Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella (Cinderella), Giselle (Giselle), John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), Yuri Possokhov’s Don Quixote (Kitri), Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow (Henna Glawari), Lar Lubovitch’s Othello (Desdemona), and the Sugar Plum Fairy in Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker.

Jaiani originated the lead pas de deux in Edwaard Liang’s Age of Innocence and Woven Dreams; Possokhov’s Bells; Welch’s Son of Chamber Symphony; and James Kudelka’s Pretty BALLET. Other significant performances include George Balanchine’s Apollo (Terpsichore), Stravinsky Violin Concerto Aria II; Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain, Carousel (A Dance) (Julie); Wayne McGregor’s INFRA; Jiří Kylián’s Forgotten Land (Black pas) and Return to a Strange Land;  William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated; Possokhov’s RAkU; Jerome Robbins’s In the Night (3rd pas) and Ballerina in The Concert (or, The Perils of Everybody); Justin Peck’s In Creases; Welch’s Maninyas; Antony Tudor’s Lilac Garden, Dark Elegies, and Operetta Star in Offenbach in the Underworld; Lar Lubovitch’s …smile with my heart; Frederick Ashton’s Monotones II; Gerald Arpino’s Sea Shadow, Round of Angels, Reflections, Kettentanz, Birthday Variations, and Viva Vivaldi; Nicolas Blanc’s Evenfall; and Alexander Ekman’s Tulle.

In 2010, Jaiani was featured on the cover of Dance Magazine and was named “Chicagoan of the Year” by the Chicago Tribune Arts Critic. In 2012, Today’s Chicago Woman named her one of Chicago’s top women in the arts. In 2013, Chicago Magazine named her “best dancer.” Jaiani is married to Joffrey dancer Temur Suluashvili.

J

John Lam began his dance career with Marin Ballet in San Rafael, CA at the age of 4. Lam’s talent was immediately recognized by Marin Ballet Artistic Director Margaret Swarthout, who offered Lam a full scholarship. In 2000, at age 15, Lam began training with Canada’s National Ballet School under the direction of Mavis Staines. Lam was one of only a few North Americans awarded a full scholarship from the Pierino Ambrosoli Foundation in Zurich, which supports promising young dancers throughout the world. Lam studied for three years under the renowned ballet teacher/mentor Sergiu Stefanschi and was awarded the Peter Dwyer Scholarship for remarkable promise. Upon graduation from the National Ballet School in 2003, Lam was invited by Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen to join Boston Ballet II in 2003 and was promoted to corps de ballet in 2004, to second soloist in 2006, and to soloist in 2008. He was named principal dancer in 2014.

Lam was a finalist in the Seoul International Ballet Competition and the only American male semi-finalist at the 2005 Helsinki International Ballet Competition. He received the prestigious Princess Grace Award, which recognizes and supports emerging talent. He has worked with a range of esteemed choreographers and coaches including Sorella Englund, Merrill Ashley, Karen Kain, Roslyn Anderson, Sandy Jennings, William Forsythe, Stephen Galloway, Jill Johnson, Noah Gelber, Helen Pickett, John Neumeier, and Christopher Wheeldon.

Lam has been featured in “The New York Times,” “The Boston Globe,” and “The London Times.” His choreography and production credits in stage and film include Dance Is, Movement in Structure, SHE/I, Close, The Air Before Me, Quiet Beauty, and moving pARTS. Lam’s films have received critical acclaim in International Dance Film Festivals, including The San Francisco Dance Film Festival and The Portland Dance Film Festival. Lam has taught at Harvard University and in studio settings from Boston to California to Honolulu.

Beyond his work as a dancer, director, choreographer, arts advocate, and film producer, Lam has performed the role of Ariel alongside John Douglas Thompson in The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s production of “The Tempest.” Lam is married and the father of two beautiful boys. His family is the subject of an award-winning documentary “Papa & Dada” by renowned director Daniela Ambrosoli.

Melissa Gelfin De-Poli began her ballet training with Lisa Collins Vidnovic at Metropolitan Ballet Academy and continued with Barbara Sandonato and Andrea Long-Naidu at Barbara Sandonato School of Ballet. She joined the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre in 2009, under the direction of Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens, and was awarded a National Training Scholarship with ABT. 

Prior to dancing with Cincinnati Ballet, Gelfin De-Poli danced for Orlando Ballet II and Orlando Ballet Company from 2011-2014 and was a finalist in the 2014 Jackson International Ballet Competition. She joined Cincinnati Ballet for the 2014-2015 season and was promoted to corps de ballet in February 2015, later promoted to Senior Soloist in 2017 and Principal Dancer in 2018. As a dancer with Cincinnati Ballet, Gelfin De-Poli’s repertoire includes classical and contemporary works by Septime Webre, Yuri Possikov, Victoria Morgan, Val Caniparoli, Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine, Nicolo Fonte, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Adam Hougland, and Ma Cong. 

She has danced Principal roles in Septime Webre’s ALICE (in Wonderland) and The Wizard of Oz, Victoria Morgan’s The Nutcracker, King Arthur’s Camelot and Romeo and Juliet, Kirk Peterson’s Coppélia and Swan Lake, George Balanchine’s Rubies and Serenade, Devon Carney’s The Sleeping Beauty and originated roles in Penny Saunders Nannerl, Myles Thatcher’s Anamoly, Andrea Schermoly’s Swivet and several works by Jennifer Archibald. 

Most recently debuted her world premiere Clockwise in Cincinnati Ballet’s 2019 The Kaplan New Works Series and choreographed and performed a solo work in the inaugural 2018 Female Choreographic Initiative Festival hosted by Houston Ballet. During the summer months, Gelfin De-Poli performs and tours with Moving Arts Company.