Summer Video Application

General Video Guidelines

The video should be approximately 10 – 15 minutes in length and portray the student in practice clothes* in an abbreviated class with the barre and center exercises included below. Pointe work is required only for students 12-18 who are applying for the 5-week Summer Course in NYC. Students ages 10 & 11 (and 12 year olds applying only to the one-week NY Junior Session) may include pointe exercises if they have already started working on pointe, but these exercises are not required. See below for pointe work specifications by age.

We recognize that students may not have access to a ballet studio for filming their audition video. If you are recording your video application at home or in a non-traditional dance space, please only include the listed steps that can be safely executed. The pointe work requirements listed below may be modified as needed based on the limitations of your floor surface.

Please do not include any variations or performance footage in the video audition.

*Students applying for the girls training track should wear a leotard and pink or flesh tone tights and shoes; skirts should NOT be worn.  Students applying for the boys training track should wear a T-shirt and tights with white or black shoes.

Barre Exercises (for all ages)

Please film barre work from a side (slightly front) angle. Position the camera as close as possible but ensure that that your entire body is fully visible from head to toe for both barre and center work.

All should be simple combinations.

• Two demi-pliés and one grand plié in first, second, fourth and fifth positions (one side)
• Tendu (both sides)
• Rond de Jambe (à terre & en l’air) (both sides)
• Frappé (both sides)
• Développé (both sides)
• Grand Battement (both sides)

Center Exercises

For all ages unless otherwise noted. (Where applicable, please include combinations that demonstrate both sides)
Note: use the applicant’s age as of the video filming date to choose the appropriate exercises from the list below.

• Battement Tendu
• Adagio (ages 10-12) – simple combination for four 8-counts
• Adagio (ages 13-18) – incorporate developé à la seconde and developé to arabesque
• Pirouettes (ages 10-12) single or double pirouette or relevé passé if pirouettes have not yet been learned
• Pirouettes (ages 13-18) – single and double from fourth and fifth position
• Glissade Assemblé
• Glissade Jeté
• Petit Allegro with Battu (ages 13-18)
• Grande Allegro with tour jeté or grand jeté or cabriole
• Boy Training Track Applicants: Single or double tour en l’air
• Boy Training Track Applicants (ages 14-18): Entrechat six

Pointe Requirements

Pointe is required for 12-18 year olds applying to the 5-week Summer Course and optional for 10-11 year olds and 12 year olds applying to the one-week NY Junior Session only. To ensure safety, if you have not begun learning any of the below required steps in your pointe classes, please omit or modify the step.

10-11 year olds
(New York Junior Session Applicants should only include pointe work if they have already started pointe training)
Show the following with two hands on the barre. Use a portable barre if possible and film dancer from the front.  If a wall barre must be used, please film dancer from behind (do not film a side view)

• Relevé in 1^st, 2^nd, and 5^th
• Echappé to 2^nd and 4^th
• Passé relevé

12-13 year olds
Show the following in center if you have begun training these steps without the barre.

• Relevé in 1^st, 2^nd, and 5^th
• Echappé to 2^nd and 4^th
• Passé relevé
• Pirouette from 4th

14 year olds
Complete all barre exercises on flat. Wear pointe shoes for the following center exercises.

• Single or double pirouette from 4^th and 5^th
• Echappé to 2^nd and 4^th
• Relevé in arabesque
• Piqué turns across the floor

15-18 year olds
All barre and center work should be done in pointe shoes, if possible. If floor circumstances are not ideal, wear your pointe shoes only for barre/center exercises that can be completed safely.

Uploading Your Video

All completed videos must be uploaded to a streaming service such as YouTube or Vimeo prior to submitting the online application. You will be required to provide a link/url to your final video in the application. Note that YouTube is the preferred viewing platform for our faculty. More detailed instructions for uploading videos to YouTube can be found in the guidelines document below. Links that require the video to be downloaded are not accepted. Additionally, please do not provide links that require an invitation to a specific email address to view (such as in the “private” setting for YouTube uploads).

A note about privacy: you do not need to compromise your privacy in order to submit a video. YouTube users should choose the “unlisted” setting (instead of the default “public” setting) when you upload your video. An “unlisted” video will not be publicly viewable in your YouTube channel and cannot be found through a YouTube search. Only those with the direct link can access it. Vimeo users should set their video setting to “Private” so that only people with the link can access it. For an added layer of privacy on Vimeo, you can select the “password” setting. You will then need to provide the password the SAB application.