The University of Oklahoma’s School of Dance will hold auditions Sunday, September 11 for the Saturday Youth Classes, occurring in the fall of 2011. These intensive classes in classical ballet and modern dance will be offered as a supplement for serious young dancers between the ages of 10 and 18. Ballet auditions for ages 10-12 and modern dance auditions for ages 13-18 will be at 2:00p.m. Ballet auditions for ages 13-18 will be at 3:30p.m. All of these open auditions will take place in the University of Oklahoma Fine Arts Center (FAC), 563 Elm Avenue, Norman, Oklahoma.
Several qualifications and specifications apply for those interested in auditioning. Students 10-12 years of age must have a minimum of two years of training and must be currently enrolled in a minimum of two classes per week in a local school of dance. Dancers between the ages of 13-18 must have a minimum of four years of training and must be currently enrolled in a minimum of three classes per week.
Students auditioning in ballet are asked to wear a black leotard, pink tights and ballet slippers. Pointe shoes will be needed for students ages 13-18. Boys should wear a solid color t-shirt, tights or bike shorts, and dance shoes. Modern dance students should wear a black leotard and black tights (without feet) or a unitard. All students must have their hair neatly secured away from their faces. An audition fee of $15 should be made payable to the University of Oklahoma. All auditioning students should arrive at least half an hour early to fill out necessary registration forms and to prepare for the audition class.
Upon acceptance and enrollment, students are expected to attend classes regularly and work to their fullest potential. In previous years, some advanced students have been chosen to perform in several productions with the School of Dance’s Oklahoma Festival Ballet. Many have also been accepted into prestigious summer intensive programs across the country.
Director of the School of Dance, Mary Margaret Holt, began the Saturday Youth Program over 20 years ago as a community outreach effort. Current coordinator of the program is OU faculty member, Rebecca Herrin, who believes the program is a wonderful supplement for local students who are serious about dance training.
“We find that students enrolled in the Saturday Youth Class demonstrate notable progress due to the opportunity to supplement their local classes by working with other dedicated young dancers in an atmosphere that is disciplined, challenging and exciting,” Herrin said.
For those accepted into the Saturday Youth Program, classes will begin on Saturday, September 17, 2011 and conclude on Saturday, November 19, 2011. Tuition for the fall semester will be $120. Students accepted for SYC Fall of 2011 will also be eligible to participate in the five-week SYC Spring 2011 session. For more information Rebecca Herrin may be contacted at (405) 325-0567 ext. 19.
The University of Oklahoma’s program in dance was founded in 1963 by Yvonne Choteau and Miguel Terekhov, former principal dancers with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. What had been a department became the School of Dance in 1998, with Mary Margaret Holt as Director. Undergraduate and graduate dance majors, along with general education students, total approximately 1000 enrollees in dance classes per semester. The School of Dance’s state-of-the-art facility in the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center was completed in 2005.
