Mid-morning on a steamy August day, a time when most classrooms are only scenes of drying paint and settling dust, the dance studios of the Rock School, the official academy of the Pennsylvania Ballet, are anything but.
Their five-story building at the southern tip of the Avenue of the Arts is overflowing with dancers from ages four to 21. Just entering the building means consenting to an obstacle course of assorted arms and legs, all splayed across the lobby and stair landings in various degrees of stretching and anticipation.
For these 350 students, who were culled from more than 1,900 applicants, spending their summer at one of the country's premier ballet schools is a dream come true.
"It's definitely worth it," said 19-year old Jennifer Price of Utah. "I've gone to other places for the summer, but I don't think I've learned as much or gained as much strength as I have being here."
The 38 year-old school's mission is to provide the finest quality ballet training, but to do so in a caring environment.
"We want to train the children really, really well, but we felt that there was a harshness that existed elsewhere that didn't need to be here," said director Stephanie Spassoff, a former Pennsylvania Ballet soloist.
Her husband, Rock School president and director Bojan Spassoff, added that they "try to nurture the whole kid."
"You have to have the discipline, but there has to be a nurturing, loving quality too, because it is hard," said Bojan, a former San Francisco Ballet soloist. "When you're 10 or 11, it may seem like all kinds of fun, but when you're 17 or 18 or older and you need guidance as to where can I go, what can I do, it becomes more serious."
However, for all of these "artistic athletes," time spent in the program, which runs from July 2 through August 10, is not an opportunity to slack off on training. The younger students, who stay at Haverford College, must be on the school's bus at 7:30 a.m. to warm up for the nearly six hours of classes ahead.
The older students, many of whom stay at the Moore College of Art and Design, arrive a little later, around 11:30 a.m., to focus on such special topics as partnering. Add rehearsal time on top of their classes, and they may not untie their ballet slippers until 7 p.m.
Even when hurt, the dancers must still be present for instruction: during one recent beginning ballet class, injured little girls were piled up on the sides of the rehearsal space like fallen leaves, with some trying -- illegally -- to catch up on lost sleep. After all, at their home studios, some of the novice dancers may have only taken one class per day, or even one class every other day.
"It's a lot more intense than at our studio," said 15 year-old Jamie Felton of Virginia Beach. "But you really understand your corrections better because you hear more than one teacher say it, so you really think, `Okay, I have to work on this.'"
The 25 staff instructors, like the students, hail from around the globe and keep the summer students on guard. An additional 12 guest faculty members round out the quality of instruction by bringing their expertise from such top-flight companies as the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theater to the students.
But for these instructors, most of whom have reached the pinnacle of their profession, helping others do the same is not a chore.
"The way I look at it is, somebody helped me, so it's my turn to try and help them," said faculty member Jeffrey Gribler, the ballet master for the Pennsylvania Ballet.
After a class of guiding her students through movements at the barre, principal instructor Maiqui Manosa agreed.
"The thing that I love about it is... being able to look after the seed when it starts," Manosa, a former principal dancer for the Atlanta Ballet, said. "Now, I'm able to influence 20 to 30 Maiqui's."
These summer students arrive by means of an extensive audition process. Beginning in mid-January, two teams of Rock School faculty scour about 25 cities throughout the United States and sometimes Canada, trying to uncover future ballet stars.
But although he says that the School looks for a "certain aesthetic," Bojan admits to occasionally bending the rules.
"Some of the kids may not have an ideal ballet body, but maybe there's something about them -- the way they move, or they're very strong technically -- and we think that having them come here will give them the chance to get stronger," Bojan said.
However, those at the highest levels of dance instruction may find the rules more unyielding. Every summer, the School brings in artistic directors from such top dance companies as Ballet West of Salt Lake City and the Pacific Northwest Ballet of Seattle. When in Philadelphia, these masters teach classes, discuss careers as professional dancers and even audition select students for highly covered spots in their companies. ÿÿÿÿÿ Along with the regular trials for extras in Pennsylvania Ballet productions, these tests have been known to bring out the worst in dancers, but those at the Rock School say it is no worse than at other elite schools.
"There's competition trying to get into a company because everybody needs a job, but you know, we're all friends and we all help each other out," said Price. "It's supportive for the most part."
The stress of ballet competition also leaves many ballet dancers with eating disorders, a situation the Rock School tries to avoid by having a nutritionist come in regularly to speak to the dancers. However, sometimes nature does take its course.
"Some girls, they have wonderful womanly bodies, but they're not meant to be ballerinas," said Bojan, adding that "not everyone is meant to be in the NBA either."
But the optional social activities that the School provides, which includes trips to Broadway shows and an end-of-term cruise on the Delaware River, provide an outlet for the tension.
"They can be serious ballet students here [at school], but when they go back to the dorm, they're just kids," said chaperone Ann Boyce of Arkansas, whose daughter is a student. "That's kind of neat."
When the school bells begin to ring in the fall, the rigors of training leave many dancers feeling a need to make sacrifices between staying in high school and perfecting their arabesques and pirouettes. To help eliminate this dilemma, the Rock School will debut a "cyber-charter" academic program in the fall that will allow students to have their academic and dance training all in one place, as is done in Europe. This is on top of an existing partnership with the Friends Select School.
College, however, is another matter. Although during the school year some of the college-age students may take university coursework, the six day-a-week, and sometimes seven hour-a-day, dance curriculum often leaves little time for anything else.
"I say that you can be a nuclear physicist and a ballet dancer, but you can't prepare for both at the same time," Bojan said.
Many of the boys and girls, however, have been dancing nearly all of their lives, and can think of doing nothing else.
"They wouldn't let me into first grade because I didn't have very good motor skills," confessed 16 year-old Shannon West of Arizona. "So my Mom put me in ballet, and you know, it was just something that I did."
"And then I went to see Sleeping Beauty, and I was like, `Mom, I'm going to perform on that stage,' and then I did. And now I want to be a ballerina," West said.
However, despite their dedication to a sport that frowns upon age, others are not quite so sure of their future.
"I love dancing, but I'm not just not quite certain if I want to have my whole life dedicated to dance," 13 year-old Chelsea Gregory of Virginia Beach said.
As for the guys, rest assured that they have a place in the Rock School as well. Approximately 50 of the 350 students are males, which might even be too many.
"When we have partnering classes, we have more guys than we need," Bojan said. "Usually, in most schools, you have one guy partnering three different girls."
By means of community involvement, the School tries to open up the world of dance to those who might not have the chance. Their RockReach program takes the art on the road to schools throughout the area with special performances, workshops and talks. And the City Dance scholarship programs grants open auditions for needy children ages eight to 10 who wish to study ballet, and provides free classes, dance clothing and shoes to those who make the cut.
And with the finale in sight for this year's summer program, the efforts of the instructors and students are beginning to pay off. At an outdoor performance last Saturday night in Upper Providence, about 40 dancers wowed the audience with a sneak preview of sorts of tomorrow afternoon's end-of-semester show at the Prince Theater.
Some uninformed audience members in the crowd of several hundred even mistook the students as the professionals that many will someday be.
But only those who have watched them from the beginning can truly appreciate their progress.
"You see them work, you see them cry, you see them in pain, you see them struggle, and then you see them out there," Stephanie said after the exhibition. "Each one surprises you -- it's fabulous."
