Boston Drives Dancers to Do It All.

"I see my program as a defining moment for students and aspiring professional dancers; a place where they assess whether dance is right for them as a career path."

--Devon Carney, Director, Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program

For the Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program's top level students, it's just one of those days.

Flushed with mid-summer heat, they whisper and fidget as pas-de-deux instructor Laszlo Berdo sweeps his pliant partner into a horizontal position across his back. Aspiring ballerinas shoot dubious glances at their male classmates. Berdo tilts his shoulders to the left. His partner slithers down from under his supporting arm, coming to rest draped over his flexed left thigh.

"Try it on your own tempo," says the Boston Ballet principal dancer, waving the group away.

Gravity and Murphy's Law wreak havoc with ballet's graceful illusions. One dancer slings his willowy partner over his back, mistimes the weight shift and staggers like a powerlifter pressing a half-ton barbell. A red-headed girl curls sinuously around her partner's torso, slides under his arm, over his leg and--splat!--onto the floor.

"Ladies," Berdo cautions, "Trust him to get you there. If he doesn't catch you, get up and smack him."

Memphis Ballet Artistic Director Karl Condon watches the action from the comer of the studio, scouting dancers for his company. Recruiters from Cincinnati Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will join the talent hunt later in the summer. Four boys will receive contract offers from Condon; one girl will sign with the Mid-Illinois Ballet and leave Boston after two weeks.

Berdo has the dancers switch partners and work through the phrase again. Across the back, under the arm, over the leg. The studio hums with suppressed giggles and an unspoken question: Am I good enough?

There's a lot at stake, concedes Devon Carney, who juggles duties as program principal, director, and ballet instructor. "They have to think about the larger issues," he says: `Do I continue to dance? Is Broadway a better choice for me than ballet?"

For serious young adult dancers--ballet or Broadway bound--securing one of the Boston Ballet program's three hundred spots is considered a major career boost. In some cases, outstanding applicants are offered contracts to Boston Ballet II, the Boston Ballet's apprentice company.

So it's not surprising that more than 1,800 prospective students between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three auditioned throughout the country last year. But getting in is only the beginning. Placement auditions divide the student group into classes by skill level: ten levels for girls; two for boys. Students attend twenty classes a week for the full six weeks, or one of two three-week sessions.

Along with core classes in ballet technique, pointe, variations, and partnering, participants study jazz and modern dance, choreographic composition, character, mime, musical theatre, Spanish dance, and music. A grand finale student performance wraps up the summer season.

Carney talks about his thriving forty-student men's program with obvious pride. Since becoming Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program director in 1995, he has expanded the men's schedule to match the women's, added a second level, and raised admission standards.

Students and potential employers are "blown away" by the talent, he says. "If you're in this program, you're good enough to get into a company somewhere," he adds.

That kind of life-changing possibility excites Nicholas Lincoln, twenty, a three-year Boston summer program scholarship student preparing for his first full season with the Cleveland Ballet. Stretching in the hallway after men's music class, he brightens at the mention of visiting recruiters. Boston, he declares, is "a really good place for networking."

Boston's reputation was rocked last summer by allegations of extracurricular misbehavior that included sexual misconduct and drinking, although the charges were dropped. Boston Ballet officials have taken notice and say they are meeting this month to establish new guidelines for conduct before this summer's auditions begin.

Today's ballet companies demand versatility, says Laura Young, summer program ballet instructor and Boston Ballet School principal. "You have to be able to do it all," she explains, "some Twyla Tharp and Paul Taylor and all different kinds of modern pieces." Besides, she says, not all of the students in the program can be--or want to be--"the ballerina in the pink tutu." Why not explore other options?

Smashmouth blasts from a boombox in Bryan Steele's advanced jazz class. Steele, exuberant despite his bulky post-knee surgery leg brace, directs a fast-paced combination. Twenty girls skitter through chassees, cross-ball-changes and multiple jazz pirouettes.

"Stay in plie!" Steele bellows, "Keep it strong!"

Juilliard sophomore Laura Halm, eighteen, steps to the head of the line for split leaps. Jazz is one of her favorite classes, a chance to "let loose" after hours of classical technique. Run-run-leap! Halm's face lights up as she hits the top of her arc. She hovers there for a moment, suspended by the buoyant joy of flying.

After a few rounds of Steele's pelvis-thrusting, attitude-heavy combination--"Think Fosse," he urges, "think Madonna. Are any of you too young for this?"--the class is over.

Halm, a former San Francisco Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre summer student, says she chose Boston's program because of its solid reputation and eclectic mix of classes. Six months earlier, she'd almost quit dancing.

"I'd had it! I was getting so many corrections, I couldn't move at all," she recalls.

Performing her own modern choreography at The Juilliard School rekindled her drive. Landing a coveted role in modern dancer Yacov Sharir's Boston Ballet Summer Dance recital piece bolstered her self-confidence.

The future stretches ahead beyond the summer, limitless. "I love dancing, but if it doesn't work out, I may act or sing," she muses. "Somehow, I'll express myself."