Dancing in the south of France.

Rosella Hightower's Centre de Danse International (CDI) sits in a quiet residential neighborhood just blocks from the azure Mediterranean. The peaceful facade belies the buzz inside as conversations in French, English, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese filter through the halls over the soft notes of a piano adagio from a ballet class and the rhythmic pounding bass from a jazz class. Each year, from late June through August, dance students from all over the world flock to CDI for the Stage International - a summer session of rigorous dance training in the heart of the picturesque French Riviera.

The school was founded by American-born Rosella Hightower, whose luminous performing career has spanned both decades and continents. Her career has been just as remarkable offstage. Hightower was the first American to become director of the Paris Opera Ballet and was awarded the coveted Legion d'Honneur by former French President Francois Mitterand. A noted choreographer and teacher, she has also directed regional companies in Marseilles and Nancy.

Her school, which opened in 1962, is as international as its name implies. Dancers of all nationalities and experience levels who come to the center find a challenging curriculum suited to their abilities. Classes are held mainly in French, but the faculty is multilingual, and in the summer sessions, questions are often answered and corrections given in the student's native tonque.

Students are offered the opportunity to become fluent in many styles of dance at CDI. The summer curriculum includes ballet, jazz, and contemporary dance, and students are encouraged to immerse themselves in all three styles in order to become well-rounded dancers. "The good thing about the school is that when students are trained early in different styles, it is similar to being raised speaking two languages," says

Hightower's daughter Monet Robier, a former dancer and a teacher at the school. "Without even thinking, you can speak both languages.

Many students, like seventeen-year-old American Juliet Linsert from Virginia, arrive at the school without a background in modern dance or jazz. "I've taken ballet for years, but I had never taken jazz before," Linsert confesses. "It's really hard, but I like it."

The school's emphasis on technique and individual expression is a reflection of its founder. "She is really the spirit of the school," says Robier. Hightower was lauded by critics for her skill and virtuosity as a dancer and for her expressive interpretation of roles. The school maintains a rigorous curriculum to instill a similarly strong technique in the students. Classes are small, and students are given individual attention. Combinations are long, often up to eight measures of eight counts, in order to train the students' minds as well as their bodies. "Students must be trained to think further; then it will become habit," adds Robier. As students progress technically, teachers increase the focus on individuality and expression.

"We try to teach dancers so that they will be able to work with choreographers," explains Robier. "I worked with many choreographers and each time they asked me to do something I didn't know how to do, I was miserable. I try to give those kids a solid background, so that if they are working with a choreographer who asks them to do something new, they will be able to do it with confidence."