Going to the extreme.

On a warm and sunny July morning, Bonnie Mathis breaks down the parts of a chasse to a group of budding dancers. Mathis reminds the girls to stretch their feet in the jump and extend their fingers through their port de bras. "You have to be conscious of your manicure and pedicure," she says. She tells them to rally their whole bodies, bringing their torsos with them as their feet glide forward. The dancers nod and repeat the combination with chasses that radiate a more crystalline line.

This was last summer at Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, an intensive where attention to detail is the hallmark and sharpening technique is the goal. The program's recipe for success: small classes, an illustrious faculty, and a location with very few distractions. (Kaatsbaan is in the bucolic hills of New York's Hudson Valley.)

Extreme Ballet's stellar lineup of teachers includes the intensive's director and former American Ballet Theatre ballerina, Martine Van Hamel. She, along with Mathis (also a past principal with ABT and now head of Boston Ballet II) direct the sessions. The guest faculty includes Adam Battelstein (Pilobolus), Steven Hyde (ABT), and Christian Holder and Ann Marie DeAngelo (Joffrey Ballet). ABT artisitic director Kevin McKenzie makes guest appearances for master classes.

A maximum of 39 students, ages 14 and older, are accepted into one of three three-week sessions. Students who want to attend more than one session are welcome to apply. Some do, as they savor Extreme Ballet's emphasis on personal instruction. Dinstinct development is usually discernable quickly.

"I've changed so much," says Stina Paulsen, a 14-year-old from New Mexico. "I have a problem with turnout and never worked hard on changing it, but Bonnie and Martine got on me every day. After three weeks, I improved."

Van Hamel notes improvements, too. "It's always amazing," she says while sitting under a willow tree outside the ballet studios. "Once we get them up on their hips and aligned, it makes a huge difference in how they work. Their legs lengthen, their feet point in the right direction, and if they have a good port de bras--which is hard to teach, but I insist on it--they can dance."

In order for the students to reap the benefits of the program, their needs are addressed in intimate classes, some of them as small as six dancers. "We try to give each student as much help as possible, to work with each one individually," says Van Hamel. "And because there is little else to do here, the students can concentrate on dancing. They really do work on style and technique."

Extreme Ballet is intended as a gateway to the professional world. In years past, young dancers such as Simone Messmer, Grant DeLong, and Jared Matthews have gone directly from the program into ABT's studio company. All three are now in the corps de ballet at ABT.

Students spend their weeks as a professional would--dancing from morning to night. The day starts at 9 A.M. with technique class, followed by pointe. In the afternoon, they are divided into four groups for specialty classes like Pilates, improvisation, character, and individual coaching, and they don't slip off their slippers until 5:30 P.M. "We want Extreme Ballet to feel like a professional atmosphere," says Van Hamel. "Our idea is to get them ready for a ballet company, or at least for them to understand serious training."

Lectures on topics such as the history of the pointe shoe, dance history, nutrition, anatomy, and massage fill the evenings. Each three-week session goes on one field trip: to Lincoln Center to see ABT, Saratoga Springs for New York City Ballet, or Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival.

As Extreme Ballet faculty is closely associated with ABT, Van Hamel says they are helping students prepare to dance ABT's diverse repertoire. The idea is to create dancers with clean, unmannered technique. "It's about basic placement and not coming in the studio with mannerisms," says Van Hamel. She also stresses the art of a dancing in a corps de ballet, as that's where most dancers will begin.

Last July, students learned the waltz from Petipa's Raymonda, which they performed for friends and family at the end-of-session performance. "You need even more technique to dance in a corps," says Van Hamel. "Dancing by yourself is easier. In a group, you have to be aware of yourself and everyone else."

For students like Amanda Fontaine, a 16-year-old from Orlando, Florida, Extreme Ballet was fruitful in both technique and inspiration. She particularly found Mathis' coaching on placement and position helpful. "She taught me things I never thought of before that helped me with turns. They are cleaner and I'm hitting the position right." Paulsen wants to return. "It was so much fun. I recommend it to everyone."

Wendy Liberatore is a dance writer who lives in upstate New York.