Moveable feasts: festivals.

Where does dance fit into your life? Is it a possible college major, a future career, or a passionate avocation? If you are looking for the answers to these questions, consider immersing yourself in the intensity of a summer dance festival, where you will live and breathe dance 24 hours a day. You will probably return home with a much clearer sense of what dance means to you.

At a summer festival, you will train with distinguished professional artists in a supportive atmosphere and experience the diversity of the current dance scene. You will be urged to explore new ground and take creative risks. You will be inspired, exhilarated, challenged, encouraged, exhausted, and never, ever bored!

All festivals offer training in modern dance technique. Ballet is usually taught as well, plus jazz, improvisation and composition, and repertory. Beyond this foundation the course offerings are diverse. Performances by professional companies are an exciting part of every festival and are free for full-time participants.

The main requirements for admission are maturity, a serious interest in dance, and enough stamina to handle the rigorous training schedule. Sixteen is usually the minimum age for applicants. While college students make up the largest proportion of any festival community, each has a number of younger dancers.

The American Dance Festival, held on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, offers a Young Dancers School, for students ages 12 to 16. ADF provides a closely supervised environment for this group of 25 students, the youngest among a community of nearly 400.

The young dancers take their classes together. Their studies emphasize finding an individual voice: Ballet training is combined with body therapy; modern dance study includes improvisation, performance, and style; there is even a composition lab. Jazz, African dance, and music round out the daily schedule. Students give their own demonstration and attend performances by leading U.S. and foreign companies. There are also workshops on health maintenance and injury prevention, field trips, and master classes.

The Harvard Summer Dance Center, a three- or six-week program held on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, enrolls 180 participants. High school juniors and seniors apply through Harvard's Secondary School Program. They live in Harvard dorms and have access to college counseling. For those with little modern dance experience, there is a strong beginners' program.

The modern and jazz programs are particularly strong, too; some students can choose a musical theater concentration by enrolling in jazz repertory and tap. Students may also study dance history and writing for dance. They have the opportunity to create and perform in both their own and faculty works. Evenings feature a series of lectures and films. On weekends there is a performance series.

The Bates Dance Festival, held for three weeks on the Bates College campus in Lewiston, Maine, attracts about 15 high-school-age dancers among its 175 participants. They share dorms with the others but have their own counselor. They are welcome to take any of the twenty-six daily classes offered. There are no auditions, but applicants must have had two years of continuous dance training and be able to dance at the elementary or intermediate level. In the evenings there are speakers, films, lecture-demonstrations, and dance jams in the dorms with drumming by the festival musicians. On weekends there are trips to the Maine Arts Festival or the coast. Members of the faculty and their companies give two performances:

The White Mountain Summer Dance Festival, nestled in the Presidential Mountain Range on the wooded grounds of a private school a mile from Littleton, New Hampshire, is the smallest and most intimate of these six festivals. The three-week program limits enrollment to 55 and has a five-to-one student-faculty ratio. A few mature fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds are accepted. Housing is in single and double rooms in comfortable, modern dorms. Extraordinary food is provided by the resident chef.

Despite its size this is a remarkably comprehensive program, overseen by a cohesive faculty. Students may choose to focus their studies or to try a variety of classes. Special subjects include yoga, movement fundamentals, Laban movement analysis, anatomy and kinesiology, and performance technique. The company in residence is Works/Laura Glenn Dance. Students perform in five public events, one or two showings, and with the faculty in a culminating weekend of concerts.

The Colorado Dance Festival is one of the largest festivals. It is held for four weeks on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder, at the base of the Rocky Mountains. There are about 20 high school students among 300 participants in each of the 2 two-week sessions. Beginners are welcome. Students can stay on or off campus; there is no supervised housing.

This exciting program specializes in new dance; it introduces students to the latest ideas in dance and to unusual approaches to movement. Some of the areas covered are modern and postmodern technique, body therapies, aerial dancing, popular and ethnic dance, lighting, sound, and instrument making. in the evenings there are slide lectures, films, panel discussions, lecture-demos, and student showings. Five companies on the cutting edge of dance are in residence--they perform and their members teach.

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, founded in 1931 by modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn, is based in a rustic setting in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. With its barn/theater, carriage house, and cabins rich in modern dance history, this festival attracts both established and aspiring dancers. They come to study, to create, and to perform. Five workshops are open to 25 participants each. The modern/jazz workshop is the most accessible to young dancers. Students must be at least sixteen and have advanced technique. Auditions for admission are held in cities throughout the U.S. and Canada in early spring.

Top modern companies perform throughout the summer in the Ted Shawn Theatre or on the Inside/Out Stage in the woods. Artists-in-residence come to rehearse and create new work. Because these events are open, students at Jacob's Pillow have the opportunity to get an inside view of the choreographic process.

All of the festivals stand out for the way they allow students to interact informally with professional performers and choreographers. This exposure to role models in the field can make for lasting friendships and perhaps even be a turning point in your studies. You may find that you return home with a new perspective on what it means to be a dancer.