NEWS SCHOOLS TRAIN Body and Mind.

FOR YEARS, conventional wisdom had us believe that getting an education and dancing professionally were mutually exclusive; there just wasn't time to pursue a degree and a career, and people who went to college just weren't very good dancers. This was particularly true in the ballet world, where one worshiped the image of the baby ballerina.

A new crop of determined, talented and very bright dancers and their mentors is proving that this idea is outdated. These young people mean to be educated without sacrificing their technical and artistic goals. In addition to a traditional academic education, they expect professional dance training. And they are getting it.

In the last six years, three innovative programs have sprung up in the Northeast. Enid Lynn, director of the School of Dance Connecticut (the new incarnation of the Hartford Ballet), realized the potential of offering a bachelor of fine arts degree in conjunction with Hartt College--the performing arts college of the University of Hartford--without sacrificing the school's professional-level ballet training. Already in place was a two-year certificate program that included "dance academics": anatomy, music and the like. The only way to add liberal arts courses was to extend the program to four years, which, happily, meant the program could offer even more intensive dance training. Being in the real-life environment and sharing studios with a professional company could only help the young people prepare for their careers. They could dance in the corps in large productions, make more efficient use of the studios (which were often empty from early morning until 2 P.M.) and get a head start and some ideas about life after dance--the startling statistic that a great many dancers retire by age 28 to 30 had to be faced.

Three years or so later, Denise Jefferson of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center had a similar thought. The school was already loosely affiliated with nearby Fordham University. "This is no kind of association at all," Jefferson remembered thinking. "I've got to do something." She visited Hartford and eventually devised a plan for a BFA program.

Kathryn Posin, a modern dancer whose choreographic career led her to work frequently with ballet dancers, came from a highly academic background. Her father, a nuclear engineer, insisted that she continue her education, dance or no dance, so she earned her degree at Bennington College. Posin had taught at the School of the Hartford Ballet and at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, so she saw both programs in action. About two years ago, she was wandering past the New School University when the idea suddenly struck her. The New School was affiliated with a professional music school (the Mannes School), the renowned Actors Studio and the Parsons School of Design. Music, drama, design. Why no dance--particularly since it was the same New School that had supported those heretics of the early thirties, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman? She marched up to Edith D'Addario, who runs the Joffrey Ballet School just two blocks south, and proposed a BFA program. D'Addario embraced the notion.

All three proposals were herded through academic leaders: Larry Allen Smith at Hartt College, Ed Bristow at Fordham University and former ballet dancer James Lipton at the New School; Their go-ahead will mean that more intelligent young people will fulfill their passion for dance without sacrificing their growth as human beings, without separating themselves from their cultural heritage, without giving up their intellectual lives, without isolating themselves from the rest of society.

The programs are all thriving. The Joffrey program, in its first year, had seven sophomores and thirty-six freshman. The goal is to accommodate classes of about forty. The two-and-a-half-year-old Ailey program had fifty-one students, some freshmen, some sophomores. The school eventually expects classes of twenty-five to thirty-five students annually, Administrator Ana Marie Forsythe proudly mentions that there are several National Merit Award scholarship finalists as well as nine dean's list students in the program. Hartford, which founded its program in 1994, accommodates thirty to forty students.

Hartford, led by principal dancer Peggy Lyman (a former Martha Graham Company soloist), is the only program that has been around long enough to begin seeing the results. Three of its graduates are now in the professional company, and all of those in the three graduated classes are working, many of them teaching. Ailey, only in its third year, has already lost one candidate to its professional company; another opted to turn down a contract from Donald Byrd to complete her studies.

Students in all three programs have been recruited through summer programs and auditions given in cities around the country by a team from the school. The Alvin Ailey group pre-auditions candidates by videotape, seeing live only those who they know have potential. Prospective students must also be admitted to the academic institution through the usual channels: submission of high school transcripts, SATs, essays and teacher recommendations.

The programs also offer ancillary services that studio dance schools rarely match: health care plans, considerable financial aid, psychological services, supervised dormitories, meal plans, stress management counseling, computer facilities, large libraries and opportunities for interdisciplinary studies.

As in all BFA degree courses, a student must earn a minimum of 120 credits to graduate; ninety in the major, thirty in liberal arts study. Studio courses are emphasized: ballet and modern dance technique in different ratios, depending on the goal of the dancer; men's class or pointe work and variations: pas de deux; jazz dance; repertory and improvisation/dance composition/choreography. Programs also include courses in anatomy and dance history; body-conditioning courses such as Pilates, Alexander Technique or yoga; non-Western dance forms; and nutrition. Liberal arts courses include English, art history, philosophy, social sciences, foreign languages and, in the case of Fordham, a Jesuit school, religion. Interdisciplinary study and split majors are offered in world dance and music, cultural anthropology, cross-cultural study and art therapies.

All the programs also offer performance opportunities, which range from regularly scheduled in-house student workshops to fully produced concerts and participation in the large works of the affiliated professional companies.

While these programs have just begun to appear, the trend has developed over the last fifteen years. The number of performing arts and residential high schools has increased (there are now over 200 such institutions in the United States); dance schools and nearby academic institutions have formed affiliations across the country, in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Youth Ballet) and Seattle (Conservatory Ballet of Washington), and the student residential program at the School of American Ballet. American Ballet Theatre provides scholarships to exceptionally talented students who remain in their home communities studying dance intensively and completing their high school education.

Anna Kreager, a student in the Joffrey/New School group, was quick to point out the benefits of these programs. "I really enjoy the program because I can get the quality of dance training I need and at the same time pursue my academic education," she said. "And being in New York City, where I can hop on a train and see ballet, theater. even opera, really motivates me." Christina Marini, a Dance Connecticut/Hartt College student, has enjoyed her experience as well. "We are fortunate to have the company in the same building because it produces a more professional atmosphere," she said. "We can actually see our future goals realized."

The parents are also very positive about their youngsters' experience. Said Jeannine Gringas of the Dance Connecticut program, "I see focused, intense, passionate kids who have hectic schedules and whose days are filled to the brim. I see faces that are transformed at the barre, bodies and minds that are artistically challenged, friendships that will last the years, I see an environment that promotes artistic and academic growth." Judith Boyd, mother of one of the Ailey students, was also enthused. "The main positive experience that Camille has expressed is the diversity," she said. "There are dancers from nineteen different states and two foreign countries. Being in the midst of such diversity is of value to Camille and to us as parents. We feel she is in a safe, supportive and challenging situation. She feels centered and inspired."

Muriel Topaz is a Dance Magazine contributing editor.

For more information on college dance programs, see the Dance Magazine College Guide 2001 ad or visit www.dancemagazine.com and click the College Guide button.