Each year since its founding in 2013, Sarasota Cuban Ballet has been holding an intensive summer training program at its studio on Cattlemen Road. Admission is by audition only, and according to co-founder and instructor Ariel Serrano, this year’s enrollees are a pretty elite group.
“We have dancers from Japan, dancers from Puerto Rico coming, Mexico, obviously from America,” said Serrano. “We’re pretty selective. We don’t take a huge group of young dancers, but considerable enough to do nice bits and pieces of classical ballet and contemporary.”
The six-week program includes daily instruction from top-notch teachers in ballet, pointe, repertoire, variations, pas de deux and contemporary styles. But the camaraderie and encouragement students receive from Sarasota Cuban Ballet alumni is another big draw for those attending Summer Intensive.
“My son comes from Royal Ballet and dances with us in the big gala,” Serrano said. “I have some of the older ones that are in big companies also coming, taking class, sharing stage with the young dancers, coming back home and giving them, OK, look, I was like you here 10 years ago, and now I’m here. Keep working hard. That enthusiasm and push.”
Summer Intensive culminates in a performance on July 19 in the Sarasota Opera House. But there’s more involved than just the prestige of performing in a world-class venue.
“Small [ballet schools] like this are building the next generation of big dancers and that’s what this is all about. So the summer is part of our big push and we get a lot of international kids also to come visit our community and some of them stay.”
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Auditions for inclusion in Summer Intensive were held in January at the Milwaukee Ballet, School of the Charleston Ballet in Charleston, West Virginia, and Sarasota Cuban Ballet. Auditions were also held in February at the ADA Dance Academy in Ada, Michigan, and the International Ballet School in Littleton, Colorado. Applicants could also submit video auditions.
Summer Intensive accommodates beginner, intermediate and advanced students. All three levels are included in the July 19 performance at the Sarasota Opera House.
Out-of-town dancers are housed at Sarasota Opera’s Steinwach Artist Residences in downtown Sarasota and taken to Sarasota Cuban Ballet’s studio each day in its 15-passenger van. There is a meal plan from Sunday through Friday that includes three healthy meals per day. Students must provide their own meals on Saturdays, but each apartment has a full-size kitchen that is shared by the students.
Instruction begins at 9:30 a.m. and concludes at 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with Saturday rehearsals beginning in July. Excursions are available on days off.
The Summer Intensive faculty includes award-winning international resident faculty: Ariel Serrano, Wilmian Hernández, Delia Ballart Arcia, Rolando Yanes, Monica Isla, Tania Vergara, and Nicole Correa as well as world-renowned guest faculty.
According to Serrano, the culminating performance at the Sarasota Opera House is always well received and well attended.
“I know people sometimes like to come to a big theater to see a big company, all the glamour, all the big things that come from a big-name company,” Serrano observed. “But there’s also an audience for the youth. After all, to get there, you have to come from somewhere. We are that somewhere.
Summer Intensive is just one more step in Serrano’s ongoing effort to bring quality ballet to Southwest Florida.
“I’m truly working hard to make a home here in this community,” Serrano said. “It started with my wife’s dream of a school. Then we dreamed of creating a small company, a young company, almost like a program of building character and building repertoire, and we’re working hard to make that dream come true, too.”
Summer Intensive helps Sarasota Cuban Ballet establish and perpetuate its brand, and some of the dancers who come for Summer Intensive stay, enabling the company to grow, expand and build its reputation on a global level.
For more on Sarasota Cuban Ballet:
“Sarasota Cuban Ballet reflects worldwide influences; attracts dancers from across the globe”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.