The CityDance Conservatory, Select, and Pre-Select programs offer year-round pre-professional training for serious intermediate and advanced dancers ages 11 to 19. The programs provide high quality dance education delivered by world class teachers in an environment where students are inspired and motivated to reach their full dance potential. 

CONSERVATORY/SELECT
CityDance Conservatory and Select students gain strong technique within a diverse curriculum, expand their dance and music knowledge, and develop multi-cultural appreciation and understanding through international dance workshops, projects and exchange, including The Brazil Project. The skills and talents of the Conservatory/Select dancers are showcased through informal and formal presentations, including demonstrations in the CityDance Studio Theater, community performances, and concerts in the Music Center at Strathmore Concert Hall. Conservatory dancers are also given the opportunity to perform alongside professional artists. Pre-professional students also learn and present a broad repertory from established and emerging choreographers in modern, contemporary ballet, jazz, hip hop, Asian, African, and contemporary fusion forms. 

Conservatory and Select students have gained entrance into top notch summer programs such as Jacob's Pillow, Point Park University, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, American Ballet Theater, Royal Ballet, Orlando Ballet, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, and the North Carolina School for the Arts. They have graduated and entered dance programs such as Duke, CalArts, Ailey/Fordham BFA, Alonzo King Lines Ballet BFA, George Mason, SUNY Purchase, Barnard, and MIT. Conservatory/Select students have also entered into Trainee Programs at American Repertory Ballet and Orlando Ballet.

Although the Conservatory is not a competition oriented environment, in preparation for professional careers and higher level education in dance, students are encouraged to learn and be coached in challenging classical and contemporary pieces. CityDance students have also been recognized in festival and competitions including the World Ballet Competition, Youth American Grand Prix and TanzOlymp, among others.

PRE-SELECT
The Pre-Select program serves as the entry point for serious study and potential selection for the Select or Conservatory programs and allows all students a more serious and concentrated study of dance technique. Study is required in multiple genres including classical ballet, modern, jazz and hip hop/fusion forms.

CLASS SCHEDULE
CityDance offers training year-round for pre-professional students. Visit our class schedule pages for information.

AUDITIONS
The CityDance pre-professional program is by audition only. In addition to the scheduled audition dates, auditions may be held on a rolling basis as assigned by Lorraine Spiegler, Director of Studio Education and Conservatory. if you have missed the assigned audition dates during the year, please contact Ivy Chow, Conservatory Program Manager, at ivy@citydance.net or 301.581.5205 to schedule an audition.

SCHOLARSHIPS
CityDance offers scholarships for pre-professional students based on merit and financial need.

The following scholarships are available:
The Trawick Foundation Scholarship
The George Alexander Adamson Scholarship
The Sara and Felix Liberberg Scholarship Fund
CityDance In-Studio Scholarship

Jim Golden Award of Excellence

Ken Delaski -Vibrant Village Foundation
Pierrette Audéoud Spiegler & Paul Eppley Spiegler Dance and Science Scholarship
Anonymous Classical Ballet Scholarship

Stephanie Bolton-James & the Women of Prince George’s County

The Dana Shaw Scholarship

LORRAINE SPIEGLER, DIRECTOR OF STUDIO EDUCATION & CONSERVATORY
Lorraine Spiegler has 25 years of experience in the dance field as an educator, director, and choreographer. She holds a B.A. in Dance cum laude (1979) and two Masters in Dance and Arts Management (1991) from American University. She began her studies at the Washington School of Ballet under the direction of Mary Day who became a lifelong mentor. She later directed Theatre Dance, Inc., a school and company in the Caribbean founded by Atti van den Berg Bermudez who danced with Kurt Jooss, and set up her first dance exchange project between Theatre Dance and Bennington College.

Ms. Spiegler is the co-founder of The Washington Ballet’s DanceDC Program and served as the organization’s first Director of Education and Outreach from 1999-2001. She worked as the director and choreographer of “Music that Moves” with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center in 1999 and 2003. She has also served as a panelist for several granting organizations and has adjudicated numerous local dance scholarships.

An important part of Ms. Spiegler’s lifelong work has been international and intercultural dance exchange, an interest that has taken her to Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Switzerland, and Brazil. Ms. Spiegler
returns to the U.S. after working at the Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro where she created and implemented a new dance and language project based on her methodology “Dancing Toward Literacy.” She has completed numerous Brazilian projects, among them serving as a choreographer-in-residence for Richard Cragun’s Ballet DeAnima, Culture Specialist in-residence for Dalal Achcar’s Compania Joven Rio De Janeiro and co-creating the Goucher College international study abroad course “History and Practice of Brazilian Dance.”

Ms. Spiegler’s central focus remains the identification and nurturing of dance talent and the pursuit of excellence in training, education and performance.

LEARN MORE
To learn more about pre-professional training through the Conservatory/Select Program at CityDance, please contact Ivy Chow, Conservatory Program Manager at ivy@citydance.net or 301.581.5205 and Lorraine Spiegler, Director of Studio Education, School & Conservatory, at lorraine@citydance.net or 301.581.5205.

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