TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The American Ballet Theatre will conduct a three-week Summer Ballet Intensive, June 26-July 18 on the campus of The University of Alabama. This is an opportunity for aspiring dancers to spend three weeks with members of the nation’s most acclaimed ballet company.

The comprehensive curriculum includes a full day of classes, workshops and group rehearsals. Group education seminars are held each evening. Individual rehearsals and consultations with guest artists are also held. Classes are offered at ability levels following the initial placement audition and include: technique; Pointe, variations, pas de deux, men’s class, jazz and modern, dance health and yoga, dance related activities, dance history and choreography and repertory.

All classes are taught by New York-based ABT staff, UA dance professors, and distinguished guest artists. Additional classes in nutrition, dance video, acting for dancers, music theory and injury prevention will be offered. Participants are housed in campus dormitories just steps from classes and planned activities.

In 1997, The University of Alabama was chosen by American Ballet Theatre for the first American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive ever to be held outside of New York or in partnership with a university. Through this partnership, promising young dancers can receive both the highest level of dance training with American Ballet Theatre’s renowned summer program and a strong correlating academic curriculum of dance studies.

The American Ballet Theatre is the nation’s premier dance company. Founded in 1940, the company has been the home of many of the world’s best dancers, including Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Cynthia Gregory.

ABT is known internationally for establishing an American identity for ballet through works choreographed by such artists as Agnes de Mille, George Balanchine and Twyla Tharp. Today the ABT continues to be the destination of choice for the world’s most accomplished dancers.

Participants are selected for the Intensive through an 18-city nationwide audition tour that is advertised in major dance publications.

The final Gala Showcase performance will be July 17 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building on the UA campus at the corner of University Boulevard and Second Avenue.

Tickets will go on sale July 12-16 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in room 115 of Rowand-Johnson Hall, or tickets can be purchased at the door the day of the performance by using cash or credit card (Visa, MasterCard or Discover).

The department of theatre and dance is housed in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state, with approximately 5,500 undergraduates and 1,000 graduate students. The College has received national recognition for academic excellence, and the College’s students have been selected for many of the nation’s top academic honors, including 13 Rhodes Scholarships, 15 Goldwater Scholarships, seven Truman Scholarships, one Udall Scholarship and 16 memberships on USA Today’s Academic All-American teams.