how do dancers spend the summer before their senior year? an update from Maria Ambrose

Right now Stephanie Locey, Amanda Blauer, and I are staying in NYC and taking various master classes. So far we have taken classes from Amy Marshall, Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, Elisa Monte, Zvi from ZviDance, Christine Wright, Robert Battle, and Kate Skarpetowska. It is really exciting that a majority of the master classes are taught by people who have either set pieces at or performed at GMU, so they recognize us or have fun talking about all the faculty they know there! They always have great things to say about the faculty, alumni, and GMU dancers that have been taking class for the summer. Amanda Blauer and I also attended the Paul Taylor Company audition just for an early experience. It was a little overwhelming because of the quick pace and 400 other dancers, but having the chance to go and see what an audition would feel like made a huge difference and felt like a great preparation. We plan to attend Amy Marshall's classes in August and audition for her as well just to get as much experience as we can. It is really interesting taking classes around the city and being able to decide as an individual what I want to take or who I want to surround myself with. I can tell already that this is going to impact my senior positively. My favorite is being able to take class with professionals and watch the way they learn and interact. Overall, I think living in the city for the summer before actually moving here has put a lot of thoughts into perspective, given me amazing class opportunities, and increased my excitement to dance! We will be here until mid August continuing with classes and enjoying the beautiful weather.