I plan on leaving, in a week or so, to audition for a couple ballet companies in Florida and I was wondering if anyone could refer me to any smaller companies that I might not know about. Thanks.<BR>

JLHayes, I have copied your post to our 'Auditions/Jobs' topic in our 'Studio' section, where I feel you may have a better chance of a response. <P>Good luck with the job search.<p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited August 04, 2000).]

shag, this is your part of the country...can you offer any advice here?

There is Ballet Florida in Palm Beach (my favourite ballet company in Florida behind Maximum Dance), Southern Ballet Theatre in Orlando (Fernando Bujones - AD) and Sarasota Ballet are the only other professional companies I'm aware of in Florida other than Maximum Dance and Miami City Ballet.<P>Ballet Florida <A HREF="http://www.balletflorida.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.balletflorida.com/</A> <P>Miami City <A HREF="http://www.miamicityballet.org/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.miamicityballet.org/</A> <P>Maximum Dance <A HREF="http://www.maximumdancecompany.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.maximumdancecompany.com/</A>

Shag, <BR>Thank you for the info. I plan on going to Ballet Florida first. I fell in love with the company when I saw them up here in Philadelphia this past spring. As far as Maximum Dance Company, I can't access thier website. But they are in Miami. right? From what I understand I can get to Miami using public transportation from west palm. So, I'll be sure to check it out. I'm too short for Sarasota Ballet's corps de ballet. I have three friends from my school who are dancing in the company. So, after I've exaughsted all of my possibilities I might go and relax there or a couple of weeks. I've already auditioned for Mr. Bujones. He was up here a few weeks ago teaching a master class at University of the Arts, so I went in and saw him. And I have to wait and see because he doesn't really know yet. He was really nice. Because talk about scared and intimidated!! I was very nervous to dance for him, and he was extreemly nice to me. I don't know about Miami City Ballet, because I'm from a very small school, but if I don't have anything by October, I'll audtion for thier Nutcracker.<BR> The only thing I really might also have a question about is that I couldn't find any youth hostiles in West Palm Beach. Where do people like me stay there? Do you know any people who rent out rooms to dancers there? In Philadelphia we have alot of resources for dancers.<BR> Thanks.

JLHayes, just to say that the Maximum Dance website (as referenced by shag) was up when I looked just now.

Unfortunately, South Florida is culturally quite young. There is little in the way of a support network for dance.<P>Maximum _may_ be looking for an apprentice, but I'm not sure of the final outcome.<P>Re: housing, Palm Beach does not welcome with open arms transient folks. It's wealthy and insular. Their loss, as far as I'm concerned. Try a little further south like Boca Raton, Del Ray or even Ft. Lauderdale. There is a couple of hostels on South beach, but I don't know of the price.<P>Housing is not too bad compared to other cities. You can get a decent studio for around 500/month. Let me know when you get down here as I'm sure you can take a company class or two. We are gearing up for our Sept season opener (KT Nelson, Mahovitch, Kabaniev (Azlan if this is wrong again, sorry)), but Max is pretty open to other dancers. Good luck with Ballet Florida. Prinipal dancers Tina Martin and Eric Midgely are good friends and have guested with Maximum.<P>

Shag, err... Nikolai's last name is spelled Kabanaiev... sorry, Nikolai (have to say this, since he reads this bulletin board).

please don't get me wrong here, JL, as i am very happy indeed to see you getting all this friendly support from the natives.....<P>but i just want to refer to your typo, in the hope that it isn't a freudian slip? given what shag says about the atmosphere of the area, it sounds very appropriate:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>...I couldn't find any youth hostiles in West Palm Beach<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>i hope you get a laugh out of this, rather than feeling self-conscious, as i think it may well represent your feelings! -and very understandable, too! <P>in case there is any confusion about shag's references, check out his 'whoweare' statement, where his real name is kirk wagar, and you will also find, by seaching this board for his posts, quite a bit of input from him about ballet in florida (and other places).<P>good luck, again.

oops!