| USA Essay of Hilary Guswiler & Amalie Adrian |
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| To the Danish American Society: |
| An early Saturday morning before class Frank Andersen announced that we were given the D.A.N.C.E scholarship, which meant that we were going to SAB for the summer. We were so excited and surprised especially because that was our preferred destination. We chose to stay there for 5 weeks from the 4 of June to the 13 of July. |
| We took classes for a week at the SAB winter course and we loved it. The teachers were great and the students were so nice to us. Their style was very different from ours and it was difficult at first but it was challenging and fun and we ended up enjoying it a lot. That week we only had classes in the morning so that gave us a chance to get a look at New York City. It’s such a vivid city, with so much energy and amazing panini’s. There’s so much to experience and a lot of inspiration. |
| Before the summer course began we had a week off from SAB. In that week we took classes at Steps. We’ve always heard a lot about Steps so it was really great to try it ourselves. We mainly trained with Wilhelm Burmann and Alexander Tressor. The classes were often crowded and with many talented dancers including major stars from both NYCB and ABT. In the evenings we went to the theatre to see ballet-performances. Manon, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake were some of the big classical performances. Especially Manon was an unforgettable experience because it was Alexandra Ferri’s last Manon and second last performance in her career. She danced with Roberto Bolle, who was a guest-dancer with ABT. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any NYCB performances because they went to Saratoga. |
| We danced three weeks at the four-week summer course, which was really great. We had classes every morning and afternoon. We learned a lot and it was so much fun to try to adapt to the Balanchine style. The teachers helped us a lot and we especially enjoyed Suzy Pilarre’s classes. It was also fun to have Darcy Kistler, who is a principal, for class. We even had Peter Martins one morning. After the three weeks we went to Jacob’s Pillow in Lee for a few days to see Made in Denmark, young dancers from the Royal Danish Ballet, perform. It was a nice ending to our 5 week adventure. |
| We want to thank D.A.N.C.E and especially Lisa Halpern for giving us this opportunity to improve as dancers and for being helpful and sweet to us. This trip opened our eyes to see how people train outside of Denmark. It was a huge inspiration to us and we are very grateful. We’ve improved as dancers and have learned a lot about ourselves as dancers and as people. We came home with new energy and inspiration and a longing to improve even more and work hard. We also took home knowledge about Balanchine style. Once again thank you for a magnificent summer that we’ll never forget.
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| Sincerely, |
| Amalie Adrian & Hilary Guswiler |
