Originally created by Richard England, the Studio Company is meant to work like any apprenticeship. It offers dedicated students of dance a preview to the atmosphere of working in an intensely competitive company, while at the same time offers ABT directors a chance to scout out new talent. Promising dancers are chosen from ABT's rigorous summer program to train for a year or two with the Studio Company. Directors and teachers look for those who will best fit the company's professional mold. This year's Studio Company consists of eleven dancers, five male and six female.
Ages range from seventeen to twenty.
At the end of this year four of these dancers will join the American Ballet Theater in the spring as full-fledged professionals. These dancers arrived at St. Paul's having just completed their first New York season. They achieved the distinction of being the first company to sell out the Broadway theater at which they were performing. After seeing the performance in person, this comes as no great surprise. During their visit I got to know the dancers and found it interesting to understand how they approach dance as a career.