AFPOB scholarship Program Year of 2017 The Summer School at the Paris Opera Ballet School was created in 2013, on the occasion of the 300 th anniversary of the School. This summer intensive program not only allows for hundreds of children to be exposed to, and benefit from, the technics of the Paris Opera Ballet but is also instrumental in the worldwide exposure it brings to the Opera National de Paris. From the beginning, the American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet collaborated with the School to create a scholarship program for American students. Based on the incredible testimonies collected from the candidates and the positive comments from the industry, we quickly decided to establish these scholarships as one of AFPOB s permanent programs. In 2013, 206 students attended the Summer Intensive, of which 127 were non-french, including 34 Americans and AFPOB was able to offer a scholarship to 7 of them. Since then, both the Summer Intensive, and the Scholarship program have been flourishing: in 2017 the school hosted 278 students (623 applicants) including 132 foreigners from 34 different countries. 39 American attended, and AFPOB offer a scholarship to 7 of them. Since 2016, we have also established a reciprocal program allowing for young men and women from the Paris Opera Ballet School to participate in the Summer Program at the San Francisco Ballet School. From 3 scholarships last year, we have been able to increase to 5 this year. Helping all of those young dancers is another way the American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet ensure the stars of tomorrow will be the best advocates for French-American friendship.
Closing performance at the Paris Opera Ballet School summer intensive
Acknowledgment The 2017 scholarships were made possible by the generous contribution of Resa and Heiner Sussner Denise Littlefield Sobel Thomas F. Widmann and Allyson Tang/The Angel Shine Foundation 2017 American Students awarded a scholarship in Paris Name Age School Comment Itzkan Barbosa** 16 Ballet Academy East, NY Nicole Fanney** 18 Ballet West Louise Hautefeuille* 15 Menlo Park Academy of Dance Returning student Gianna Horton-Sibble** 15 Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Maya Milic** 13 Grand Ballet Vancouver Mikaela Milic** 14 Grand Ballet Vancouver Sophia Veonese-Millin* 19 San Francisco Ballet School Returning student Alexandra Veronese-Milin * 19 San Francisco Ballet School Returning student Neve Wilcox 15 San Francisco Ballet School * The scholarship covered academic cost only. ** The scholarship covered 100% of the full boarding cost. The final selection of the awardees was done by the board of AFPOB in collaboration with Elisabeth Platel, director of the school, after careful review of each application packages 2017 French Students awarded a scholarship in San Francisco Name Age School Comments Milo Aveque* 16 Paris Opera Ballet School Returning Student Loup Marcault-Derouard** 17 Paris Opera Ballet School Samuel bray** 17 Paris Opera Ballet School Returning Student Partial Manon Boulac* 17 Paris Opera Ballet School Scholarship One more scholarship had been awarded to Aurelien Gay, who had to cancel due to an injury
Elisabeth Platel, Director of the Paris Opera Ballet School
Celebrating the Success of this year s Scholarship Recipients Balanchine s Divertimento N 15 (during the Paris Opera Ballet School Demonstration Performance in April 2017 at the Palais Garnier) Milo Aveque Samuel Bray Loup Marcault-Derouard Manon Boulac, second girl from left Samuel Bray and Milo Aveque 2016 & 2017 Samuel Bray and Milo Aveque, among the first French students to ever receive an AFPOB scholarship, have been announced as two of the newest members of the Paris Opera Ballet! Samuel s first production will be Nureyev s Don Quichotte this December when he has fully recovered from a recent injury. Milo s first performance with the company was the opening production of Balanchine s Jewels and he will return in Don Quichotte as well. Manon Boulac and Loup Marcault-Derouard 2017 Ms. Boulac and Mr. Marcault-Derouard both received a short term contract with the Paris Opera Ballet despite not joining the company. Loup is performing in Pina Baush Le Sacre in October and will return in Don Quichotte. Manon performed in Jewels alongside Milo and will return in Don Quichotte as well.
Paris Opera Ballet School Summer Intensive Program
Itzkan Barbosa (16) Dear Laure, I am very honored to have received a full scholarship to train with the Paris Opera Summer 2017. This was a great opportunity for me to expand my dance training. I have attended Summer Intensives within the past years at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Barcelona Dance Center, San Francisco Ballet and American Ballet Theater. The Paris Opera was definitely a different experience. I felt that my technique has leaped forward and I got stronger. I am currently enrolled in the year-long pre-professional program at Ballet Academy East in NYC. All my teachers have been very much impressed with my improvements this fall since I came back from Paris. I have been invited to dance lead roles for the upcoming studio company performances as well as for the Nutcracker production, which I have been chosen to perform Dew Drop for the first time. I have also achieved better balance and control making my partnering abilities much greater. The teachers at Paris Opera have given me so much artistic inspiration and technical strength. I still apply all that I learned in my daily training. I am 16 years old and I will be auditioning for professional ballet companies within the next couple of years. My parents are professional contemporary dancers and choreographers and they were so happy that I have received scholarship and support. They work really hard to finance my ballet training and only with the support from the American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet this dream was possible. Overall, the Paris experience is a turning point in my career, an unforgettable and inspiring experience I will carry on through my life. I felt very welcome and I hope to be able to return one day." Again, thank you very much Sincerely, Itzkan Barbosa
Louise Hautefeuille (15) Dear Mrs. Vienot, Walking into the Paris Opera grounds for the second time, I was thrilled to be able to learn under these incredible alumni in such a beautiful school. I couldn t wait to dance and spend time with people like me from all over the world. Walking out, I think I have grown technically, artistically and I have seen again how universal the love of ballet is. The faculty is incredible. Our contemporary teacher from the first week, M. Ekson, would tell us about how Sylvie Guillaume would act in his class. Then Mlle. Platel and M. Du Bouays would quote things Nureyev would tell them, very casually! Simply being in the same room as these prodigies was amazing, but learning from them was unbelievable. My absolute favorite class was repertoire with Mlle. Platel. We learned the 2nd act of Raymonda variation and the Shawl variation, also from Ramonda. She taught us the entire variations from memory, the way she performed them. She was incredibly precise with each explanation of the steps and described some of her personal experiences onstage. She shared that sometimes onstage the adrenaline and confidence allowed her to not feel unbalanced and dance flawlessly. In those 4 hours we had with her I learned so much about truly performing. Other teachers like our jazz and contemporary teachers reminded us how important our image is, being a good dancer is not enough, we have to be gracious and motivated. We also had lots of cross training and even an anatomy stretch class that taught us about how to more efficiently stretch ourselves. I found out I had been doing some stretches wrong my entire life! One thing I really loved was being able to take a class with teachers from last year. I got to work on some corrections they gave the year before and work on some new ones. They remembered me proving the attention they pay to each individual student. I am joining Boston Ballet School trainee program in the fall and by contract will have to do 5 weeks of summer intensive in 2018. My hope is I will be able to combine the stage d ete with another program to fullfill my obligations and still benefit from this amazing experience. Again, thank you for your generosity and support. Sincerely, Louise Hautefeuille
Neve Wilcox (15) Dear Ms. Vienot-Tronche, American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet, and Scholarship Donors: Thank you for the experience of a lifetime! I was honored and humbled by the American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet Scholarship. L Ecole de Danse Intensive helped me grow as dancer, opening new Worlds of inspiration. I will always cherish this summer and remain inspired by the finest training in French technique, world class teachers, talented dancers from around the world, and the Paris Opera and Ballet. Thank you for a dream come true! During L'Ecole de Danse program, I felt like a sponge absorbing every opportunity to learn from my talented teachers, intensive training and experiences. A very special highlight was class taught by Madame Elisabeth Platel, her thoughtful corrections and graceful instruction of combinations left a lasting impression. The immersion in French Technique helped improve the precision and focus of my dancing. It was fun, fascinating and demanding to learn many new variations from Paquita; Horton technique in Contemporary; and Character dances with meaningful histories from different cultures. Even my French conversational skills improved through classes taught in French. I loved living in the beautiful surroundings of the Ballet School with talented dancers from all over the world. Now I have friends from Australia, Canada, England, France,Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania and Russia. I treasure these friendships, the memories we share, and our support for one another. This was my first time traveling and training abroad and it is exciting to imagine where we may all go in the future. One of my favorite memories was the Paris Opera Ballet performance of La Sylphide. It was absolutely breathtaking watching the dancers effortlessly float across the stage. I simply could not believe that I was here, in the city of my dreams Paris, surrounded by French history in the gorgeous Palais Garnier, soaking in every graceful moment of this stunning ballet! My incredible summer experience with Paris Opera Ballet's L'Ecole de Danse opened my world further inspiring my dream for a future profession in ballet. I will always remember with deepest gratitude the generous support of the American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet for this Scholarship and the opportunity of a lifetime! With sincere thanks, Neve Wilcox
Maya Milic (11) Dear Mrs. Vienot-Tronche, I am writing to thank you so much for sponsoring my amazing opportunity to attend the Paris Opera Ballet School Summer Intensive program. It has been one of my dreams to be trained at POB. I had learned so much from all the teachers and faculty members in the two weeks. The summer Intensive improved my dancing and it allowed me to practice the French language. During the two weeks I very much enjoyed my technique classes with Mme Redont and Mme Platel. They gave me corrections that will make me a better ballet dancer. I also enjoyed making dances and singing One from A Chorus Line in Mr Prouty s musical expression class. It was great to be silly during a class. In Mme Piletta s mime class I loved pretending to bake a cake and burn it. Acting and performing was something new for me. We don t get this type of training at my school. I think it will help me express myself when I dance my solo s. In Mme Blaise s class I loved using battons to clap, hit and dance. We used them in our demonstration class at the end of the two weeks. It was really fun. I very much enjoyed living at the school. The dorm rooms were very cozy and made it feel like home. I had great roommates who I will stay in touch with. The food in the cafeteria was surprisingly delicious. The facility was amazing with huge studios and lots of natural light. I really loved having the amazing pianists play while we danced. I came back home stronger and cleaner in my dance. Even my teacher noticed how much I had improved. POB was the best two weeks of 2017 that I will never forget and it was possible because of you. Thank you for helping me attend. Sincerely, Maya Milic
Mikaela Milic (14) Dear American Friends of the Paris Opera and Ballet, This letter is to express my sincere gratitude to your organization and the benefits you provide to all aspiring young dancers. Without your sponsorship and support it would be impossible for me to attend the summer intensive program in Paris. The two-week summer intensive was exciting and surreal. I was encouraged to work hard in each class to be the best that I could be. The instructors were all unique in their teaching methods. Each of them provided me with corrections and made sure that I fully understood and applied it to my dancing. My technique improved so much over this short time that my teachers back home were really impressed and proud of my development. The studios were exceptional. The large spaces filled with natural light made me feel alive and wanting to dance. The exceptional instructors, and a beautiful school environment helped fuel my desire to dance. I was pleased to find that the dorms were very comfortable. They were well balanced between having room-mates, and having some private space for myself where I could email or facetime my family back home. Two-weeks in France definitely helped me practice my French. I have been enrolled in a French Immersion school since kindergarten, but it does not compare to be surrounded by the language both within the dance school and outside of it. I will never forget the feeling of dancing on a tilted stage during our demonstration classes. It was exciting to perform what we had learned during our stay on this stage. I am truly thankful and grateful to your organization for giving me this opportunity. I will cherish this experience for ever. Sincerely, Mikaela Milic
San Francisco Ballet School Summer Intensive Program
Manon Boulac (17) Dear Laure, Having been a student of the Paris Opera Ballet School last year and thanks to your collaboration with Astrid Boitel, I was fortunate enough to receive financial help from you, and therefore live the incredible experience of participating in the San Francisco Ballet School Summer Program. That is why I hereby wish to first thank you and then give you my impressions about this amazing opportunity. At this point in my career, I need to be as complete as possible to correspond to the will of employers, choreographers, directors and so on. That is why learning from other countries, styles and teachers is crucial to be a qualified dancer. The San Francisco Ballet School Summer Program offers exactly this. After four years spent in the Paris Opera Ballet School, discovering a new style of dancing, teaching and expressing ourselves in a different way was exactly what I needed this summer. Furthermore, you are truly helping to build a strong link between these two elite ballet schools and an international friendship and network. It also offers me the chance to take high quality classes which allowed me to improve my artistic, technical and physical level. With these few words I am trying to express how grateful I am for this experience which you I think should be lived by as many young dancers/students as possible. By helping financially, you allowed me to go abroad and discover a summer program that would otherwise be unaffordable for me or other young people. Moreover, you allowed me to live this four-week experience which I think was truly the most fulfilling one I have ever come across. I hope my experience will help to keep this collaboration so strong and let other people enjoy it. And so here are my personal impressions on this summer intensive. I can never thank you enough for your help. King regards, Manon Boulac
Milo Aveque (16) Chere Laure, Je vous remercie une fois de plus, vous et les American Friends, de m avoir permis de partir à nouveau faire ce stage à l école du San Francisco Ballet. Cette occasion à été encore une fois une grande expérience pour moi puisque j ai pu rencontrer de nouveaux professeurs, venant d horizons différents, qui m ont tous beaucoup apporté. J ai eu l occasion d avoir des cours de répertoire où j ai pu pratiquer des rôles de solistes et des cours d adages qui m ont aidé dans ma progression et dont l apprentissage me suivra dans la compagnie. Grâce à vous, j ai aussi pu côtoyer la magnifique ville de San Francisco que j apprécie énormément, et pratiquer mon anglais. Nous aurons peut être l occasion de nous voir au ballet lors d un spectacle, à présent. Avec mes sincères remerciements, bien à vous, Milo
Samuel Bray (17) Dear American Friends of the Paris Opera Ballet, First of all, I would like to thank you for everything you do to help young dancers. In my case, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to twice do the San Francisco ballet summer program. Today I m starting my career with the Paris Opera Ballet. So since July I have been living in a dream, and this achievement is a lot thanks to you. These summer programs with the incredible San Francisco ballet school gave me so much and truly helped me to improve my technique and artistic level. Sadly, in the preparation for the contest to join the POB, I felt a strong pain at my left foot. I thought it would quickly go away but unfortunately it hasn t. So I haven t been able to follow all the class of the 2017 summer intensive. But even watching the classes I couldn t do offered me a lot of advice from great professors and dancers. And the other classes that my injury let me do were excellent to keep me in good shape, prepare my full recovery, and improve my health condition. Even if I was injured, this summer intensive brought me a lot and was an amazing experience. It helped me just as it did the first time, one year ago. You offer this fantastic chance to young dancers and I hope you understand how important it is for us: we are so thankful for this opportunity you give us. We can improve our passion, our art and our way of sharing it thanks to you. I hope my testimony will express enough how thankful I am for your donations and help. Without it my success would not have been possible. Kind regards, Samuel Bray.
Students of the 2017 Paris Opera Ballet School Summer Intensive