Next Generation Ballet's summer intensive starts next week

The Patel Conservatory and Next Generation Ballet (NGB) welcomes all the dancers who will be arriving in Tampa this weekend.

Guest artist Kate Kadow will perform along
with NGB students in NGB's Summer Fantasy

More than 250 dancers from throughout the country and beyond will descend upon the Patel Conservatory on Monday as we kick off NGB’s summer ballet intensive.

Peter Stark, artisitic director of NGB and Patel Conservatory dance chair, conducted a 24-stop national audition tour to find the best young dancers to train at the Conservatory this summer.

Talented students from 25 states as well as international students from Canada, Italy and Panama will experience up to five weeks of dance training with NGB faculty. They’ll also get the opportunity to work with guest instructors from renowned dance companies including New York City Ballet and Boston Ballet.

The program will culminate in a performance of Summer Fantasy on July 26. The show will include a suite from Le Corsaire and cutting-edge contemporary work by international choreographers.

Guest artists for the show will be Emily and Kate Kadow.

Emily and Kate are Tampa natives who now dance in California, with San Francisco Ballet and State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara respectively.

Former Next Generation Ballet dancers Drew Nelson and Hannah Bettes will also perform. Nelson and Bettes are both now on full scholarship at the Royal Ballet School (RBS) of England. Bettes is the winner of several international ballet competitions, including Switzerland’s prestigious Prix de Lausanne. In Summer Fantasy, the two will dance the central pas de deux from Le Corsaire.

In addition, the show will include world premieres created by Dylan G-Bowley, Juilliard graduate and award-winning choreographer, and Nelson, who has choreographed for RBS.

Summer Fantasy will be Fri., July 26, 2013 at 7 p.m. in Ferguson Hall at the Straz Center. Tickets start at $15.