Summer Dance Experience

Summer Dance Experience 2024: July 8-26, 2024

The Mercyhurst University Dance Department is delighted to present information about its 2024 Summer Dance Experience. Residential and commuter options are available for dancers who have a minimum of 4 years of ballet training (pointe is not necessary) and are between the ages of 12 and 22 by the time classes begin. Come dance in a rigorous and nurturing environment, designed to awaken your curiosity, foster grace, and spark nimble thinking and dancing—we'd love to spend the summer with you!

Quality Education: We provide summer extracurricular dance education with a solid foundation in ballet, kinesthetically sound practices, artistic exploration, and intellectual growth through seminars and lectures.
Valuable Introduction: We deliver a safe environment where students can become familiarized with a university/college setting while experiencing a diverse range of classes in a variety of dance genres and styles.
Artistic Growth and Musicality: We encourage dancers to elevate all aspects of their craft by providing unique movement explorations supported by experienced musicians and offering noticeable growth when they return to their year-round training program.
Personalized Attention: We insist on small class sizes where dancers receive individualized attention that helps foster agency; students take ownership of their progress.
Experienced Faculty: We bring acclaimed dance artists with broad perspectives to Erie to work with the students. Mercyhurst dance faculty and alumni as well as locally and regionally recognized dance educators share their unique experiences in the field as dancers, teachers, choreographers, administrators, and scholars. 

Sample Schedule

9 to 10 a.m. — Pilates/Yoga/Dance Prehab
10:15 a.m. to noon — Ballet Technique
12:15 to 1:15 p.m. — Lunch
1:30 to 3 p.m. — Pointe/Variations/Repertoire
3:15 to 4:45 p.m. — Contemporary/Modern/Jazz/Choreography
5 to 6 p.m. — Dinner
6 to 7 p.m. — Seminar: Artist Talk, College/Company, Nutrition for Dancers, Dance/Film, etc.
 

Pricing

Tuition (1 week): $475 (discount offered until May 15), $575 after May 15
Tuition (2 weeks): $875 (discount offered until May 15), $975 after May 15
Tuition (3 weeks): $1275 (discount offered until May 15), $1375 after May 15
Chaperone fee (for students under 18 years of age at the time of the program, residential or commuter): $50 per week, due June 5
Housing in Warde Townhouses: $125 per week, due June 5
Lunch is available at the cafeteria, payable on site. (Townhouses have a full kitchen, and we will do weekly grocery shopping trips.) 
 

Additional Information

Townhouses have a full kitchen, and we will do weekly grocery shopping trips.
Sunday Suppers for residential students.
Weekend trips to Presque Isle State Park, Wintergreen Gorge, and other outings in Erie.