Trainee Program

The Trainee Program is a one to two year program that meets the needs of students ages 17 and older who are preparing for a professional dance career. This program helps students to become well-rounded and versatile dancers with a true passion for dance. The personal attention and guidance from Joffrey Academy faculty will prepare each student to pursue his or her professional goals.

Trainees who are invited back for a second year and complete two consecutive years of study in this program will receive a certificate of training upon completion of their second year.

Performances in the 2010-2011 season included: The Nutcracker Suite at the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade, DuPage Children’s Museum and in the Black Box Theater at Joffrey Tower; The Sleeping Beauty in the Black Box Theater at Joffrey Tower; premieres by Francisco Aviña and Amy E. Hall, the winners of Creative Force: The Joffrey Ballet’s Choreographers of Color Award at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance at Millennium Park; Firebird with the Cleveland Orchestra. Additionally, some Trainees were selected to perform with The Joffrey Ballet in The Nutcracker and The Merry Widow at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. The 2010-2011 year also included an apprentice exchange program with Semperoper Dresden (Dresden Ballet) and Palucca School (Germany) and an exchange program with the American Academy of Dance in Paris (France).

Performances and events in the 2011-2012 season include: The Nutcracker Suite and Cinderella in the Black Box Theater at Joffrey Tower; three premiere works by the winners of the second annual Choreographers of Color Award at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance at Millennium Park; a premiere work by Alexei Kremnev, Academy Artistic Director; and a presentation of The Nutcracker Suite with the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. Additionally, Trainees students were selected to perform with The Joffrey Ballet in Don Quixote and The Nutcracker at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.

Students in the Trainee Program have been accepted to leading companies, including: The Joffrey Ballet, Staatsballet Berlin, Dresden Semperoper, Atlanta Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Texas Ballet Theater, Cincinnati Ballet, Tulsa Ballet II, Milwaukee Ballet II, Memphis Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Ballet Met, Richmond Ballet and more!

Admission into the Trainee Program is by audition only. Auditions for the Trainee Program are held annually in early spring. Students interested in the program after the scheduled auditions have passed should contact Joffrey Academy Reception (reception [at] joffrey [dot] org).

The ultimate goal of this program is to assist students in becoming whole, healthy and happy adults who have a true passion for dance and a clear understanding of how to make dance a career. The personal attention and guidance by Joffrey staff will help prepare each student for his/her career as a dancer.

Recommended housing for the Trainees of The Joffrey Ballet will be provided by 2 East 8th Street Apartments, just a short distance from the Joffrey Tower. To learn more about 2 East 8th you may visit the website at www.2east8thstreet.com/.

“This program allowed me the opportunity to transition from a student mentality into more of a professional mentality, largely due to the professional manner in which we were treated throughout the year. Not only was the training successful in improving strength and clarifying technique, but the approach taught me to embrace the artist aspects of dance which my dancing lacked.” - 2009-2010 Trainee