Youth Creation Program
July 20-30, 2026
Ages 14-18
We’re beyond excited to introduce NVA & Guests’ brand-new Youth Creation Program! This is a free a summer intensive for dancers ages 14-18 designed to support the next generation of artists.
Designed as a bridge between training and the professional world, this program offers a rare opportunity to experience what it’s like to build new work within a contemporary dance-theatre company. Participants will take classes in contemporary, partnering, improvisation, and theatre, while also engaging in a collaborative creation process with professional teaching artists.
What makes this program especially unique is that it also serves as a research and development process for NVA & Guests’ next evening-length work, YOUTH (working title). Dancers won’t just be learning material. They will be contributing to a living creative process. The workshop will culminate in a Friends & Family showing on Thursday, July 30th from 6:30-7:30pm.
We’re deeply grateful to the Danse Mirage Foundation, Inc. whose generous support makes it possible for us to offer this program completely free of charge.
The program will run alongside our NYC Summer Workshop for professional level dancers.
Important Dates & DEADLINES
Application Opens: April 1st
Application Closes: May 1st at 11.59PM ET
All applicants contacted by: May 15th
NYC Summer Workshop: July 20-30 (no classes Sunday July 26th)
Friends & Family Showing: July 30th at 6.30pm
TUITION
$0 Free
Made possible with the generous support of the Danse Mirage Foundation, Inc.
APPLICATION FORM
Applicants will be asked to submit the following materials as part of their application:
CONTACT INFO
Applicant Email Address
Parent or Emergency Contact Email
Date of Birth
Home Address
DANCE BACKGROUND
Number of years of dance training
Styles of dance previously studied (select options such as ballet, contemporary, hip hop, jazz, etc.)
Current dance studio or school enrollment
If actively training, name of studio and city where classes are taken
APPLICANT MATERIALS
Headshot or portrait photo (can be taken with a phone but must be well-lit and clearly visible)
3-minute audition video filmed horizontally and uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo. (Example video: see HERE)
Link must be public and not password protected
Video should include three continuous segments (1 minute each):
Ballet (center adagio, turns and across the floor)
Contemporary (repertoire or a combination)
Improvisation
Video should be filmed against a clear or neutral background
No performance footage or heavily edited reels
REFERENCES
Contact information (email and phone number) for two current dance teachers
WRITTEN COMPONENT
One-page motivation letter including date and signature, describing:
Why the applicant wishes to participate in the program
What they hope to learn
Where they see themselves after graduating high school
LOCATION
The workshop takes place at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center on July 20-23rd and July 27-30th. The only exceptions are Friday July 24th and Saturday July 25th. The workshop will take place at another location which will be communicated with the participants at the beginning of the summer.
SCHEDULE*
WEEK ONE
9.30AM - 1.45PM - Monday through Saturday July 20-25 (except Monday 7/20 - orientation is at 9am)
WEEK TWO
9.30AM - 1.45PM - Monday through Wednesday July 27-29
1.45PM - 7.30PM - Thursday July 30
*All teaching artists and schedules are subject to change
Friends & Family showing
The workshop will culminate in a Friends & Family showing Thursday July 30th from 6.30-7.30pm at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center . Participants will be dancing alongside NVA & Guests and pre-pro and pro dancers ages 18+ who are participating in our advanced program. More details about tickets will be shared at the beginning of the summer.
ABOUT THE CLASSES
Contemporary Forms
Each morning will start with a Contemporary Forms warm up class with NVA & Guests. This is an advanced-level dynamic class that incorporates elements of floor work and improvisation. It encourages you to embrace physical and emotional effort and explore the extent of your body and mind’s capacity. The warm-up is a series of challenging exercises focusing on isolating, strengthening, aligning, and balancing the body. This will lead into improvisation tasks emphasizing sensation, timing, and space. The class culminates in a complex phrase work allowing dancers to discover NVA’s movement vocabulary.
Repertoire & Creative Process
Throughout NVA & Guests’ NYC Summer Workshops, participants will dive into sections of the company’s newest creation, YOUTH (working title). They’ll not only learn choreography from the piece but also explore the creative process and intention behind each movement, understanding how the work was developed from the inside out. This segment will be led by members of the original cast, offering a rare opportunity to experience the material directly from the artists who helped bring it to life.
Partnering
Another major focus of the NVA & Guests Summer Workshop is an in-depth exploration of the company’s distinctive partnering vocabulary, an essential element present in all their works. Dancers will dive into the physicality, sensitivity, and trust required in partnering, discovering new ways to share and receive weight through tactile feedback and responsive engagement. This immersive experience will not only deepen participants’ understanding of connection and collaboration but also offer creative tools to expand their movement vocabulary while learning excerpts from YOUTH.
Acting For Dancers
Acting for Dancers, Moving Into Language, is an approach to acting created specifically for trained dancers; taking what they know & understand so deeply about their bodies and using that as the foundation for their acting explorations. Dancers will learn how to use movement as a launching pad for building character, unlocking a scene and arriving at a unique interpretation of dramatic work. They will gain greater access to their voice by seeing it as simply a natural progression of a character's physical expression. And they will acquire the necessary tools to independently prepare theatrical material so they can arrive at an audition or rehearsal creatively full & ready to play.
Led by NVA & Guests acting coach, Charlotte Bydwell.
Q&As
We’ll close our first week with a Q&A featuring members of NVA & Guests. These informal conversations are a space for dancers to ask questions about navigating a dancer’s career in New York City and beyond, and exploring opportunities for choreography.
CONTACT
Please look at our Frequently Asked Questions webpage for any questions you might have. If you can’t find any answers, please email us at youthcreationprogram@nvonarx.com.