So Your Kid is An Aspiring Artiste?

For students who yearn to perform, in theater, dance or music, these are schools worth knowing about.
So Your Kid is An Aspiring Artiste?

For any parent overseas, distance can make it difficult to find the right American school for a child. For those whose kids seem destined for the performing arts, the task is doubly hard: Auditions and school visits can be impossible to arrange.

To ease this task, FSJ has researched some highly regarded performing arts schools -- public and private -- that you may want to consider. That's not to say that a youngster with a strong desire to play music, sing, act or dance necessarily needs a specialized school.

For example, Katie Buck, who grew up in the Foreign Service and who graduated in 1999 as a theater major from Wesleyan University, attended Sidwell Friends School, a highly regarded, and nonspecialized, private secondary school. Buck says, "I don't at all regret going to that school, though I wish I'd taken more acting classes. But at that point I wasn't sure I wanted to narrow myself to the arts." Last year, Buck presented her one-woman play, "I-Site," based on growing up as a "third-culture kid," to the Foreign Service Youth Foundation. She is now living in New York City and working in theater and television.

Arguing in favor of a specialized arts school, however, is the limited arts programing that many public schools have nowadays. "When it comes to budget, arts programs are the first to be cut," notes John Mahlmann, executive director of the Music Educators National Conference. The Big Three

If you do decide that a boarding school specializing in the performing arts is right for your child, you should know that three American boarding schools are often cited for their high quality: Idyllwild Arts Academy in Southern California, Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, and Walnut Hill School in Massachusetts. All three combine intensive training in the arts with college-preparatory academic curricula. And all boast a high percentage of international students.

Idyllwild is located in mountains southeast of Los Angeles and offers grades 8 to 12, enrolling 255 pupils. In addition to dance, music, theater, creative writing and visual arts, the school has an interdisciplinary arts major designed for children "beginning to discover the arts," says Nelms McKelvain, a dean at the school.

Interlochen, in northern Michigan, serves 430 students in grades 9 to 12. Students can major in arts as well as in a more traditional academic program. Interlochen is also famous for its strong summer program -- the Arts Camp -- which frequently becomes an introduction to the school for youngsters who later enroll in the academic year program. That's how Tsvetanka Dabova, a pianist from Russia, entered the ninth grade this year. Last year, she applied for the summer camp, sending a tape and an application from St. Petersburg. After successfully completing the summer program, she auditioned for and was accepted by the school.

Walnut Hill, founded in 1893, is an independent coed day and boarding school in Natick, Mass., outside Boston. The school operates on a trimester system, and has 235 students from 35 states and 15 countries. It offers a joint program with the New England Conservatory of Music. An Intense Experience

Graduates of the three schools have found ready acceptance both at top conservatories and selective universities. Alumni of all three schools have gone on to the Juilliard School, the Peabody Conservatory of Music and Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Others have attended Yale, Columbia, Cornell and New York University.

What's it like attending a specialized school for the arts? Among the many youngsters interviewed for this article, the word used most often was "intense." Most pupils have regular academic classes in the morning, followed by specialized arts classes in the afternoon.

"I found it quite intense," said Elspeth Poole, a cello student at Walnut Hill. "But it is much easier to take the pressure when everyone is dedicated to something similar."

Claudia Tomsa, a pianist from Romania now at Walnut Hill, commented, "The environment is highly competitive and it is also time-consuming. Classes start early in the morning and continue until late in the evening, when we have to practice."

At all three schools, youngsters spoke with enthusiasm about the warm relationships among students and teachers, and about the international student body. More than anything, they say they appreciate being in an environment that supports their artistic interests. Said Johanna Gjersvik, a theater major at Idyllwild, "Everybody here loves the arts and has great respect for each other."

However, not all students necessarily aspire to be full-time performing artists. Says 11th grader Victoria Boss, "The academic program at Interlochen is rigorous; thus, you can keep all doors open, should you decide at some point that you're most interested in chemistry or physics. A lot of my friends consider minoring in music at a normal university."

Admission to the private schools is competitive, and applicants are expected to demonstrate proven ability. Applicants may audition in person, or may send portfolios, videos or audiotapes. Idyllwild and Walnut Hill both hold regular auditions abroad (Interlochen does not). "We have auditions in Germany, Russia, Bulgaria, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and South America," said Nelms McKelvain, dean of arts at Idyllwild. Outstanding Public Schools

In the greater Washington area, there are excellent options for arts education in the public schools. Probably best known is the District of Columbia's Duke Ellington School of the Arts, in Georgetown. Ellington serves about 500 pupils in grade 9 to 12. Students must audition for placement, and admission is quite competitive. The program includes academic courses in the morning and arts in the afternoon. More than 90 percent of Ellington graduates go on to college.

In Virginia, check out the Governor's School for the Humanities and Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Richmond. It's a high-quality boarding school; all expenses are covered by state and local government. The school also offers gifted Virginia teens summer courses in vocal and instrumental music, theater and dance. The Governor's School also sponsors specialized art programs in many Virginia counties during the school year for talented secondary school pupils.

Another interesting option for young people in the Washington area is the Bethesda Academy of Performing Arts. Not a school but a non-profit community arts organization, it offers academic year and summer programs as well as programs for disabled persons.

Ani Stoyanova, the Journal's spring editorial intern, is a student at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria.