The International Dance School Directors’ Committee to Standardise Audition Procedures (“C-SAP”)

Over twenty international ballet companies alongside professional ballet schools endorse guidelines for pre- selection for auditions.

INTERNATIONAL - The International Dance School Directors’ Committee to Standardise Audition Procedures (“C- SAP”) is excited to announce the creation of a standard set of guidelines for pre-selection for auditions.

In response to concerns over varied and conflicting audition requirements being requested of graduating students, Artistic Directors of a number of professional dance schools sought to explore the possibility of creating a standard set of guidelines for pre-selection for auditions. With this goal in mind, they created C-SAP. In consultation with companies, this committee created guidelines to address the needs of students and companies. These guidelines, now known as the International Audition Pre-Selection Guidelines or IAP Guidelines, have been endorsed by over twenty international professional ballet companies, as well as a growing number of professional ballet schools. Organisations endorsing the IAP Guidelines agree to use them for their pre-selection process and to publish them on their websites.

The IAP Guidelines stipulate the following for an audition: video, CV, headshot and dance photos.

The video content is defined and includes restrictions on technical editing, length of various parts of the video, footwear, and attire. The guidelines also set out the order in which the various parts of the video are to appear. By standardising the contents of an application for pre-selection for an audition, the graduating student is able to make one video that will serve for all applications to endorsing companies and professional schools post- graduation programs.

To learn more about the IAP Guidelines, please visit www.iapguidelines.squarespace.com

Endorsing Organisations

American Ballet Theatre; The Australian Ballet; Ballet Arizona; Ballet Zurich; Birmingham Royal Ballet; Boston Ballet; Dutch National Ballet; Finnish National Ballet; Houston Ballet; Miami City Ballet; Nashville Ballet; National Ballet of Canada; Nevada Ballet Theatre; Northern Ballet; Pacific Northwest Ballet; Queensland Ballet; The Royal Ballet; The Royal Danish Ballet; Royal New Zealand Ballet; Royal Winnipeg Ballet; San Francisco Ballet; Semperoper Ballet; Washington Ballet

The Australian Ballet School; Boston Ballet School; Canada’s National Ballet School; New Zealand School of Dance; Palucca University of Dance Dresden; The Royal Ballet School; Queensland Ballet Academy; School of American Ballet

The committee would like to encourage other organisations to add their names to the list of organisations that have endorsed this initiative and can do so by contacting any of the members of the committee.

Committee members: Jason Beechey, Rector, Palucca University of Dance, Dresden, Germany; Cheryl Belkin Epstein, Developer of Creative Resources and Ballet Historian, Canada’s National Ballet School, Toronto, Canada; Mavis Staines, Artistic Director and CEO, Canada’s National Ballet School, Toronto, Canada; Margaret Tracey, Director, Boston Ballet School, Boston, U.S.A.; Garry Trinder, Director, New Zealand School of Dance, Wellington, New Zealand.

-30- For media inquiries, please contact: Margaret Tracey [email protected]