even students who are taking part in the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda summer dance institute shared their thoughts, hopes and dreams.

The programme began yesterday morning and is playing host to 43 students from Bermuda and 23 international dance students.

At 17, New Yorker Jose Miguel Sebastian is no stranger to the American Ballet Theatre, as he has studied with them since he was eight.

?Before that at about age six or seven I took after school ballet classes,? he said.

?I was the only boy and my mom said I had a hard time telling my left foot from my right foot.?

At present my favourite style is classical ballet and I also like to do contemporary works.?

He said the New York ballet circuit was small and he heard about the Bermuda programme through friends.

?ABT has been my dream company from the very beginning,? he said. ?I love everything about it. The dancers, the ballets, the atmosphere.

?I am looking forward to many things: good training; classes with Nancy Raffa; seeing Bermuda; the performance; and meeting new friends from different places.?

Anna Lea Clifford, of St. George?s, said she attends both the School of Russian Ballet and In Motion School of Dance.

Now 14, she has been dancing for nine years. Asked about her favourite dance styles she said: ?It?s difficult to choose, I love ballet, jazz and modern!?

Anna was advised by her schools to audition for the summer programme, but the experience was slightly unnerving.

?It was intimidating, but once I relaxed and was able to concentrate on my technique it was more enjoyable,? she said.

?Being my first audition, it was a very special experience.?

During the programme she said: ?I am most looking forward to the opportunity to improve my technique and my knowledge of dance in anyway I possibly can?.

Jackson School of Performing Arts student Melissa Danielle Spurling, who has been dancing since she was six, said her favourite dance style was ballet.

Her teacher and the dance school owner Jeanne Legere told her about the summer programme.

?For me, the audition was extremely nerve wracking because I had never done an audition before so had no idea what to expect,? said the 16-year-old.

?The fifteen minutes right before the audition were probably the worst part, but once we started dancing I was able to relax a little. Though a little scary, the audition was a great experience, I even learned some new steps so I know the programme will be great.?

When asked what she was most looking forward to, she said: ?The most important thing is learning so many new things from the ABT professionals.

?I know they will have a lot to offer me because of their experience. It will really be helpful to learn from different people because it will give my dancing more variety.

?I am also eager to learn some new tips that will help me improve my technique.?

Somerset School of Dance student Ashley Renee Yearwood was also looking forward to learning new things and techniques.

The ten-year-old has been dancing since she was five years old and she has no favourite style of dance at present he just loves to dance.

Of the audition, she said: ?It was a scary experience.... because you didn?t know what was going on.

?You did not know what we were doing and if what you were doing was correct. You really had no clue or indication from the instructors.?

She heard about the American Ballet Theatre summer programme from one of her teachers.

Emelia Scarlett Huntley, attends the Coastal Dance school in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, although she resides in Halifax.

She has been dancing since she was three years old and her favourite form of dance is ballet, but she loves modern as well.

The 17-year-old said she had attended a few ABT programmes in the past and really enjoyed them. ?Therefore I was planning to audition for them again,? she said, ?and in figuring out which site would be best for me I heard about Bermuda.?

But Emelia said she was unable to audition in person.

?I lived too far away from any of the audition sites, so I sent a video instead,? she said.

Over the next three weeks she is looking forward to meeting new people, experiencing Bermuda and of course learning a lot from the ABT faculty.

In Motion School of Dance and New World School of the Arts student Tyler Cannonier Barker said he heard about the programme through Lizz Pimentel, the director of In Motion.

Tyler has been dancing for six years and his favourite dance style is modern.

Of the audition process he said: ?The experience was professional and good preparation for future auditions.?

During the programme, he said: ?I am looking at strengthening and enhancing my ballet training and meeting dancers from abroad.

?Continuing to work with new teachers and choreographers, and broadening my dance training and experience.?

Fourteen-year-old Sydney Cherie Pringle was born in Texas, but lives in Bermuda where she attends the In Motion School of Dance.

Sydney has been dancing for ten years and her first lessons were at the Bermuda School of Russian Ballet. ?Now that I am older,? she said, ?I have been able to experience different areas of dance and my most favourite would have to be ballet.

?I heard about the ABT programme in Bermuda after my mother had read about the master classes and summer dance programme in the newspaper and promptly signed me up to everything.

?I was so excited when I received my acceptance letter from the American Ballet Theatre!?

She enjoyed the audition although she said: ?It was challenging in some areas, but you had to have confidence and definitely skill to get through the auditions. ?It was challenging because if you didn?t understand the combination or the steps in the adagio, you couldn?t raise your hand and ask the teacher for help. They showed it to you once; sometimes twice and if you weren?t standing at the front row of the group or you didn?t have a good visual of the teacher, you would have to hope that you weren?t wearing the first or last number in the group, as it seemed they were picked first.?

She is hoping to improve her skills as a dancer, while meeting new people in the process.

?I hope to grow throughout the programme and better myself as a dancer,? she said.

?I think the programme will not only help me with the physical aspects of dance, but also increase my knowledge and understanding of dance and teach me discipline. I think all of us are hoping to learn new techniques and improve ourselves along with making new friends that share our love of dance.

?I hope that we all do well and get through through the three week intensive. It will be hard, but for all of us who want to have a career in dance, the Summer Dance Intensive will give us a glimpse of what will be expected of us for many years to come.?

Sydney added that she was not the only person in her family involved in dance, as her mother took the job as the programme co-ordinator for the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda.

?I have watched my mother organise the summer dance intensive since April,? she said. ?It is a lot of hard work putting the programme together and it was a good experience to work in the office with them during my summer break and see the number of things that are being done to make sure the students benefit from this programme.

?It is important for me to succeed in the programme because my mother has worked so hard to make sure that we have this opportunity.?