Boys' Summer School turns 20!

When the 2025 Boys' Summer School takes place in Sydney over the Christmas holidays, it will be celebrating an amazing milestone: its 20th anniversary.

The week-long intensive draws male ballet students from all over Australia, providing an exhilarating program of classes with highly qualified teachers, with some fun holiday activities as well.

The first Boys' Summer School in 2005 stemmed from a collaboration between Robert Fox, Theatre Operations Manager at Shore, the Sydney Church of England Grammar School, and the highly respected Sydney dance academy, Alegria. Together they developed an annual, national event that would provide an opportunity for young male dancers to join together for a week of technical development and social interaction with others from around the country and beyond with similar interests and aspirations.

At the time a large number of dance schools were hiring the Smith Auditorium at Shore for their showcases. Fox, who had previously been the Director of Performing Arts at Shore, where as an all-boys’ school, there was nothing unusual about boys singing in choirs, playing musical instruments and dancing, observed that many of these dance schools had very few boys, some none at all.

He decided it was clear that boys needed specialised tuition that was not being provided in dance schools where the vast majority of students were girls, and that they also needed the affirmation and camaraderie that could only come from being able to share their passion for dance with other boys.

Alegria was a regular hirer of Shore’s facilities. After many conversations between Fox and Alegria directors Hilary Kaplan and Archie McKenzie, a plan was hatched to offer a week-long residential summer school in the Christmas holidays for boys of all ages and from all over Australia, to be based at Shore. There were two main objectives: the best possible standard tuition, focused on the specific needs of male dancers, and the opportunity for the participants to socialise and make friends with other boys who shared their passion. Providing residential accommodation on site, where swimming pool, basketball courts and indoor games were available, was critical to the second objective. Excursions to nearby Luna Park and a harbour ferry trip to Manly added to the mix.

Shore threw in its support by making its facilities available, and the first Summer School was born, with an enrolment of 28!

Says Fox: "In the ensuing years, our artistic directors and tutors have read like a who’s who of the ballet world: artistic directors have included Steven Heathcote, Bill Pengelly, Christian Tatchev, Danilo Radojevic and currently Adam Bull. Tutors have included Mark Brinkley, Paul Saliba, Jake Mangakahia, Jason Duff, Tim Harbour, Wim Broeckx, Bradley Chatfield, Campbell McKenzie, Chengwu Guo, Jeremy Gates, Cameron Holmes, Jarryd Madden, Marcus Morelli, Wanda Wojtulewicz-Levine, and many others, including Li Cunxin, who attracted a record enrolment of 94 boys!

"Our participants have not just come from Sydney: the Summer School regularly attracts students from all over Australia as well as New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Indonesia, and we have even had students from the US and UK!"

In total, 327 young male dancers have attended the summer school. "There are currently three alumni in the Australian Ballet," Fox says, "and many others are placed in ballet companies around the world, including Harrison Lee (Royal Ballet), Jules Chastre, (Norwegian National Ballet) Rohan Hazleton (Saarländisches Staatsballett) and Alexander Koulos (Milwaukee Ballet)."

For much of the existence of the Summer School, it has been honoured to have Alexander Campbell as Ambassador. One of many distinguished Australian exports in the world of ballet, Alexander has been a first soloist with Birmingham Royal Ballet and Principal with the Royal Ballet, and has recently been appointed as Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Dance.

The ultimate goal of the Summer School is that boys will find increased affirmation and encouragement to further their studies in the art form, in the knowledge that there are many others around the country and around the world who share their passion.

The Boys’ Summer School is very proud to have been able to make a difference in many of these boys’ lives and careers, and looks to the next 20 with great optimism.

The 2025 event will run from December 28 to January 2 at the McDonald College in Strathfield, Sydney. Early bird enrolments for the Boys' Summer School are already open. Full boarding is available, with discount fees for those travelling from distant states or beyond. For more information, go here.