The DeSales Dance Abroad Program: An Unforgettable International Experience
Just a week after graduating, Abigail Pinkerton found herself surrounded by strangers speaking different languages in the studio of Switzerland’s Ballett Theater Basel. While her classmates from DeSales were touring the studio, Pinkerton was tapped to put a lifetime of dancing on display during an impromptu professional audition.
The experience, she recalls, was as unexpected and terrifying as it was amazing.
“It’s putting yourself out there in the most vulnerable way with all of these company members who have already made it,” she says. “It was so interesting to hear the dancers talking to each other in their own languages. But when we were all dancing, everyone was dancing in the same language. I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”
The opportunity to audition with an international dance company came during the DeSales Dance Abroad Program. Julia Mayo, M.F.A., chair of the dance department, accompanied 19 students to Basel, Switzerland, in May to train with Armando Braswell, a world-renowned dancer and teacher, and the Braswell Arts Center.
Pinkerton ’22 caught Braswell’s eye on the very first day, and he reached out to Ballett Theater Basel’s artistic director, who invited her to join the company class. Mayo and the rest of the DeSales students were able to watch Pinkerton’s performance from an observation deck above the studio.
“She did a beautiful job. The reality of getting into a professional dance company means taking a company class. She’s now been through that, so she knows what to expect moving forward. And, if she decides to pursue work in Europe, she now has one door that’s been slightly opened for her.”
The experience was just one of many memorable moments during the eight-day trip. Not only did Mayo want to provide her students with networking opportunities and training from international artists, she also wanted to expose them to the different aesthetic that Europe has to offer.
“European dance is a little more forward than the United States,” she says. “Trends usually begin in Europe and make their way over here. It also helps our students to see how universal dance is. They were able to recognize that what they’re learning in the classroom translates to Europe, and that they have skills that are more global.”
The Braswell Arts Center curated the weeklong residency specifically for DeSales dance majors who completed DA 306 Ballet III—the most advanced level of the ballet technique curriculum, which focuses on preparing students for performance careers in the field of concert dance.
Students spent the majority of their days at the center taking a range of classes—from contemporary and classical ballet to choreography and even Pilates—with different artists from different companies. For Natasha Rosenberg ’23, a dance and theology double major (pictured below), that diversity helped her to grasp all that Switzerland has to offer.
“Going on this trip gave me such a boost and a new insight,” she says. “What’s interesting to me is how the mannerisms are still the same, but there’s a different joy to dance and there’s a different passion that took place. There was such a different energy in the room.”
In addition to their studio time, the students took a bus tour of the city and a cruise down the Rhine River. They were also treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of Ballett Theater Basel and one of the company’s performances.
There was also plenty of time for shopping, exploring traditional Swiss cuisine, and other excursions. Rosenberg, whose journey to Catholicism began at DeSales, embraced the opportunity to attend Mass in a foreign country—setting out on her own one evening, navigating the city by train.
“That was one of my proud theologian moments: sitting in this massive church all alone in another country,” she says. “It was beautiful.”
While this was Rosenberg’s first trip abroad, Pinkerton (pictured below) also accompanied the dance department to Paris in January of 2020 to learn about the evolution of ballet and modern and to tour historical sites. Switzerland, she says, focused much more on physicalizing dance.
“I’ve definitely had my eyes opened to how much bigger the dance world is and can be,” she says. “Especially in Europe, the dance scene and the arts scene are so much more well-received and well-supported. It was important to not only hear about it, but to experience it firsthand. It reinforced why we do what we do and why I love what I do.”
Both Rosenberg, a New York native, and Pinkerton, who’s from North East, Maryland, began dancing before the age of 5. And both knew early on that dance isn’t just a hobby or career, it’s a lifestyle. Once class ends, their day is far from over. There’s always rehearsal, a show to prepare for, or some other project on the side.
Rosenberg, who started her senior year in the fall, says she returned home feeling creatively rejuvenated and inspired to choreograph for DeSales’ Emerging Choreographers Concert. “Once I got back on the plane, I had so many new ideas to try out. Seeing how the dancers generate movement and how they move and connect to music, I needed that artistically.”
Pinkerton graduated just days before the trip and says the experience opened her eyes to all of the possibilities that a dance degree affords. Her only regret—that they couldn’t have stayed longer. That’s something Mayo is working to change.
Both she and Braswell—who’ve known each other since their undergraduate days at Juilliard—are hoping to continue and even expand the partnership. Mayo’s goal is to start a summer study abroad course in Basel for four weeks—a unique offering only available to DeSales students. The department also has an informal invitation to return for the Dance Basel Festival in 2024.
Mayo says it’s exciting to see the sparks and connections that her students were able to make in Switzerland. She credits the University, Arts Angels, and Women for DeSales with helping to make the trip a reality.
“The fact that our students were able to have assistance from the University and then Women for DeSales to offset the cost even further, made it possible for so many of our dance majors to have this opportunity.”
