In 1996, Edith D’Addario, Director of the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, made a decision that would impact the lives and careers of talented dancers in ways almost unimaginable at the time. She decided to bring the intense level of training that was available in New York to the Midwest and the Joffrey Midwest Summer Intensive was born.

The partnership between The Whiting, the Flint Institute of Music and the Joffrey Ballet School is a perfect blend of faculty, facilities and focus. Each institution brings to the Summer Intensive its expertise and resources and the collaboration has grown stronger and more vibrant each year.

In the past 12 years, hundreds of dancers have spent four weeks each summer on the beautiful campus of the Flint Cultural Center honing their skills, developing their craft and making life-long friends. Artistic Director John Magnus has shaped the technical and artistic direction of the workshop to reflect not only the Joffrey technique but also his own unique and intense style of bringing out the very best a dancer has to offer. Mr. Magnus and Ballet Instructor Judy Rice have worked together since the inception of the Midwest Summer Intensive to make sure that dancers are prepared to move on to the next step of company apprenticeship, corps de ballet, teaching or college.

Since 1997, Managing Director Christi Lackey and her Residence Staff have brought the utmost care and organization to the workshop’s daily routine. Dancer physical, social, medical and emotional needs have been tended to with respect and diligence.

From the facilities to the faculty, from the musicians to the meals, from the classes to the cleaning, from the laundry to the laughter, no detail has ever been left untended and the Joffrey Midwest Summer Intensive has become one of the premier summer intensives in the United States.