This past May, the Hilton hotel in downtown Albany, New York, hosted more than the usual lawmakers in power suits. Instead, the hallways and conference rooms were filled with 350 energetic young ballet students in leotards, tights and pointe shoes. The students were attending the Regional Dance America (RDA) Northeast Festival, now in its 67th year. The festival provided an encouraging atmosphere and real sense of community through classes, college recruitment, scholarship auditions and performances at The Egg Performing Arts Center.
RDA Northeast is one region out of five in the historic RDA network – an umbrella organization that has spent decades emphasizing education and artistic growth over medals and competition. The festivals rotate annually among cities within each region, with member companies serving as hosts. The festivals focus on serious training and mentorship, with scholarship and professional preparation. Schools and choreographers go through an adjudication process, and the non-competitive philosophy allows students to learn, grow, and make new friends during the festivals.
Erika Davis, CEO of RDA’s national organization, speaks about the importance of the dancers attending the festivals as “peers, not competitors.” She talks about the organizational mission focusing on young dancers in a supportive network of professional development. Through the national level, there are networking opportunities for directors and mentorship from early career to leadership roles, all within an inspirational and supportive environment.
In addition to the regional festivals, RDA is offering two main summer programs in 2026: the Dance & Choreography Intensive for advanced training and creativity, and the Performance Workshop for intensive, three-day artistry development. She added that through RDA’s Scholarship and Recruitment Program, students are connected with more than $10 million in scholarship opportunities. This includes connections to summer intensive, college/university, and conservatory or year-round training program recruitment opportunities from an extensive group of recruiters who participate with RDA each year.
RDA has remained relevant for generations because it creates environments where dancers can train seriously while still feeling supported as artists and people. The adjudication processes and festivals are rigorous, but the rigor exists inside a collaborative environment. There were multiple distinguished faculty members throughout the festival, each giving corrections and coaching and exposing the students to different dance philosophies with a professional mindset. The students in the Northeast Festival took classes in ballet, contemporary ballet, pointe, theater dance, modern and Bollywood, along with workshops on mindfulness and stage makeup. Afternoons were devoted to scholarship auditions and college recruiting, with evening performances.
Lazlo Berdo, Academy Associate Director for Charlotte Ballet, is a veteran of RDA festivals as a teacher and choreographer. He notes, “What I think I see the most is their excitement, they’re very enthusiastic. They’re eager to soak up new information. I love the energy that they bring in.” He adds that the camaraderie is evident, and the students support one another. “So I like that environment. It’s very healthy.” Berdo adds that the students attending the festival are stronger, and that is a compliment to the teachers working with them because “they’re really starting to build structure into them.” His advice to the young students: “You can’t give up. You have to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for it.” Lazlo believes that regional festivals are valuable for attendees to be able to see other like-minded students and weigh where they stand in their own technique, so they have a better understanding of what it takes. “And when they go to an audition, they’re a little more prepared than when they don’t have these experiences.”
Erin Long Robbins is a membership chair of RDA Northeast and Artistic Director of South Dayton Dance Theatre. In addition to her chair responsibilities, she brought 26 of her own dancers from Ohio. She believes the festival gives the dancers “a taste of what being a professional is going to be.” Each region has an adjudicator who visits the schools and observes classes, providing feedback about teaching, atmosphere, choreography and dancer development. The students also receive individualized coaching. Robbins mentions that “The students respond to different teachers saying the same corrections in ways that ‘click’ for the young dancers.” She adds that the training is serious, but humane.
The festivals don’t happen without a lot of volunteers and support from parents. Alicia Doley-Brown, one parent attending the festival, talks about her daughter’s exposure to many dance styles and how it broadened her experience. “Dance has given her confidence in many aspects of things.” She speaks about the festival’s atmosphere feeling positive and supportive, with dance education helping to shape emotional growth and maturity. RDA shapes people, not just technicians.
Even after decades, RDA continues to create spaces where young dancers can imagine futures in dance while learning in an environment built around artistry, education, and support rather than rivalry. Laila Bordley, a 16-year-old student with Providence Creek Ballet Theater, has attended multiple festivals and highlighted coming from a small town and being able to perform for lots of people as a plus. She beams, “When you perform at the festival, it almost feels like you can imagine being a professional. You get to stay in the hotel with the other dancers and your peers so you get that camaraderie. I feel like after I go home from RAD, I’m still applying the corrections and realizing how I can apply that to my dancing every day.” She hopes to pursue dance further and talked about how there were scholarship and recruiting opportunities.
Meghan Flaherty, a 17-year-old with South Dayton Dance Theatre, is an experienced veteran, having attended seven festivals. She sums it up by saying, “Having new perspectives helped me push my comfort zone. It’s really about having fun and getting to share the art that you love with everybody else.” She encourages any dancer interested in the RDA festivals to “make the jump, it’s only going to be positive. It will push you forward to grow. It’s worth it.”
Bordley says, “Come to RDA. Come fully as yourself and come fully present. Fully exert all of your energy and put yourself positively into everything you do because you can learn so much from one hour-and-a-half class. You never know who may be watching.”
Find out more about Regional Dance America at www.rdanortheast.org.
By Mary Carpenter of Dance Informa.
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