Evelyn Ebo began taking classes at the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts when she was just four years old. By 16, she was dancing professionally, touring with the legendary Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!). Ebo’s career has taken her all over the world, touring abroad with a production of The Wiz, performing in Broadway’s production of Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens, dancing for companies and acting in TV shows.
The work was physically demanding and it could be an emotional whirlwind — going to auditions, facing rejection, getting a call that she got a part when she thought she had performed poorly. “You get a lot of nos. You get lots of rejection in this game,” she says. “There are going to be times where you fall out of a turn, but you know what? You have an opportunity to start all over again.”
Being a Black woman in the world of dance made her chosen profession even harder: Black women make up only about five percent of professional ballerinas, compared to White women, who make up about half of all professional ballet dancers of any gender.
Throughout Ebo’s rise, support from her mentors kept her going. PHILADANCO’s Joan Myers Brown helped Ebo get the training she needed to build a successful career as a dancer. Myers Brown, now 93, is a pioneer in the dance world. She founded PHILADANCO! In 1970 and the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts in 1960 to create opportunities for Black dancers.
Today, Ebo has entered her own mentorship era. Five years ago, after retiring from dancing, she joined the Philadelphia Ballet Board and launched the Evelyn Ebo Boot Camp, a week-long program that makes ballet training more accessible, in part by making it affordable and holding classes right in the city for students from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Delaware. The subsidized program serves a select number of students in elementary through high school, costs just $50 to register, and offers access to professional performers who have worked all over the world. This week, from August 11 to 16, 15 students are participating.
“Dance made me feel free. Dance made me feel seen,” Ebo says. “I wanted to do something meaningful, something that would allow me to share my gifts and my time with young artists.”
Welcome to dance camp
At the camp, young ballerinas in a studio class spin with paper plates. In an adjacent studio, older students prepare for a jazz class. Ebo initially focused the camp on ballet training, but soon realized she wanted to give dancers a broader foundation. Now, there’s also instruction in modern, contemporary, jazz and character dance (a style that’s influenced by European folk dance).
“If you decide that you want to perform on Broadway, it’s not just going to be ballet,” Ebo says. “Ballet is the foundation, but it’s important for your body’s muscle memory to have all styles.”
The dancers take three classes per day, broken into two groups: students aged 8 to 11, and those aged 11 to 17. Camp lasts from 9am to 3pm. In between classes are artist conversations, where teaching artists share about their careers with the students, as well as discussions about nutrition, physical fitness — and the business side of the dance world, like how to create a resume. At the end of the week, students perform the four to five dances they learned in a showcase for friends and family. Seventy-one students have completed the program since it launched.
“Dance made me feel free. Dance made me feel seen.” — Evelyn Ebo
The instructors are a mix of staff from the School of Philadelphia Ballet’s (SPB) Philadelphia Ballet II (PBII) program and artists whom Ebo brings in. Rachel Lockhart, who’s currently touring with MJ: The Musical, came to teach one year, as did Gary Jeter, who has danced for a number of companies, including BalletX here in Philly.
This year, the teachers are PBII faculty members Courtney Conigatti, Mikaela Fenton, Anna Vartapetova and Davit Karapetyan, the program’s director. Magge Hoelper, artistic manager of SPD and manager of PBII, and Charity Eagens, their children’s ballet stager, are also teaching. The guest artist is Will Burden, an award-winning PHILADANCO! company member.
“There’s so many people that supported me as I went through my journey,” Ebo says. “You really need someone to be in your corner, and that’s what I want to be for these young dancers. I want to support them, and I want them to know that they have genuine love and concern from the people around them.”
Building a space for Philly dancers
The boot camp’s costs are negligible compared to the costs of ballet training (most summer intensives exceed $400 per week; in all, a dancer on a professional track can expect to pay $100,000 in tuition before age 17) and most Philly summer camps. Ebo knew that local students are often travelling, sometimes to New York, sometimes further, for dance opportunities, so she wanted to create something closer. The book camp takes place at Philadelphia Ballet’s studios at 325 N. Broad Street — a central point that’s especially accessible for Philadelphians.
“A lot of students do summer intensives in New York, other places in PA, other countries sometimes,” Ebo says. “There are a lot of financial barriers that families have to encounter — like with any sport — it’s very costly, and the costs continue to rise. This is something that gives families and young artists an opportunity to train to be safe and not to break the bank too.”
To apply, students must have completed at least two years of dance instruction, and need a letter of recommendation from a dance professional. There’s no audition required.
Seventeen-year-old Ramani Riley found the camp after it was recommended to her by one of her instructors at the Chocolate Ballerina Company, a Philadelphia dance organization that creates opportunities for people of color in ballet. Like Ebo, Riley has been dancing from a young age.
Riley fell in love with the art as a preschooler when a dance troupe came to her class. “I saw them, and I was like, Mommy, I want to do that,” she remembers. Her mom found her classes — ballet and tap — in the basement of a church. She kept progressing and joined the Philadelphia Dance Academy, but she didn’t always feel like there were a lot of opportunities for her in dance.
“I’ve always either been the only Black person in the room or I’ve been the tallest and only Black person in the room,” she says.
“Growing up, I felt like I didn’t always have a place in dance. Here, I feel like I have a place.” — Ramani Riley
This is her second year at the camp. She’s loved learning contemporary styles and strengthening her pointe skills. The program also connected her with Philadelphia Ballet, where she will be dancing this fall, while studying at the Community College of Philadelphia, with a dual enrollment to finish her degree at Temple. She hopes to be a principal dancer for a company some day and to teach dance. She appreciates that the Philadelphia Ballet has helped her find more opportunities to grow in her career — and has made those opportunities affordable.
“They’ve created opportunity by making dance accessible. It’s right here in the middle of the city; they host master classes that often are free or maybe $15 to $20 for entrance; the auditions are always open,” she says.
“They really help focus on you as a dancer in your growth, and for me, that was really important, because growing up, I felt like I didn’t always have a place in dance. Here, I feel like I have a place.”
Creating opportunities for dancers
The camp is just a week long, but it has acted as a springboard for other opportunities. Other students have also joined year-round programs at the School of Philadelphia Ballet, which offers both merit scholarships and need-based financial aid. SPB did not share exact figures, but said the number of scholarships vary from year to year. Four current boot camp students have enrolled in SPB programs.
Others have gone on to study dance in college or through professional training programs.
Even those who don’t go on to dance more seriously still benefit from the camp’s focus on building resilience, confidence — and essential soft skills.
“These are definitely life skills [the program] teaches them — communication, self confidence, endurance,” Ebo says.
Ebo hopes to grow the number of students who can participate in the camp in the future — while still keeping it small so that they can connect with the faculty and form meaningful relationships. She’s considered doing more camps throughout the year as well. She’s also interested in creating field trips and more opportunities for students to see performances and engage with the dance world.
“The kids learn so much throughout the week,” she says. “They’re just grateful for the experience, grateful to be there, happy to learn — and I love seeing that.”
MORE OF OUR CITIZENS OF THE WEEK