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Turn down School of American Ballet once and you'll never get back in. Most ballet parents have heard some version of that, along with plenty of other myths. So we collected your questions and took them to Peter LeBreton Merz, artistic director of Eglevsky Ballet and former director of Ballet West Academy, as well as Racheal Nye, director of Oklahoma City Ballet's Yvonne Chouteau School and Studio Company. We talk about whether blacklists exist, the pressure to send 10-year-olds away for the summer, get them on pointe early and move them up a level fast, and what Peter and Racheal look for in a 12-year-old. They also get into why nearly every boy is on scholarship, how much seniority counts in casting, and what a school should be able to show before it calls itself pre-professional.

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Lily Peta and Emma Wheeler did everything the traditional ballet path asks of young dancers and still found themselves waiting for the right job to come along. Then, they stopped waiting. This past summer they launched Midsommardans, an outdoor ballet festival on Grinda, an island in the Stockholm archipelago.

Lily and Emma tell us how two dancers with no background in fundraising or production pulled it off, from convincing the archipelago foundation to take a chance on them to hand-building a sprung stage floor with their families. Along the way, making their own opportunity changed how they see the ballet job market. Be sure to listen to the end to hear the exciting news they have to share about the future of Midsommardans.

You can find Midsommardans on Instagram at @midsommar.dans.

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Music from #Uppbeat:
https://uppbeat.io/t/ian-aisling/new-future
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We sit down with Ayisha McMillan Cravotta and Alicia Delgadillo of Charlotte Ballet to talk about what the road from trainee to professional looks like there. Alicia recently became associate director of CB2, the second company.

The pre-professional trainee program is small, capped at 30 dancers, and starts at age 15, though the group skews older. Charlotte Ballet doesn't provide housing, which Ayisha says helps shape who enrolls.

Once dancers move up to CB2, the focus shifts to preparing them for the job itself. Alicia explains how she mentors this small group of dancers, and why half of this year's new hires come from college programs. Both guests talk plainly about the job market and how they help dancers plan for it.

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• Instagram: @BalletHelpDesk
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Music from #Uppbeat:
https://uppbeat.io/t/ian-aisling/new-future
License code: MGAW5PAHYEYDQZCI