About Barrie Raffel
From the moment I took my first dance class at the age of 14, I knew I’d found a collaborative community to call home. After graduating with a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School, I enjoyed a fulfilling career performing with a wide variety of choreographers.
Teaching dance and movement in many forms has always been a part of my work, and my extensive teaching background informs my approach to college advisement for dancers. Every person has a distinctive way of learning, moving and communicating. Drawing out the individual qualities and strengths of each dancer is an essential part of my process.
Credentials
Barrie Raffel, a native of Southern California, earned a BFA in dance from The Juilliard School and began an expansive, fulfilling career as a dancer, dance teacher, and choreographer and collaborator. Her work encompasses performing with many choreographers who’ve made a mark on modern and contemporary dance and who continue to inspire her, such as Mark Haim, Stephanie Skura, and Hilary Easton (to name just a few). Barrie also dipped her toes into commercial work dancing on the TV show “Fame,” and in various commercials and music videos.
Barrie holds the UCLA Certificate in College Admissions Counseling and is a member of the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA) and the New York State Association for College Admission Counseling (NYSACAC). As a college advisor for dancers, she has worked joyfully with Amy Goldin of COPA, Inc.: College Options in the Performing Arts) since 2016.
Dance Affiliations
Barrie serves on the Martha Hill Dance Fund Board of Directors, an organization created to preserve and perpetuate Ms. Hill’s legacy as a dance educator, mentor and performer. A devoted and expert yoga practitioner, Barrie also teaches yoga to adults of all ages in New York City (www.barrieraffelyoga.com) and teaches the MELT Method, a system of self-care designed to help students remain injury- and pain-free.
Barrie is a yearly presenter for DanceWave , a non-profit organization designed to bring equitable access to dance education at their annual college fair/audition event , Dancing Through College and Beyond. Her presentations and animated Q&A sessions provide dancers and their families with invaluable tools for the dance college application and audition process.
What parents say about working with Barrie
“When it came time for our daughter to apply to college dance programs we were totally lost! Enter, Barrie Raffel. Barrie introduced us to excellent BFA programs, taking into consideration our daughter’s unique desires & skills. She helped her prepare applications & auditions in advance, so that by the end of December, our daughter had received a wide array of acceptances & had any “rejections” put into perspective, which minimized the sting. We can’t recommend her highly enough.”
-Rachel, parent
Many thanks to my advisees Emerson D, Grace B, Zoe R, Shloka P, Lily H, Maddie I, Alexis H, Haley M, Alden W, and Rachel P for the use of their images.
Photography credits: Lois Greenfield, Abeer Sharma, Jason Hill, William Catanzaro, Jon Taylor, Sarah Starling, Blaine Covert, Christopher Duggan, Alyssa Rose
“The application process for college dance programs is daunting, confusing, and very overwhelming. I can’t imagine how we would have gotten through the process without Barrie’s calm, knowledgeable, and steady guidance. Barrie has a keen understanding of the dance world. She helped my dancer daughter come up with a reasonable and practical list of target programs, keep on top of the numerous academic and dance requirements and submissions, and ultimately reach her goal of being admitted to several of the very top college ballet programs. Thank you Barrie for helping us make it through junior and senior years with a great result!”
-Dale, parent