Marin Conservatory of Dance Summer Programs

Marin Conservatory of Dance Summer Programs include Tiny Tutu Summer Camp, Ballet Summer Camp, Children’s Summer Intensive, Youth Summer Intensive, Junior Summer Intensive, Pre Teen Summer Intensive (PTSI), and the MCD Summer Intensive. Depending on the program, students take ballet class, pre-ballet, stretch and flexibility classes, conditioning, ballet history lessons, demi-pointe class, pointe work, variations and choreography, Reformer Pilates training, and study classical repertoire and contemporary, along with crafts and ballet story time. Summer Program class sizes are limited to ensure quality training and personal corrections.

• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: One- and two-week camps and intensives with Monday–Friday options between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm in July; registration closes 1 day before the start date or when classes are full
• Price: Tiny Tutu Summer Camp $450, or $750 with aftercare until 5 pm; Ballet Summer Camp $600, or $900 with aftercare until 5 pm; Children’s Summer Intensive $650 for 1 week, or $950 with aftercare until 5 pm; Youth Summer Intensive Level 2A $700, plus $125 for aftercare until 5 pm; Youth Summer Intensive Level 2C $1300 for 2 weeks, plus $795 for aftercare until 5 pm; Junior Summer Intensive Level 3 $1350 for 2 weeks; MCD Summer Intensive Levels 4/5/6 $1600 for 2-week sessions

A minimum of 2 weeks of participation is required for Youth Summer Intensive Level 2C, Junior Summer Intensive, and the MCD Summer Intensive, and both weeks are required for advancement and role placement for Nutcracker in the fall for the Junior Summer Intensive and MCD Summer Intensive. One week is required for advancement in the fall for the Children’s Summer Intensive and Youth Summer Intensive. The MCD Summer Intensive includes weekly guest teachers and Reformer Pilates training.

Marin Conservatory of Dance describes itself as Southern Marin’s only Classical Ballet Conservatory and states that its studios have Rosco Sprung Flooring and Harlequin Marley. The program is rooted in Marin community values and states that it offers high-level training that is modern, nurturing, and never rigid or stifling, and that it recognizes each dancer’s journey as unique. Marin Conservatory of Dance was established by 2018 and has been featured in Enjoy Mill Valley, the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Marin Magazine’s article about mother-daughter businesses in Marin, and Ms. Melinda is a former member of the Mill Valley Chamber Board.

Director and owner Melinda Neal is a Bay Area native, a former soloist, and a certified Pilates instructor. She trained under Yanina Cywinska, who trained at the Kirov Ballet School in Leningrad (now the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg) and later danced in post-war European opera ballet companies, and she continued her studies with Ronn Guidi, founder of the Oakland Ballet Academy and Company. Melinda earned a BA in Performing Arts through St. Mary’s College of California’s LEAP program for professional dancers and is pursuing a Master of Arts in Dance at St. Mary’s College of California. She danced professionally for 16 years with companies including Oakland Ballet Company and Peninsula Ballet Theatre, and as a founding member and soloist with Napoles Ballet Theatre and Bay Pointe Ballet, and has appeared as a guest artist with California Youth Ballet and Milissa Payne Project. She co-owned The Dance Network for nine years, served as Artistic Director for its non-profit youth ballet company, and has held leadership roles as Children’s Ballet Mistress for State Street Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theatre, and Bay Pointe Ballet. She has over 27 years of teaching experience throughout the Bay Area, including at Alonzo King LINES Dance Center, Alameda Civic Ballet, ODC Dance, SF Arts Education Project, Peninsula Ballet Conservatory, Bay Pointe Ballet, and as Ballet Director at Roco Dance in Mill Valley. International Summer Guest Teacher Thea Solomon trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School and the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and is currently a dancer with the Hungarian National Ballet.

Last updated June 14, 2026.