The Washington Ballet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exactly. It’s all about revenue maximization these days to prop up the company that, without the tuition revenue, would have already gone bankrupt.

The talented students are leaving for other studios, as instruction standards continue to slide and it’s become obvious that PTPA and company dancers are recruited exclusively from the outside. TWSB students are there to pay tuition and perform in the Nutcracker for free for weeks on end.

[b]Wait, the dancers do not get paid to be in the Nutcracker? Why not?

[b]


The students aren't paid. Students are never paid for performances.

[Anonymous]

Not paid. You also have to sign a contract before the audition that your child will attend all rehearsals and performances. This is how some families ended up bound to 7-8 weekends of 12 hours of rehearsals every weeks, plus 20+ shows. No pay, and just a small discount on tickets. It was way too much, and many families will not participate this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not paid. You also have to sign a contract before the audition that your child will attend all rehearsals and performances. This is how some families ended up bound to 7-8 weekends of 12 hours of rehearsals every weeks, plus 20+ shows. No pay, and just a small discount on tickets. It was way too much, and many families will not participate this year.

Is that a change from before?
What was the commitment before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, not sure what you mean? TWSB has added level 8 and also has PTP A (during the day) and PTP B (after school). THey are trying to make more space for all the talented teenagers they have at the school.

False. They are trying to make space for the untalented students they have at the school who will never qualify for PTPA or PTPB.

Not making PTPA or B has less to do with talent and more to do with WSB's own notions of what a ballet dancer should look like.

Oh honey...
Maddie is too fat. Just accept it. She can always do cruise ships!

Are you a WSB parent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not paid. You also have to sign a contract before the audition that your child will attend all rehearsals and performances. This is how some families ended up bound to 7-8 weekends of 12 hours of rehearsals every weeks, plus 20+ shows. No pay, and just a small discount on tickets. It was way too much, and many families will not participate this year.

Is that a change from before?
What was the commitment before?

This is no change from the past. DD danced for years including in HS at TWBS and this is the way it works - EVERYWHERE. This is endemic to the ballet system. Even professionals are barely paid and trainees and second company dancers pay tuition (usually just trainees) while second company dancers are sometimes paid in pointe shoes or a few hundred (eg $400 a month for 6-9 months a year). It's amazing any companies can stay afloat. Parents have to subsidize dancers, especially female dancers. Men are scarce and are paid more/rise faster through the ranks. Stagehands in NYC get paid more than dancers there - it's a terrible system. Only dance superstars make a living wage. Unions are helpful but many companies don't have them. Men in charge while women make up the bulk of the company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not paid. You also have to sign a contract before the audition that your child will attend all rehearsals and performances. This is how some families ended up bound to 7-8 weekends of 12 hours of rehearsals every weeks, plus 20+ shows. No pay, and just a small discount on tickets. It was way too much, and many families will not participate this year.

Is that a change from before?
What was the commitment before?

The commitment used to less - about ten shows or so - until a year or two ago. As students have started leaving, more students have been double or even triple-cast. Last year the show ran for an extra week beyond the holidays in order to raise more revenue, though it probably didn't work, as many shows in the early weeks were pretty sparsely attended. They're running the extra week again this year. Fewer students auditioning + more shows = greater time commitment (though they don't tell you this before)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not paid. You also have to sign a contract before the audition that your child will attend all rehearsals and performances. This is how some families ended up bound to 7-8 weekends of 12 hours of rehearsals every weeks, plus 20+ shows. No pay, and just a small discount on tickets. It was way too much, and many families will not participate this year.

Is that a change from before?
What was the commitment before?

No. I’m a stagehand who makes more than ballerinas.

[Anonymous]

Are there ballet schools in the area that don’t exploit the children and focus on THEIR education rather than the revenue of performances? It sounds like kids are going to get injured and 5 weeks of this schedule would really make schoolwork suffer. Does anyone offer a more student-centric program? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Why shouldn’t the ballet exploit your kids?
What on earth do you people think life as a dancer is gonna be like? Might as well get used to it now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there ballet schools in the area that don’t exploit the children and focus on THEIR education rather than the revenue of performances? It sounds like kids are going to get injured and 5 weeks of this schedule would really make schoolwork suffer. Does anyone offer a more student-centric program? Thank you.

All schools want to benefit from Nutcracker but WSB is the only area school that’s attached to a major professional company that has its own revenue issues. In contrast, my DDs school has shows Thurs-Sun over one weekend in early December, plus a single mini show for preschoolers and a “tea”, plus a handful of outreach events that the oldest girls do. There are two casts and most of the younger kids end up dancing in 3 shows, total. My DD was double-casted last year so she had to do 6, which I thought was a lot, but apparently is a small task compared to what WSB has them do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why shouldn’t the ballet exploit your kids?
What on earth do you people think life as a dancer is gonna be like? Might as well get used to it now.

You’re the troll who loves to use the cruise ship insult wherever you can, aren’t you? I’m sorry you were hurt but there are far more productive ways to deal with it. Move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why shouldn’t the ballet exploit your kids?
What on earth do you people think life as a dancer is gonna be like? Might as well get used to it now.

You’re the troll who loves to use the cruise ship insult wherever you can, aren’t you? I’m sorry you were hurt but there are far more productive ways to deal with it. Move on.

Only once! Has it been used more than that here? Dang it. It isn’t the most original, but I didn’t think it was tired.
And honestly, your kid will be lucky to book a cruise ship. Those are good gigs.
For the record, I wasn’t hurt, but I’ve had years to see what dance does to kids. They have my sympathy. You dance mommies, sure as hell don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not paid. You also have to sign a contract before the audition that your child will attend all rehearsals and performances. This is how some families ended up bound to 7-8 weekends of 12 hours of rehearsals every weeks, plus 20+ shows. No pay, and just a small discount on tickets. It was way too much, and many families will not participate this year.

Is that a change from before?
What was the commitment before?

This is no change from the past. DD danced for years including in HS at TWBS and this is the way it works - EVERYWHERE. This is endemic to the ballet system. Even professionals are barely paid and trainees and second company dancers pay tuition (usually just trainees) while second company dancers are sometimes paid in pointe shoes or a few hundred (eg $400 a month for 6-9 months a year). It's amazing any companies can stay afloat. Parents have to subsidize dancers, especially female dancers. Men are scarce and are paid more/rise faster through the ranks. Stagehands in NYC get paid more than dancers there - it's a terrible system. Only dance superstars make a living wage. Unions are helpful but many companies don't have them. Men in charge while women make up the bulk of the company.

Do you think this is something most parents are aware of when their daughters are in MS and HS and they are making the decision that they are going to try to purse a professional ballet career? In my experience, most parents of serious ballet students don't seem to realize that the dancers don't make a living wage. They realize that it's not much, but I get the impression that most parents have no idea that they would need to basically support their daughters during their entire professional ballet careers. Or maybe, the parents at my daughter's studio are unusually naive.

[Anonymous]

I think most of our moms know, which is why so many parents don’t support dancing beyond high school. I’m fully aware that the odds are very low and if she does happen to make it, we’ll be supporting her. The challenge for now is that I won’t sacrifice her education, which makes for hard high school years. But I do insist on being supportive of her because this is her goal and she’s shown exceptional dedication and works hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not paid. You also have to sign a contract before the audition that your child will attend all rehearsals and performances. This is how some families ended up bound to 7-8 weekends of 12 hours of rehearsals every weeks, plus 20+ shows. No pay, and just a small discount on tickets. It was way too much, and many families will not participate this year.

Is that a change from before?
What was the commitment before?

This is no change from the past. DD danced for years including in HS at TWBS and this is the way it works - EVERYWHERE. This is endemic to the ballet system. Even professionals are barely paid and trainees and second company dancers pay tuition (usually just trainees) while second company dancers are sometimes paid in pointe shoes or a few hundred (eg $400 a month for 6-9 months a year). It's amazing any companies can stay afloat. Parents have to subsidize dancers, especially female dancers. Men are scarce and are paid more/rise faster through the ranks. Stagehands in NYC get paid more than dancers there - it's a terrible system. Only dance superstars make a living wage. Unions are helpful but many companies don't have them. Men in charge while women make up the bulk of the company.

Do you think this is something most parents are aware of when their daughters are in MS and HS and they are making the decision that they are going to try to purse a professional ballet career? In my experience, most parents of serious ballet students don't seem to realize that the dancers don't make a living wage. They realize that it's not much, but I get the impression that most parents have no idea that they would need to basically support their daughters during their entire professional ballet careers. Or maybe, the parents at my daughter's studio are unusually naive.

What is the average salary for a professional ballet dancer in DC?