Washington Ballet vs. CityDance Conservatory
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| We are considering both of these for my 8 year old who is interested in stepping up her ballet. She’s been taking ballet for about three years and really enjoys it. Any feedback on these schools? |
Anonymous
Widen your search if you are looking for serious ballet. If you just want recreational ballet with solid technique, then TWSB. |
Anonymous
| Thanks, she’s not looking to join the Royal Ballet, but she does want to be around girls at her level that take ballet seriously. |
Anonymous
| TWSB. Nothing else compares. |
Anonymous
You'll find a few girls at that age who take ballet seriously at TWSB but its become a huge school thats purely recreational, and it's just going to plateau out even more as your daughter grows - you won't see the kind of increase you're looking for. TWSB has unfortunately become just for fun. |
Anonymous
OK, so where should OP be looking? |
Anonymous
| My daughter attended both programs and I would recommend CityDance. TWSB has very large class sizes and it's become a money maker for the company. CityDance has smaller classes and a great faculty. |
Anonymous
| Hard pass on CityDance. It's a huge factory style chain with low barre instruction. |
Anonymous
| Our 10-year old daughter is studying with the CityDance Pre-Conservatory program in North Bethesda, MD. We cannot say enough about how wonderful the experience is. Our daughter loves the program and is fully committed to it. The teachers are excellent, warm, friendly and extremely encouraging. Not only have we seen tremendous improvement in her skill level, but she also cannot get enough dance -- even dancing when she is home (a sure sign for us that she really is enjoying herself). I believe that CityDance caps class sizes for younger students at about 15. Unlike the previous poster, our experience has been quite the opposite — highly personalized instruction with top notch faculty. Bottom line - we think that the CityDance Pre-Conservatory program is excellent. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| DD has been with CityDance for years and is in the conservatory now. It’s an excellent program that has been through lots of changes and growth recently. The faculty is wonderful and artistic team warm and welcoming. With its many offerings in contemporary dance, CityDance is less singularly focused on ballet than TWSB and MYB, but the ballet training is solid and there’s a core of dancers who choose to specialize in ballet. I recommend having your kid try a summer intensive, which will offer both ballet and contemporary, and see what you think. |
Anonymous
| I’d like to hear why the “hard pass” poster formed her/his opinions. There’s a bitter anti-CityDance poster on this board who chimes in with similar unqualified responses every time CityDance is mentioned. Either they had a falling out with the former administration, kid wasn’t promoted as expected, or they work for a competing studio. Take this poster with a grain of salt, OP. |
Anonymous
|
Thanks, everyone! Appreciate the responses.
Is there no cap on class size for TWSB? What is the typical class size at that age? |
Anonymous
Same with an angry anti-TWSB poster who seems a little unhinged. |
Anonymous
| CD time has passed unfortunately. Unless you are in the Conservatory you are getting low quality, non-dancer yeachers. They pack as many kids as possible into a class with below industry standard teachers. Those who don't see it just don't know any better. |
Anonymous
No true cap. The only cap is the max capacity size for the studio. DD had 32 kids in her 4A class last year, studio was one of the Coleman Studios |