Washington Ballet Problem Teacher?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what level? For little kids, management might be more receptive to feedback. Older girls, no way. Their way or the highway.

Level 2. So not older, but not a wee kid either and they are supposed to be preparing them for pointe next year.

I think I'll keep my mouth shut (for now) and see if my DD can't soften her with kindness and eagerness to learn.

Does her name begin with an A? I've heard of a lot of parents complain about her. I have no problem going to the staff about teachers when there is an issue. They have always been receptive. It's never come back on my dd either. I think you shoud say something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ms. Edmund was fantastic. I don’t know about that one incident the PP mentioned, but my DD has a great experience with her and she gave the dancers good, solid training and vigorous workouts at the level they could handle. She is also extremely nice.

If this thread is talking about Ms. Wunder, I have to say that my DD also really loved her a LOT. Yes, she was tough, but she also has a hilarious sense of humor and strikes a good balance between being exacting and understanding that these are still kids. I used to listen outside the class a lot when waiting to drive my DD home, and she was never mean. Sure, she gave criticism. But so what? Our kids can’t always get a trophy every single time. Being tough and being “mean” are not the same thing.

My DD dropped out after doing the spring virtual classes. She thought the virtual instruction was bad, the pace was too slow, and the lack of sufficient individual feedback was a problem. She went from loving ballet to hating it. I was surprised the school didn’t even bother to reach out when we didn’t sign up for classes this year, considering my DD has been with them for many years, was in Nutcracker and other performances, and was a dedicated student. It made me think they didn’t care about her as an individual. Sad.

I assume they are talking about Ms. Wunder but that has not been our experience at all. Dd HATED spring virtual ballet mostly because she missed Ms. Wunder. Now that she has her again she is so happy to go to class. Our house is small so I hear everything that is said in class. She is tough on them but very sweet and patient.

[Anonymous]

The pace for these virtual classes are the worst! I'm shocked DD has still maintained interest. She's gotten frustrated a few times and I can see she's no longer thrilled or challenged, but only a few more months until we're back in the studio.... I hope!

[Anonymous]

I think it's very sad that dance moms have to resort to DCUM to express their frustration when a simple call to TWSB would suffice. I think you've made your point known and have been too public about it. Some things are better done privately. Beating up on teachers during COVID is not nice.

That being said, having had many Russian, Danish and other foreign ballet teachers, what you describe is really nothing. Ballet teachers are notorious for carrying rulers and poking and jabbing with them. Ballet teachers also tend to reserve their corrections only for students with real talent. Otherwise they are wasting their breath. I yawned once at the ballet barre and my well-known Russian teacher asked me if I was tired. I said "Yes, finals, etc." and he correctly told me then never to come to class again. It goes with the territory. If you have complaints then call TWSB or move on to a less rigorous art form. It's only going to get worse when you hit the company level. And when the teachers stop correcting and stop looking, that's when you know you've been passed over.

[Anonymous]

Not nice to “beat up on teachers during COVID”.

But okay to insult and/or ignore young people who are investing their time, and whose parents are paying good money.

Sounds like it is important for parents to sort out — in public, or in private, they are paying customers, they get to choose — whether or not this is the sort of culture that’s right for their child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not nice to “beat up on teachers during COVID”.

But okay to insult and/or ignore young people who are investing their time, and whose parents are paying good money.

Sounds like it is important for parents to sort out — in public, or in private, they are paying customers, they get to choose — whether or not this is the sort of culture that’s right for their child.

I think you've already made that decision and publicly aired it here. It doesn't matter - the school will figure out who the difficult dance mom is and force you out. Don't do this again. It is a very difficult time for everyone. Vote with your feet but don't slam teachers in this fashion. There are lots of other great schools in the area. Kirov Academy. Maryland Youth Ballet. Kintz-Mejia in Tysons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not nice to “beat up on teachers during COVID”.

But okay to insult and/or ignore young people who are investing their time, and whose parents are paying good money.

Sounds like it is important for parents to sort out — in public, or in private, they are paying customers, they get to choose — whether or not this is the sort of culture that’s right for their child.

Yes!!

It is also not nice of these teachers to take out their frustrations of virtual learning on their students. I think if anything this thread has proven that no, TWSB is not receptive to feedback, there are plenty of parents out there that accept poor behavior of the teacher as "ballet culture" or "Eastern European culture" and us parents do need to figure out if this is the right environment for our children. I am not the OP, but I have seen what she is talking about and this goes beyond "strict," it's unprofessional and my DD knows the difference. Nobody has to worry about us "problem parents," it seems like we're one of many and these "problem teachers" are just fine and well protected.

[Anonymous]

"The school will figure out who the difficult dance mom is and force you out. Don't do this again."

Wow.

[Anonymous]

Abuse doesn't make an artist great. Excusing abuse of children by adults -- even if it is more emotional rather than physical or sexual -- is sick, honestly. It is precisely this kind of culture that enabled pedophiles to flourish in USA Gymnastics, for instance.

Excellent teachers can be exacting, demanding, hold students to high standards, teach rigorously, etc. without being abusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Abuse doesn't make an artist great. Excusing abuse of children by adults -- even if it is more emotional rather than physical or sexual -- is sick, honestly. It is precisely this kind of culture that enabled pedophiles to flourish in USA Gymnastics, for instance.

Excellent teachers can be exacting, demanding, hold students to high standards, teach rigorously, etc. without being abusive.

Hood lord! It’s a friggin’ ballet class! This is not aerial gymnastics. Just switch schools if you are worked up but airing your dirty laundry here is not cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Abuse doesn't make an artist great. Excusing abuse of children by adults -- even if it is more emotional rather than physical or sexual -- is sick, honestly. It is precisely this kind of culture that enabled pedophiles to flourish in USA Gymnastics, for instance.

Excellent teachers can be exacting, demanding, hold students to high standards, teach rigorously, etc. without being abusive.

Hood lord! It’s a friggin’ ballet class! This is not aerial gymnastics. Just switch schools if you are worked up but airing your dirty laundry here is not cool.

Not the OP, but I think this thread raises many important issues. Those who disagree will doubtless contribute to whichever threads they deem appropriate.

[Anonymous]

PP 00:38 ("Abuse doesn't make an artist great") here. I don't have a dog in this fight -- I have a boy who will never be a serious ballet dancer -- but I am deeply familiar with abuse in the arts through my own professional acquaintances.

A generation ago, we used to be much more comfortable with emotionally or physically abusive teachers. We made excuses like they "toughened" the kids or they drove the kids to achieve at high levels.

Now we know that in many cases they scarred the students for life -- whether they went on to be top-notch pros or whether they never used their arts training after childhood. Especially for the ones who aren't going on to be pros, parents should ask themselves if it's worth it, when there's so much non-abusive excellent teaching available.

Moreover, parents should hold these programs, which they are paying customers of accountable for abusive teachers. Yes, they could switch, but switching can be disruptive and inconvenient. Like any consumer, complaining is absolutely a right, and there's nothing wrong with parents who try to change the bad culture of an otherwise good program.

And as a fellow parent, I certainly want to know what I should avoid. So please. Do air your dirty laundry.

[Anonymous]

You cannot send your child to a professional ballet program and not expect them to get their heart broken. There is better, kinder, kinder, less rigid dance programs out there. Unfortunately, not strictly ballet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You cannot send your child to a professional ballet program and not expect them to get their heart broken. There is better, kinder, kinder, less rigid dance programs out there. Unfortunately, not strictly ballet.

AKA: waste of $$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP again. If we're talking about the same teacher, this is her style, nothing to do with online. I find that she's actually softer online, probably because she's aware that parents are listening in. Many TWSB kids drop out at/ after Level 2..

It sounds like her job is to begin separating the wheat from the shaft. You may be the consumer,; but they are in charge.

This separating the wheat from the shaft I would think is quite easy: here is a bunch of wheat lying around; here are big steel shafts lying around. Just move all the wheat away. The shafts are prob heavy. Leave them where they are. QED. This instructor is obviously making it all too hard and being too tough.