Ellington Dance?

[Anonymous]

Anyone have information on this program?

My daughter will be an eighth grader next year and is therefore looking at alternate high schools to attend. (She's in 4-12 private right now... but not happy.)

Right now... she takes 11.5 hours of ballet after school (at like 6 PM!! o.O)

And next year it'll be 12...

And then when she gets to high school... her dance school wants her to move to a 26 hour program that runs Monday through Saturday... and it'll be taking her out of school beginning at 2 o'clock. I don't want her to do that... so I suggested a dance school.

Any information is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

How serious is she about becoming a dancer? One of the finest ballet schools in the world is located in DC, with a connection to the legendary Mariinsky/Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg.

http://kirovacademydc.org/

[Anonymous]

PP here. I probably should have mentioned (though I think it goes without saying) Kirov Academy is NOT a DC public school.

They regularly receive visits from major ballet companies and many luminaries of world of ballet. It offers exceptional direction with a distinctly Russian flair (all the instructors are former Russian dancers). And of course, the high school instruction is supportive of the dance performance calendar.

[Anonymous]

I don't know much about that school. (I've never heard of it until now actually). But it doesn't seem like it would have very strong academics (with only two years of French and minimal history, science, and math courses).

We may check that out, though. She's not very interested in her academic career (like I'd like her to be!) and Ellington seemed like it might be a good fit.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Anonymous]

Former Ellington parent here. My kid was in the literary media program, which was wonderful. I can't tell you much about the dance program but I should caution you that some of the academics at Ellington are not strong and that the students(like your daughter) are generally not interested in the academics. I thought English and History were good but dd's science teacher was a train wreck and her math teacher was not very challenging.

However, the school has a wonderful warm community and if you can supplement the academics with summer courses, it's a great opportunity for professional training. Dd left because she wanted to go to another school. Some of her teachers have been better, some not as good as I would like but no train wrecks! However, the other school, as good as it is, is not giving her professional training in writing -- that is, writing a lot and every day and working with professionals who know the field and how to get published. I'm rather sad about that missed opportunity.

If the dance program is a good one (and I wouldn't know) and your daughter is motivated to pursue dance professionally, I would look seriously at Ellington. But just go into it understanding that you may have to supplement her academic work.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

OP here: And there lies the problem!

We expect DD to do very well in school academically. We don't care if she decides to go to college or not...but we want to make sure she has the opportunity...

And I am worried about the academic portion. If Ellington is lacking in science and math... then how will she handle the SATs or will she be able to take AP math and science courses?

I think it's great that they have a great humanities program... but that only makes since since one of their majors is writing.

In your experience... if you supplement academics with summer school, does that help? And would Ellington give any credit for that? (I'm thinking in terms of what colleges will see on her transcripts).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: And there lies the problem!

We expect DD to do very well in school academically. We don't care if she decides to go to college or not...but we want to make sure she has the opportunity...

And I am worried about the academic portion. If Ellington is lacking in science and math... then how will she handle the SATs or will she be able to take AP math and science courses?

I think it's great that they have a great humanities program... but that only makes since since one of their majors is writing.

In your experience... if you supplement academics with summer school, does that help? And would Ellington give any credit for that? (I'm thinking in terms of what colleges will see on her transcripts).

Dd was only at Ellington one year so we don't have experience with whether they would accept the credits. I can't see why they wouldn't accept credits especially from an academically superior school but I never tried that. We did have dd take a math course the following summer to make up for what she lost that year. Think of it this way, it's quite inexpensive to pay for one or two courses a summer rather than private school year-round. If the dance program is really professional (and again I don't know enough about it to say), it might be worth it to send her to summer school for anything she would miss during the regular year at Ellington.

Two more things -- we have heard since we left that the principal demanded that the academic teachers crack down this year so the school is probably tougher academically this year.

And I should also note that the English and history that dd had were good but not necessarily "great." And that the literary media program is not associated with the academic subjects which are handled by different teachers. The literary media teachers included a poet, journalist, playwright, and novelist but none of those folks taught in the academic courses.

Have you talked to professionals in the dance world? Maybe you could get a sense of what they think of a place like Ellington? Also I suggest talking to the faculty in the dance department and asking them if they could give you the names of some parents to call.