The Washington Ballet

[Anonymous]

What’s wrong with the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s wrong with the school?

Julie Kent hired a HOS who has no experience in teaching anything more than master classes. Being a principal dancer (as the HOS was,) and a ballet teacher involve very different skill sets. Many talented teachers and students have left the school as a result of the transition. The training is not good and the reputation has suffered mightily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s wrong with the school?

Julie Kent hired a HOS who has no experience in teaching anything more than master classes. Being a principal dancer (as the HOS was,) and a ballet teacher involve very different skill sets. Many talented teachers and students have left the school as a result of the transition. The training is not good and the reputation has suffered mightily.

Oh jeez! I don’t know anything about ballet and am not in any loop. But my DD has been going here for several years, since she was little, and she’s still in upper elementary school. Is this an issue that crops up more with older students? Her teacher last year and this year seem good, based on what she reports and what I see. What is the best alternative school for young students who are reasonably serious?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile, the School of Washington Ballet is going down the toilet also! It's really a shame because I am sure the school is also losing money.

I second this opinion. And the school for sure is losing money because they are losing students. And many families have been upset over the emphasis on needing to be super thin and having a perfect ballet body to be successful in ballet. This is a direct result of things the HOS has said to parents and students.

My DD has NEVER heard a teacher say this to her class! And my DD is in the upper levels. I don’t believe you know anyone at the school.

Did you attend the parent orientation for the upper levels?? If you did you would know what I’m talking about.

No, I did not attend this meeting. However, it has always been clear in our minds as parents and in our DD’s mind as a dancer that in the upper levels there is a “weeding” out the dancers who have what it takes to pursue professional careers vs. those dancers who are there as a passionate recreational dancers(my DD falls into this latter camp). As a PP mentioned, it should come as no surprise that professional ballet dancers need to possess particular physical attributes. However, as I said in a prior post, my DD has never, EVER, heard one of her teachers make a comment about needing to be thin. STRONG, yes, and healthy. On a side note, I remember watching the Washington Ballet’s summer intensive recital this past July, and I clearly remember the 2 outstanding female soloists as being strong, healthy young women dancers.

I'm not the PP to whom you're responding and don't have a student at TWB (DC is at another studio). But let's all be realistic here: You know that "healthy" in ballet is often a coded way to say "thin."

My sister in law was a professional ballerina up until three years ago. She was so anorexic that her hair fell out in clumps...she was hospitalized multiple times and developed a severe drinking problem to cope. She had rage issues and was skin and bones.

Her director told them to stand in their leotards and if they did not like what they saw, to quit eating. She would only eat pumpkin seeds, sugar free peppermints and pots of coffee for days on end. If you went out to eat with her, she would stuff her face, come home and immediately take a shower where she would gag her self and throw it all up into the running water to cover up the noise.

Oh and for all her trouble, as the Principal dancer of her company, she made $24,000 a year. She married my brother for money. Hell would freeze over before I put my child in any ballet company. "Healthy" in ballet is indeed code for "thin" and possibly mentally I'll from the pressure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It rubs me the wrong way to hear posters complain about Kent’s compensation. Good for her. Plenty over paid blowhard male directors out there. Glad for ladies to have a turn.

I remember Julie Kent. She was a dancer and in the movie Center Stage! When did she transition into managing ballet companies?

When she got the job at The Washington Ballet.

Wow, so she had never run a company or school before and they gave her the job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It rubs me the wrong way to hear posters complain about Kent’s compensation. Good for her. Plenty over paid blowhard male directors out there. Glad for ladies to have a turn.

I remember Julie Kent. She was a dancer and in the movie Center Stage! When did she transition into managing ballet companies?

When she got the job at The Washington Ballet.

Wow, so she had never run a company or school before and they gave her the job?

Yes- that is correct. And the HOS that Kent hires had also never run a school, or trained anyone for that matter.

[Anonymous]

*hired

[Anonymous]

Certainly not all of the Upper Level teachers left?

The only one I know of was a teacher in the mid-level who was abrasive/not well-liked by the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s wrong with the school?

Julie Kent hired a HOS who has no experience in teaching anything more than master classes. Being a principal dancer (as the HOS was,) and a ballet teacher involve very different skill sets. Many talented teachers and students have left the school as a result of the transition. The training is not good and the reputation has suffered mightily.

Oh jeez! I don’t know anything about ballet and am not in any loop. But my DD has been going here for several years, since she was little, and she’s still in upper elementary school. Is this an issue that crops up more with older students? Her teacher last year and this year seem good, based on what she reports and what I see. What is the best alternative school for young students who are reasonably serious?

The training at WSB is very recreationally oriented until the highest level of the school- PTPA. Of interest, there is no one currently in PTPA who trained at WSB- they have all been recruited nationally and internationally. If your DD just wants a very simple, working knowledge of ballet, WSB is fine. If your DD really wants to become proficient or anything more than that, I would recommend another school asap.

[Anonymous]

MYB has trained more current professionals all the way through the school.

Kirov Academy when older.

Also City Dance seems to be coming up very quickly. Have some great board members that used to be on the board of Washington Ballet. Definitely a place to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It rubs me the wrong way to hear posters complain about Kent’s compensation. Good for her. Plenty over paid blowhard male directors out there. Glad for ladies to have a turn.

I remember Julie Kent. She was a dancer and in the movie Center Stage! When did she transition into managing ballet companies?

When she got the job at The Washington Ballet.

Wow, so she had never run a company or school before and they gave her the job?

Yes- that is correct. And the HOS that Kent hires had also never run a school, or trained anyone for that matter.

So was it just a vanity hire? Makes no sense to put someone in charge who has dance skills but no business or managerial experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It rubs me the wrong way to hear posters complain about Kent’s compensation. Good for her. Plenty over paid blowhard male directors out there. Glad for ladies to have a turn.

I remember Julie Kent. She was a dancer and in the movie Center Stage! When did she transition into managing ballet companies?

When she got the job at The Washington Ballet.

Wow, so she had never run a company or school before and they gave her the job?

Yes- that is correct. And the HOS that Kent hires had also never run a school, or trained anyone for that matter.

So was it just a vanity hire? Makes no sense to put someone in charge who has dance skills but no business or managerial experience.

Exactly. Anyone with half a brain would know better. The leadership is destroying the company and school, and it’s such a loss for the area. WSB was once a beacon of dance training and performing, and it’s now a mismanaged disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Certainly not all of the Upper Level teachers left?

The only one I know of was a teacher in the mid-level who was abrasive/not well-liked by the students.

How many upper level teachers left?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Certainly not all of the Upper Level teachers left?

The only one I know of was a teacher in the mid-level who was abrasive/not well-liked by the students.

How many upper level teachers left?

The (only) two full-time upper level teachers both left. They have only hired contract teachers to replace them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Certainly not all of the Upper Level teachers left?

The only one I know of was a teacher in the mid-level who was abrasive/not well-liked by the students.

How many upper level teachers left?

The (only) two full-time upper level teachers both left. They have only hired contract teachers to replace them.

Are these new teachers not as qualified as their predecessors? Or were the 2 teachers who left Mr. Han’s (former HOS) hires?