Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how bullying happens in a ballet class? I’m honestly confused. Don’t the kids just show up for class and do what the instructor says and go home? Is it happening at rehearsals for ballets?

The older kids stay at MYB for hours with back to back classes. In between, they in the corridors, stretching and warming up or cooling down. One young adult dancer in particular just kept saying nasty stuff, with absolutely no reprimand from above.

Why would a “young adult dancer” be at MYB except to take the occasional adult class? I know there might be a few 18 year old high school seniors in the Academy program. Was that what you meant? This is one reason why MYB ought to re-open the family waiting areas. We, as parents, help monitor such behavior and our mere presence might cause kids to act a little better. This is true at school or at dance or athletics.


The days of parents hanging in the waiting area are long over.

Actually, not quite true. Parents of young children in dance classes are welcome to wait upstairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how bullying happens in a ballet class? I’m honestly confused. Don’t the kids just show up for class and do what the instructor says and go home? Is it happening at rehearsals for ballets?

The older kids stay at MYB for hours with back to back classes. In between, they in the corridors, stretching and warming up or cooling down. One young adult dancer in particular just kept saying nasty stuff, with absolutely no reprimand from above.

Why would a “young adult dancer” be at MYB except to take the occasional adult class? I know there might be a few 18 year old high school seniors in the Academy program. Was that what you meant? This is one reason why MYB ought to re-open the family waiting areas. We, as parents, help monitor such behavior and our mere presence might cause kids to act a little better. This is true at school or at dance or athletics.


The days of parents hanging in the waiting area are long over.

Actually, not quite true. Parents of young children in dance classes are welcome to wait upstairs.

Only the gossipy toxic ones hang. The better ones have better things to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how bullying happens in a ballet class? I’m honestly confused. Don’t the kids just show up for class and do what the instructor says and go home? Is it happening at rehearsals for ballets?

The older kids stay at MYB for hours with back to back classes. In between, they in the corridors, stretching and warming up or cooling down. One young adult dancer in particular just kept saying nasty stuff, with absolutely no reprimand from above.

Why would a “young adult dancer” be at MYB except to take the occasional adult class? I know there might be a few 18 year old high school seniors in the Academy program. Was that what you meant? This is one reason why MYB ought to re-open the family waiting areas. We, as parents, help monitor such behavior and our mere presence might cause kids to act a little better. This is true at school or at dance or athletics.


The days of parents hanging in the waiting area are long over.

Actually, not quite true. Parents of young children in dance classes are welcome to wait upstairs.

Parents of early dance students and intro 1 students are allowed to wait. For 4 year olds and younger they ask parents to stay. For older kids, parents are not allowed upstairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how bullying happens in a ballet class? I’m honestly confused. Don’t the kids just show up for class and do what the instructor says and go home? Is it happening at rehearsals for ballets?

The older kids stay at MYB for hours with back to back classes. In between, they in the corridors, stretching and warming up or cooling down. One young adult dancer in particular just kept saying nasty stuff, with absolutely no reprimand from above.

Why would a “young adult dancer” be at MYB except to take the occasional adult class? I know there might be a few 18 year old high school seniors in the Academy program. Was that what you meant? This is one reason why MYB ought to re-open the family waiting areas. We, as parents, help monitor such behavior and our mere presence might cause kids to act a little better. This is true at school or at dance or athletics.


The days of parents hanging in the waiting area are long over.

Actually, not quite true. Parents of young children in dance classes are welcome to wait upstairs.

Only the gossipy toxic ones hang. The better ones have better things to do.

Gossipy toxic parents of six and unders? Lol. This has not been my experience. People are either working, reading, or chatting about kid-related stuff. I do recall a conversation among moms about how we all hoped this ballet thing was a phase. Maybe that’s what you mean by toxic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD had a big growth spurt this Spring and was devastated for what that may mean for her and roles. She cried in the doctor's office when the nurse read out her height. I really didn't know what to say to her, it's not anything in her control and it's an arbitrary standard they've created that tiny dancers get more opportunities.

Tiny dancers suffer just as much discrimination, PP. I know girls who are 5' or less and they don't get picked either.

There is a range considered "ideal" for ballet and boys and girls on either side of it are VICTIMS.

And don't whine about having a child who is tall. The kids who are very short have it worse in life generally. I have a son who is 5'4".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how bullying happens in a ballet class? I’m honestly confused. Don’t the kids just show up for class and do what the instructor says and go home? Is it happening at rehearsals for ballets?

The older kids stay at MYB for hours with back to back classes. In between, they in the corridors, stretching and warming up or cooling down. One young adult dancer in particular just kept saying nasty stuff, with absolutely no reprimand from above.

Why would a “young adult dancer” be at MYB except to take the occasional adult class? I know there might be a few 18 year old high school seniors in the Academy program. Was that what you meant? This is one reason why MYB ought to re-open the family waiting areas. We, as parents, help monitor such behavior and our mere presence might cause kids to act a little better. This is true at school or at dance or athletics.

PP you replied to. The one I mentioned was partnering for the older girls and therefore had to take some of the same classes and wait with them. Older than 18. His behavior, and the fact he was protected by certain higher-level people, definitely raised eyebrows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how bullying happens in a ballet class? I’m honestly confused. Don’t the kids just show up for class and do what the instructor says and go home? Is it happening at rehearsals for ballets?

The older kids stay at MYB for hours with back to back classes. In between, they in the corridors, stretching and warming up or cooling down. One young adult dancer in particular just kept saying nasty stuff, with absolutely no reprimand from above.

Why would a “young adult dancer” be at MYB except to take the occasional adult class? I know there might be a few 18 year old high school seniors in the Academy program. Was that what you meant? This is one reason why MYB ought to re-open the family waiting areas. We, as parents, help monitor such behavior and our mere presence might cause kids to act a little better. This is true at school or at dance or athletics.


The days of parents hanging in the waiting area are long over.

Actually, not quite true. Parents of young children in dance classes are welcome to wait upstairs.

Only the gossipy toxic ones hang. The better ones have better things to do.

Gossipy toxic parents of six and unders? Lol. This has not been my experience. People are either working, reading, or chatting about kid-related stuff. I do recall a conversation among moms about how we all hoped this ballet thing was a phase. Maybe that’s what you mean by toxic?

It can get very much like sn episode of Dance Moms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD had a big growth spurt this Spring and was devastated for what that may mean for her and roles. She cried in the doctor's office when the nurse read out her height. I really didn't know what to say to her, it's not anything in her control and it's an arbitrary standard they've created that tiny dancers get more opportunities.

Tiny dancers suffer just as much discrimination, PP. I know girls who are 5' or less and they don't get picked either.

There is a range considered "ideal" for ballet and boys and girls on either side of it are VICTIMS.

And don't whine about having a child who is tall. The kids who are very short have it worse in life generally. I have a son who is 5'4".

Um... Yes, they cut dancers who are over 5 ft tall. All the party kids are small and there was even a Washington Post article that followed Mrs. Glover during a Nutcracker season where the Artistic Director commented on how a dancer was too tall to be a clown. And boys, no matter what height, are favored in ballet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington Ballet.

Until recently, Maryland Youth Ballet was also excellent, but ever since their former artistic director retired, they've had some issues at the top, have let their current artistic director go (he was a complete mess), and as a result, their conservatory has shut down. Your daughter is too young to belong to one anyway, but there's enough flux at MYB that you might want to go elsewhere.

Kirov has shut down for financial reasons (plus they always had those murky ties to the Korean Moon cult).

So... there's only Washington Ballet that I can recommend. They're not perfect, they have long been dogged with accusations of nepotism and favoritism in performances, but their classes are objectively of high quality.

The teachers at MYB are almost all the same now as they were five years ago. Maybe one departure. There is no reason to believe that the “issues at the top” have impacted the quality of the dance training. Mr. Muñoz came in at an unfortunate time as all but 14 months of his 44 month tenure were complicated by COVID-19 and this region’s reaction to it. A really bad time to start up a daily conservatory group. On the positive side, the studio Re-opened for in-person classes on July 6, 2020 and has stayed open ever since. Which dance school did better than that?

Personally, I’m not a fan of the conservatory because it essentially wipes out a kid’s entire day and I can’t fathom when they get actual learning done. At night, after dinner, I guess. Sounds exhausting. If the studio doesn’t have the resources to have a tutor/teacher on staff and a dedicated learning area, then it seemed irresponsible to entice kids to short shrift their education to add an extra two or three hours of dance during every school day. At least Kirov seemed to understand that.

Flux, not turnover, PP. And if your child is in the lower levels or has the traditional appearance of the ballerina (desired height, complexion, body type), then she might go through MYB never realizing some students are treated differently.

MYB staff had more cohesion and direction when Michelle Lees was there. Munoz, being artistically gifted but administratively lacking, had the effect of revealing flaws and inequalities in how some teachers taught students, and how MYB as a group responded to complaints of favoritism and bullying, because there was no firm hand on the rudder. Their Covid response was pretty good, I'll grant you that. But a lot of parents of higher-level students are pulling their kids out, since MYB, despite sending out a survey and trying to correct course, did not address the main cause (separating from Munoz) until parents were fed up.

I hope their next artistic director is fair-minded and forces certain other teachers to behave.

What does this mean?

You already know. Tall, very thin, white.

[Anonymous]

No, the new look is a little more diverse and petite

[Anonymous]

I am glad that my serious dancer is a boy, it seems easier and less 'toxic' overall (though I'm sure if he advances to the top levels there is still the potential for body image issues or pressure to conform to certain standards).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington Ballet.

Until recently, Maryland Youth Ballet was also excellent, but ever since their former artistic director retired, they've had some issues at the top, have let their current artistic director go (he was a complete mess), and as a result, their conservatory has shut down. Your daughter is too young to belong to one anyway, but there's enough flux at MYB that you might want to go elsewhere.

Kirov has shut down for financial reasons (plus they always had those murky ties to the Korean Moon cult).

So... there's only Washington Ballet that I can recommend. They're not perfect, they have long been dogged with accusations of nepotism and favoritism in performances, but their classes are objectively of high quality.

The teachers at MYB are almost all the same now as they were five years ago. Maybe one departure. There is no reason to believe that the “issues at the top” have impacted the quality of the dance training. Mr. Muñoz came in at an unfortunate time as all but 14 months of his 44 month tenure were complicated by COVID-19 and this region’s reaction to it. A really bad time to start up a daily conservatory group. On the positive side, the studio Re-opened for in-person classes on July 6, 2020 and has stayed open ever since. Which dance school did better than that?

Personally, I’m not a fan of the conservatory because it essentially wipes out a kid’s entire day and I can’t fathom when they get actual learning done. At night, after dinner, I guess. Sounds exhausting. If the studio doesn’t have the resources to have a tutor/teacher on staff and a dedicated learning area, then it seemed irresponsible to entice kids to short shrift their education to add an extra two or three hours of dance during every school day. At least Kirov seemed to understand that.

Flux, not turnover, PP. And if your child is in the lower levels or has the traditional appearance of the ballerina (desired height, complexion, body type), then she might go through MYB never realizing some students are treated differently.

MYB staff had more cohesion and direction when Michelle Lees was there. Munoz, being artistically gifted but administratively lacking, had the effect of revealing flaws and inequalities in how some teachers taught students, and how MYB as a group responded to complaints of favoritism and bullying, because there was no firm hand on the rudder. Their Covid response was pretty good, I'll grant you that. But a lot of parents of higher-level students are pulling their kids out, since MYB, despite sending out a survey and trying to correct course, did not address the main cause (separating from Munoz) until parents were fed up.

I hope their next artistic director is fair-minded and forces certain other teachers to behave.

What does this mean?

It means that at this school, just like at most high-level ballet schools, there is discrimination regarding:
Height (not too tall, not too short)
Body shape (as slim as possible, elongated limbs)
Skin color (pale so everyone can look the same in line)

Yes, you read that right, and I hope you're not surprised, if you know anything about the ballet world.

What is the ideal height range?

5'4" to 5'6" is ideal, below or above not so much if looking for a professional job after trainee level

That's surprising, I always thought ballerinas looked really tall!

Because they're stick thin with long limbs And it's true a few famous ones are taller.

But the Cynthia Gregorys are rare. The problem is that when you are partnered and on point you don’t want to be taller than the danseur

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - we actually are at BalletNova and my DC loves it and is happy. It's one of those things where I want to at least know what else is out there and if I am doing the best by my DC...it sounds like the only local options out there that would be a noticeable upgrade in terms of prep for a potential professional career would be MYB and TWSB. Something to consider but it's certainly possible DC can accomplish their goals sticking where we are now...BN does have dancers go to professional companies and dance at college, etc.

I am kind of glad my other DC opted not to pursue travel sports or this wouldn't even be a debate!!!

Retired ballet dancer here. Ballet Nova is great. Stay there if you are happy. Keep her happy and healthy. Ballet is frankly a dangerous career but it is lovey too. If she’s serious as she gets older she’ll start auditioning for summer programs and by late middle/early high school you’ll know if she’s on track for a career. In high school she could train at Washington Ballet or could go to boarding school.

[Anonymous]

If you want good training and the lovely experience of dancing in the Nutcracker at the Warner Theatre with the Washington elite, Washington Ballet is the answer. My daughters all danced there and had the full Nutcracker experience and loved it.

If your child might want to become a professional or at least pursue ballet at a high level, nothing in the area compares to Maryland Youth. Not only do they include Julie Kent and Susan Jaffe among their alums, but a recent alum just joined Paris Opera Ballet and several girls graduating this year are heading to train at top-notch schools (San Francisco Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet) and other American ballet companies where they will be apprentices or trainees (Indianapolis Ballet, Sarasota Ballet, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD had a big growth spurt this Spring and was devastated for what that may mean for her and roles. She cried in the doctor's office when the nurse read out her height. I really didn't know what to say to her, it's not anything in her control and it's an arbitrary standard they've created that tiny dancers get more opportunities.

Tiny dancers suffer just as much discrimination, PP. I know girls who are 5' or less and they don't get picked either.

There is a range considered "ideal" for ballet and boys and girls on either side of it are VICTIMS.

And don't whine about having a child who is tall. The kids who are very short have it worse in life generally. I have a son who is 5'4".

Um... Yes, they cut dancers who are over 5 ft tall. All the party kids are small and there was even a Washington Post article that followed Mrs. Glover during a Nutcracker season where the Artistic Director commented on how a dancer was too tall to be a clown. And boys, no matter what height, are favored in ballet.

At MYB, they cut girls who are that short. I think you don't have your height cut-off correct, although of course I agree that tall and short dancers are disadvantaged. And yes, boys are favored.