Anonymous
07/05/2022 10:27
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
WSB does not have waiting space onsite, but Cathedral Commons shops and restaurants are across the street and one block down, with a Starbucks with patio and several restaurants.
Anonymous
07/05/2022 10:19
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How old is your dancer and has she auditioned for / participated in any summer intensives? ( possibly Covid interfered…)
And where are you located?
DC is 9 and has been dancing for over 4 years. Doing a summer intensive this year for the first time, but locally.
We are in NOVA (which is why I'm wondering if I'd even be able to juggle everything to move to one of those "top 2" studios).
I have loved MYB because it is a good place for a parent to wait for one’s child. First, the indoor waiting area is ample. Second, the parking garage is right there and parking is always available. Third, the library is across the street. Fourth, there are numerous fast casual restaurants like Panera, Starbucks, and Chick Fil-A in easy walking distance.
For someone who will travel a decent distance, you’ll want to wait and you will be happier if you don’t have to sit in your car every day.
I know you want the very best for your child. I don’t know what the waiting parents situation is at WSB. Perhaps it is comparable.
I love this comment because this is the kind of practical consideration we always account for when it comes to kid's activities. Is there somewhere with wifi nearby I can work? Can DH and I get drinks or dinner nearby while they are in class? Will we need to factor a lot of traffic/parking time into the commute?
I love my kids and am invested in their activities but this stuff really impacts your quality of life over time and can also impact how you AND your kid views the activity. Like if getting to the class is always a pain, it can sour your kid on the activity because they will start to associate the activity with the stress of finding parking or the fact that their parent is always kind of annoyed/put out during pick up because they've been waiting in the car.
The older your kids get and the more seriously they take these activities, the more important this stuff gets.
Anonymous
07/05/2022 10:18
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How old is your dancer and has she auditioned for / participated in any summer intensives? ( possibly Covid interfered…)
And where are you located?
DC is 9 and has been dancing for over 4 years. Doing a summer intensive this year for the first time, but locally.
We are in NOVA (which is why I'm wondering if I'd even be able to juggle everything to move to one of those "top 2" studios).
I have loved MYB because it is a good place for a parent to wait for one’s child. First, the indoor waiting area is ample. Second, the parking garage is right there and parking is always available. Third, the library is across the street. Fourth, there are numerous fast casual restaurants like Panera, Starbucks, and Chick Fil-A in easy walking distance.
For someone who will travel a decent distance, you’ll want to wait and you will be happier if you don’t have to sit in your car every day.
I know you want the very best for your child. I don’t know what the waiting parents situation is at WSB. Perhaps it is comparable.
I will never understand why parents focus on their experiences rather than their child's.
Because we're not martyrs, and usually we take ALL the criteria into account. No one I know would send their kids somewhere crappy just because the parent can be comfortable. MYB has high quality classes overall, and one can only hope they do better at the pre-professional level with a new artistic director. There's going to be a transition period, of course.
Anonymous
07/05/2022 10:14
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How old is your dancer and has she auditioned for / participated in any summer intensives? ( possibly Covid interfered…)
And where are you located?
DC is 9 and has been dancing for over 4 years. Doing a summer intensive this year for the first time, but locally.
We are in NOVA (which is why I'm wondering if I'd even be able to juggle everything to move to one of those "top 2" studios).
I have loved MYB because it is a good place for a parent to wait for one’s child. First, the indoor waiting area is ample. Second, the parking garage is right there and parking is always available. Third, the library is across the street. Fourth, there are numerous fast casual restaurants like Panera, Starbucks, and Chick Fil-A in easy walking distance.
For someone who will travel a decent distance, you’ll want to wait and you will be happier if you don’t have to sit in your car every day.
I know you want the very best for your child. I don’t know what the waiting parents situation is at WSB. Perhaps it is comparable.
I will never understand why parents focus on their experiences rather than their child's.
Anonymous
07/05/2022 10:13
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
Anonymous wrote:No one is including CityDance?
For very good reasons.
Anonymous
07/05/2022 09:01
Subject: Re:Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
Anonymous wrote:TWSB keeps parents outside, which is a good thing, imho.
As for Citydance, I would not include it in a list of top ballet schools. Much stronger in contemporary and other styles. Their ballet instruction is sloppy; their top students get decent instruction, they perform well at showy competitions, but their alignment is terrible and overuse injury are common. It’s a very different place from a ballet-focused school.
+1
Anonymous
07/05/2022 07:48
Subject: Re:Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
TWSB keeps parents outside, which is a good thing, imho.
As for Citydance, I would not include it in a list of top ballet schools. Much stronger in contemporary and other styles. Their ballet instruction is sloppy; their top students get decent instruction, they perform well at showy competitions, but their alignment is terrible and overuse injury are common. It’s a very different place from a ballet-focused school.
As for Citydance, I would not include it in a list of top ballet schools. Much stronger in contemporary and other styles. Their ballet instruction is sloppy; their top students get decent instruction, they perform well at showy competitions, but their alignment is terrible and overuse injury are common. It’s a very different place from a ballet-focused school.
Anonymous
07/05/2022 07:42
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How old is your dancer and has she auditioned for / participated in any summer intensives? ( possibly Covid interfered…)
And where are you located?
DC is 9 and has been dancing for over 4 years. Doing a summer intensive this year for the first time, but locally.
We are in NOVA (which is why I'm wondering if I'd even be able to juggle everything to move to one of those "top 2" studios).
I have loved MYB because it is a good place for a parent to wait for one’s child. First, the indoor waiting area is ample. Second, the parking garage is right there and parking is always available. Third, the library is across the street. Fourth, there are numerous fast casual restaurants like Panera, Starbucks, and Chick Fil-A in easy walking distance.
For someone who will travel a decent distance, you’ll want to wait and you will be happier if you don’t have to sit in your car every day.
I know you want the very best for your child. I don’t know what the waiting parents situation is at WSB. Perhaps it is comparable.
OP here, these are very good points. Especially in hot and cold weather, sitting in the car for an extended period can be very uncomfortable!
Anonymous
07/05/2022 06:51
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
Pre-covid my niece came from out of state to do intensives at Ahkmedova in Silver Spring.
Anonymous
07/05/2022 06:09
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
No one is including CityDance?
Anonymous
07/04/2022 20:53
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How old is your dancer and has she auditioned for / participated in any summer intensives? ( possibly Covid interfered…)
And where are you located?
DC is 9 and has been dancing for over 4 years. Doing a summer intensive this year for the first time, but locally.
We are in NOVA (which is why I'm wondering if I'd even be able to juggle everything to move to one of those "top 2" studios).
I have loved MYB because it is a good place for a parent to wait for one’s child. First, the indoor waiting area is ample. Second, the parking garage is right there and parking is always available. Third, the library is across the street. Fourth, there are numerous fast casual restaurants like Panera, Starbucks, and Chick Fil-A in easy walking distance.
For someone who will travel a decent distance, you’ll want to wait and you will be happier if you don’t have to sit in your car every day.
I know you want the very best for your child. I don’t know what the waiting parents situation is at WSB. Perhaps it is comparable.
Anonymous
07/02/2022 10:45
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
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.
Anonymous
07/02/2022 08:25
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
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.
Anonymous
06/30/2022 14:45
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
Anonymous wrote:OP here, I'm hesitant to say where DC is now b/c on the off chance someone from the studio sees this thread I don't want them to feel bad that one of the families is thinking of 'shopping around' a bit.
I will definitely ask after the Summer Intensive, and I'm thinking that maybe closer to age 12 or so would be a better time to determine if DC is ready/willing for a step up in terms of seriousness and commitment.
Interesting info so far on the acknowledged top 2 studios in the area, thanks! And I haven't seen many others mentioned so it's reasonable to think that I'm not missing the boat on any top-tier studios in the area...
NP. Those are the two big ones, yes. That's NOT to say that there aren't other schools in the area that train their dancers well, but they have the largest, most comprehensive programs.
My DD's ballet school in NoVA is pretty good, they always place students at competitive intensives and tend to send a few each year to regional companies and college programs, and they had one extremely talented student accepted year-round to one of the European schools last year, but TWSB and MYB are at a different level. We're content with the training she's receiving but if she had both the dreams and the body type to get a spot in a major company, we acknowledge we would either have to move across the river or she would need to go away for high school. Alas, her knees aren't going to cooperate and she hates stage makeup so we don't need to worry about it.
Anonymous
06/30/2022 14:11
Subject: Informal ranking of DMV ballet studios?
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.
Munoz is gone? We were a family that left during his tenure. Agree he was a mess (but with great vision, too bad) but it was really the bullying, drugs and eating disorders that made us leave.
Drugs? Care to elaborate? I never heard about that. I know about the one dancer bullying others and being protected by Munoz, though. The eating disorders are not better or worse than at other high-level ballet programs, I'm sorry to say.
I agree about the eating disorders comment but the support for dancers who struggle with this was remarkably callous at MYB as opposed to other studios and performance venues we have experience with.
The bullying was horrendous and by more than one person. We learned to always to look to see whose parents give the most money or volunteered the most. Seemed they knew their student was the bully and tried to compensate. Unless of course the parent is also a bully given how special their snowflake is.
Re drugs, there were a quite a few instances and they tried to keep them quiet. We know of them because of our family intersecting with MYB families outside of the studio relationship and beyond/after the MYB relationship (through the years). There's not much a studio can do when the drugs are obtained elsewhere and used prior or after class. When suspected (coming to class high), suspensions can occur unless, of course, a big performant is coming up....