Dance studio question

[Momling]

Is it so wrong to enroll your child in more than one ballet studio?

 

Here's the background: We live in a smallish town. My nearly 9 yr old daughter is serious about ballet and I think has pretty good potential (in terms of legs, feet, turnout, musicality, flexibility, etc...). She was a student of a well-known ballet teacher last year. When she cancelled her Ballet 1 class because of low enrollment, she suggested she either take her Ballet 2 class or we attend a larger new ballet studio in another town to take a Ballet 1 class. I figured the Ballet 2 would be too difficult, so we went with the new studio and she's really been enjoying it. But she wanted more classes.

 

So, a few months ago, we enrolled her back with the first ballet teacher for that Ballet 2 class.

 

The larger studio found out that we were with another teacher too and just sent me an email asking why we didn't tell them. They wrote that the different opinions of technique and methods make it a bad idea to continue with two teachers.

 

The pickings are slim in our area, so I want to maintain a good relationship with everyone. The older teacher seemed pleased that she was taking multiple classes. Did I really do something wrong? Why would the larger studio care? The email made it sound kind of posessive... "We are training her"... Is this normal? Are they really concerned about different technique at this early level? Or is it about money?

 

This is all new to me...

[Mary in VA]

I would talk to the first teacher about it and ask what she thinks. If there is a difference in the styles they are teaching then there could be a problem. Usually individual schools stick with one style within the school, eg. one could be Vagonova, another Balanchine or Cecchetti. So the question is, is there really a difference, or are they just saying that? You can find this out by talking to each instructor/school and asking them to explain what style they are teaching your dd. It sounds like the original instructor doesn't have a problem with it and the new one does. So get the new one to explain specifically what the conflicts are. Do they even know what the old teacher is teaching? Are they just afraid of losing a student or $$$$.

 

This is more important for students under 14. That is why a lot of schools don't want their students going away to summer intensives until that age. By then their technique is more firmly in place and they won't have to unlearn things when they get back. My 16 yo dd takes classes at two studios right now, but she knows the correct technique, and incorrect instruction doesn't affect her. She just ignores it. Harder for a younger dancer to do.

 

HTH,

Mary

Edited April 1, 2011 by Mary in VA

[Momling]

Thank you! So it's pretty common? The older teacher is SAB trained and danced professionally with NYC Ballet, so I guess that's Balanchine. The other studio I think is new and trying to become an 'academy' type studio. The owner trained with the Royal Danish ballet, but I don't know how that's different.

[Ellie]

No, there's nothing wrong with that. You just have to figure out which one is your studio, because that's the one that has priority for shows and rehearsals and whatnot. So says my dancer dd who is now teaching ballet herself. In fact, she says that it's a good thing to take classes from different places, as long as your dd remembers which thng is taught at which studio (e.g., one studio might call a movement by a different name at each studio, and there's nothing wrong with that).

[Abbeygirlsouth]

No, I don't think that it is wrong per se (bad form, ethically) however, there are ballet schools/studios that are more stringent in this regard due to a different method being taught. From what was stated in the larger school's letter, it does sound like the difference in style/method/philosophy is the reason they do not approve.

 

DD is 16, but due to the method of ballet technique she has been taught, it has only been in the last three years that she has taken workshops or classes at schools other than her home ballet school. Up until then her teacher believed it would just be too confusing to switch between styles, and there was too a concern of greater injury with different styles during the younger years...but these ideals are always open to scrutiny amongst dancers.

[Mejane]

I'm of two minds. Your daughter is young, and two methods might be confusing at this point. That said, I wish my dd, who has been training for 14 years, had been exposed to more than one method. She trained exclusively in Vaganova, and while that is excellent, it would also have been to her benefit to learn other styles. Most ballet companies today do a lot of contemporary work in addition to traditional ballet, and knowing how to dance ala Balanchine makes a dancer more desirable. Of course, that's looking quite a ways down the road for your dd. :)

[Momling]

In all honesty, the instruction is remarkably similar. I've watched a number of the lessons from both teachers (or at least read my book and periodically glanced up...). And it's just the generic stuff -- lift your chest up, pull in your abdomen, straighten your knees, don't sickle... The corrections at the larger studio are more hands on, but the positions and arm and head movements and ballet terms are all pretty much the same.

 

And in my opinion, taking this other class has given my daughter a lot of confidence in her Ballet 1 class. She used to shrink to the back of the room or try to be last in line, now she marches to the front... I would have a hard time pulling her out of a class she loves.

 

This situation reminds me of when I would get emails from my daughter's PS math teacher telling me not to teach her at home because she needed to be the one to introduce math (the TERC way). I felt kind of guilty then too...

[Mary in VA]

Balanchine is different from other syles. (My dd can't stand it :001_smile:) It might not be so obvious when watching a class at your dd's level. I can't pick up on all the differences when watching a class, but I did see a performance at the Kennedy Center a few years ago. It had numbers by four different renowned dance school, one Japanese, Paris Opera Ballet, Kirov, and SAB. The difference was very apparent even to me, especially because SAB was dancing a Balenchine number.

 

If you want your dd to keep dancing at both she does have to pick one to be the one as a pp said. And discuss it with the teacher who isn't the one so she understands.

 

If you can watch some vidoes on YouTube maybe you can see the difference.

 

HTH,

Mary