What costume catalog were you looking at?
I saw a couple of green outfits that I liked.
In my head though, I see black, white, and red to that song.
Real sophisticated looking, you know?
PM me, I will tell you what catalogs I saw the green.
If it is what I saw, there is NOTHING wrong with the costumes.
And, since when to the parents get to decide???
Less heads in the picture, the better!

Ms. Shana

AHHHH I cannot stand the studio I work at. What a mess! The room that I teach in has a door with a window , a large veiwing window (that can be seen in the mirror), and windows from the outside. The owner is insane the think that I can properly teach these kids with so many distractions. AND they are putting three year olds in with my 4/5 classes, and inexperienced kids in with my 2nd and 3rd year dancers. And parents if your kids is still going # 2 in her DIAPER dont send her to class!! I feel like I work at a factory and its just an assembly line of kids! I get a 1/2 hour with a class of 16 5-8 year olds for jazz!!! When I teach gymnastics there is a tiny black wall that the parents will hang over to scream at their kids or shine the flash of their camera in my face & then get pissy when I tell them to stop. Its ridiculous I am starting my own school this winter and I wont be back next year!

Thats better:)

Oh my god! We have a choreography deadline of January first. I am lost. I can barely vent I am so drained. Help! How do you force good choreography to come out, when nothing is coming out in the first place?

WOW, here is somethings unbelievable...
Last week I was out on saturday and the SO came in to sub for me. Well in one of my dance classes there was a new girl , lets call her "sara". well "sara" and another one of her classmates "emily" are large girls. But they are good and work hard and size doesnt matter. Anyways "saras" mom thought that it would be a good idea to oink everytime that "emily" went across the floor!!! Her mom was soooo angry and said that if it ever happened again she would have to leave. Well when the problem was brought to the SO's attention her reply was "well there all low lives maybe they will leave". I just cannot belive this. All of these are girls are wonderful students and I dont want any of them to leave, but the SO needs to say something to "saras" mom. It should not matter what she thinks of "sara" & "emilys" parents social standings. "emilys" parents are paying good money for TWO of their daughters to dance there. You would think that after 50 years of owning a dance school the SO would know how to handle things!

Dear LBelle,
Sounds like the SO needs to retire. Wow, you would think being in the business for fifty years she would know how to handle a situation like this properly but instead it sounds like she is making it worse and probably will loose students because of it. LBelle, I wish you best wishes in opening your own dance studio. I know that you will be a excellent Studio Owner.

Love, Peace, and Pointe Those Toes,
~missdancediva~

The time thing....I set my clocks at the studio by my cell phone, I know thats right. I've been "spoken to" about starting the class to early and that the kids that are "late" really aren't and they shouldnt get in trouble for my mistake. Oh whatever I guess I just had to complain

Also, has anyone ever had a student who left your studio, i thought on good terms, then i find out they are bad mouthing every student i have plus my abilities as a dancer and a teacher. i guess thats just a bad day at the office for us.

In response to the choreography drain...I feel your pain/headache. What kind of choreo are working on? PM me and maybe we can exhchange some videos/ideas. THanks!

Do you know what I hate? I have a director that is a control freak! She won't let me do anything to help! I have a ton of experience and am very compotent. I even offered to help for free!!! GRRRRR! Any suggestions? I would rather not have to quit just because she won't let me even make up my own recital dances!!!

BittyBallerina, you took me down memory lane (LOL) with one of my old SO. I tried everything with her to give me freedom to create and teach, including showing her a video of my work but she staunchly refused to let any of the teachers spread their wings. It just had to be done HER WAY! In the end I moved on and have no regrets. You can try talking to her and asking for some sort of compromise. But if she is as you describe, I feel she'll still say NO. Hope the best for you!

Thanks Neal! I feel bad becuse she is a REALLY good teacher. Her students are amazing. But, I think she might push them too hard and reQuire too much of them. But, I keep telling myself that I need to be more like her. I run a strict class but nothing like hers! I like for my dancers to ask questions and give comments OCCASIONALLY if they have a "light bulb go off." I know that it is improper for dancers to talk in class. But, are occasional questions and comments alright? Is there a place that a teahcer is asking TOO much of a dancer?

Oh man you guys!!!

This week was costume week for us (one day left tomorrow). We order the pick the costumes today and I have told them they need to be paid for by january 6th!

Let me just set up these people for you really quick. I'm sure you have the people that have grandchildren or children that take classes where NOTHING can please them AT ALL. They hate the world or something I have no idea. Well my gymnastics teacher for some reason got started something like 3 minutes late a while back and I had a parent that knows the mean people call me and say something like "hey I just wanted to give you a heads up that so and so is going to want to talk to you about her grandchildrens class" So I called her and it just started with "ITS REDICULOUS, CLASS ALWAYS STARTS 10 To 15 MINUTES LATE! WE'LL SEE HOW NEXT MONTH GOES AND IF ITS NOT BETTER IM GOING TO DROP." yada yada. So I was being the reasonable one saying " well i just wanted to call and see if there was something I could help you with or maybe talk to you about because we dont want to loose the girls in the class they are good kids and are doing a great job and have a lot of fun with it." and from them on she basically just went nuts on me saying it was a joke and blah blah blah. So finally I was starting to get angry because she was SOOOOOO RUDE and I said " well next time you have a problem i would like for you to bring it to my attention because I have heard nothing from any other parents and im sorry you feel this way but if you say its happened many times before I should have heard something about it long before now" and she didnt have much to say and said "I GOTTA GO the kids are coming in from school" AND HUNG UP ON ME. I will never forget that conversation. So I got off the phone and cried like a little baby for the first time this year and called the person back that told me that she wanted to talk to me and she lifted me up a little and told me things were great for her and her kids and thought my gymnastics teacher and i were doign a wonderful job"

So its been about a month since that happened...

Tonight the grandpa comes in and its costume night and goes up to the teacher and is like "WHAT IS THIS ABOUT ALL THIS COSTUME STUFF WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE AND HOW MUCH ARE THEY, this is rediculas you are STUPID FOR ORDERING COSTUMES BEFORE CHRISTMAS and IF ITS MORE than 20 dollars they will NOT be coming anymore" and started i guess going " SO WHAT DO I OWE YOU THEN!?!?!?" *My teacher also told me that he was standing so close to her and she wanted to come get me but couldnt leave the kids in there alone and was afraid to even leave*
Anyway this guy says all of this infront of her WHOLE CLASS. Grrr. How rude! What would you guys do in that situation?!? This is the second time this has happened!

I know its close to christmas and its not the easiest right now for anyone but they have 4 weeks to pay IT! Its not like its due right now. The studio i used to go to would pick out costumes and it had to be paid for THAT NIGHT! PLUS its in our enrollment packet that we would be ordering costumes in december and told the approximate price range.

SO i told my teacher that if it ever happened again to tell him that if he isnt happy with how things are going then maybe it would be best for them not to attend class anymore or try somewhere else and that she isnt the one that makes the decisions to come to me. Its not worth dealing with i dont think! However, I am not the ones that have them in class... so i dont know how she feels.

OH I LOVE THIS THREAD. Im glad i could make good use of it! Please tell me what you would do in this case. They will say how stupid and rediculous everything is but keep coming back I DONT GET IT!

Thanks SO much Ifeel so much better.
Sarah

Time to give them the boot!!! write up a short and simple letter that dismisses them because they dont seem to easy to speak with. If they do call you or come in explain in a calm and sweet manner that their behavior was out of control and they may not return. Give them their last months tuition back in the letter to shut them up. You need to get rid of these people because they will do nothing but harm your buisness while they are there.Where are the parents of these kids it seems like they should be involoved if there is such a "problem" anyways good luck I had a grandfather like that one year who screamed obsenities in the lobby, they kicked him out and everything was better:)

I agree. In the long run you will lose more business from other parents. Give em the boot!

I would say..its time for them to go. It is not worth the headache in this case. Your teacher is having to deal with stress she doesnt need...the other students probably are taking it all in and getting mixed messages about what is going on...it probably gets the other parents thinking and it could cause some more issues. It is hard as a teacher to be confronted about something which you have no control over and then have to go on to teach a class. No matter how hard it is so cover up your emotions it still effects you one way or another. I would rather have 2 students go then have 50 leave I feel for you and your situation...I was put in a similar situation last year...but the SO would not do anything to help me or help the situation so i left. I hope it works out for you! Stay strong!

The discpline/ fun debate has been going on for a long time, and will be going on forever. The only advice I can givr is run your classes how they should be run. Try to explain it to the parents that you have to. If they don't get it, let them leave. This is YOUR life and YOUR endeaver. We all feel your pain!

Oh Lord, I could type all day on this one.

To other teachers....
Please don't beg to sub for me,and then complain about the age and time of class.

To one particular teacher... How about some original choreography, instead of some stuff that was crap when we were in high school? Come on spring for some new moves.

To Students...
This is not play time!
Since when is dance class a time to chat with your friends.
Do we always have to have candy when class is over? Isn't the hour of dancing you just got enough of a prize?

To Parents...

No, No, No,.... your child is not perfect. And Guess what, I'll make them sit out from time to time.

I am not child's 2nd mother... I'm her dance teacher, this would explain the non-mother nature I have around your child.

Believe it or not I do have a life, hence I don't like to babysit your child after class, while your shopping at target.

Don't get upset when I don't know who you are, would it kill you to get out of the car every once in a while? Maybe if you did, I would know who you are.

I read the above post and it got me thinking....

I'd like to echo the words of "Teachindance06" and say to not only one paticular teacher, but to a paticular dance studio, "How about some original choreography, instead of some stuff that was crap when we were in high school? Come on spring for some new moves."

Then I'd like to personally add, maybe if your studio or teachers bothered to attend a dance competition once in awhile, you'd see some fresh dance moves, or at least know what the other studios are featuring as their best "company" dancers.

Ok, so that's my vent 'o the day to a paticular dance studio somewhere near my home.

Uniforms.
Parents KNOW that I am implementing their children's 'real ballet' curriculum now. I told them that it would be extra mulla. AND that there would be a uniform. Ooh, sure. yes. Of courrse.

And now???

AAAAAHHHH!! I just want to SLAP them! "Oh, well, maybe I'll pay when I'm SURE. I don't want to pay SO much for a uniform (20$ max usually, but adult sizes can be as much as 30). And the leotard is like 15 bucks usually. Look, you KNEW from jump that this was going to happen after Christmas. We talked. You all agreed. Pre Ballet II's fine with it. Ballet I too. Pre-Ballet I Parents: WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?? If it was going to be a money issue from the start, why didn't you say something then?? TALK to me. I can't read your mind!!

Sometimes parents are honestly strapped for cash.

But most of them? Are just CHEAP. Grrr. Target and Wal-Mart my ass. Tank leotard. Plain. In ____ color. No skirts. What is so difficult about that? Especially when I FIND and ORDER them for you??

(And the tanks I found are SOOO cute!! Well, not cute, but the most appropriate that I've ever seen. Good tanks are hard to come by nowadays, wow.)

Why are you bringing her in a tutu?? WTF?!
Slap!

It's good to know that some one else besides myself that is going throught that too!

*Add a slap from me!*

I have taught dance (and had recitals) for 10 years, going on 11, and just experienced a "first" which totally floored me. We did an original adaptation of the Nutcracker this Christmas using much of Tchiakovsky's music and the traditional format (party scene in Act I; dream sequence in Act II). Our twist was that it was set in the 1950's, we added some contemporary music, and instead of a nutcracker being the gift, it was a nativity set. In the second act, the "wise men" and shepherds come to life to dance before the King. All that to say this: we used some of our younger dancers to be the shepherdesses and sheep. I made costumes from scratch for the sheep: wooley vests, matching knickers with wool at the knees, and a friend made adorable hats with wool around the brim. Cute! And the children loved them. However, one mom saw them at dress rehearsal and was upset because "her daughter looked like a boy" and how come everybody else got to wear pretty dresses and they looked "ugly". I was crushed. I even asked her if she had ever seen a production of the Nutcracker and reminded her of the little girls who usually play soldiers and mice. Didn't phase her; she complained to other moms and we finally ended up nixing the hats and adding headbands with sheep ears. They were cute too, but I was saddened that my friend's work was for nought and that our creativity was called into question - something that had never happened before. Has anybody else run into parents of gradeschool children who think they ought to be outfitted and choreographed on as if they were older, experienced dancers? By the way, although she offred to buy skirts for the girls (I put my foot down at that change) she never once in the whole process offered to volunteer in any way (including making costumes...) What I would love someone to say to any such parent: It's not all about YOUR child!!! Whew! Long post; thanks for the opportunity to blow off some steam!

I wouldnt have changed anything about those costumes. You just opened the door for her to walk all over you:(

A pet peeve of mine is people turning up at the exact moment the class is due to start. If class starts at 6:00 they plan to be there at 6:00. Anything can happen traffic may be bad and slow you right down. Doesn't it make sense to aim to turn up 5-10 minutes early for each class to allow a chance to get settled, have a drink or go to the toilet if nessesary. Be there in case the teacher wants a word and just give your child an oppourtunity to settle and focus before class instead of rushing in at the last minute.

Kids who are always complaining of being sick and injured. They have to come up and tell me every week about their new little scrapes and cuts and how they wont be able to do this and that because of it. Funny how their injury is only a problem when we are doing something they don't want to do yet fine when they are playing tag with their friends before class. And kids who feel sick when we are doing things they find hard. You can't be sick every week.

I also have one parent who has to come up to my table every week and stand right their in my face and talk and talk and tell me every thing about her life. I sit at the table before class to sign the students in and speak to each of them and their parents and give them each a little attention not just her. She tells her kids to get out of my way and let other people through but stands there while the others are talking to me. Sometimes about private personal things and the others feel pressured to move away like she was in the middle of a conversation with me.

I try to turn up 30 minutes before I have to teach to give me a chance to open up and make sure the place is clean. Get the paper work ready and everything before the students arrive. Some students are always sitting in the carpark there waiting more than half an hour before class starts every day. They don't respect the fact that I might like some time to get things ready they come early to take advantage of the time to talk to me before anyone gets there. Is that nessesary every week. I also have students who turn up when I open up even though they aren't on until the second or thrid class. So they come sometimes 2 or more hours before their class. WHY? Heaven forbid something might happen and they might miss out.

I strongly encourage students to arrive early but that is ridiculous.

Dear never2old2dance,

If a mom of mine had done that I would have said that we could change her costume but she would have to perform with the kids in a lower level.

So I have a student, whose mom was a dance teacher. The student is three and is in her first year of dance. Like all three year olds, she has her moments where something "hurts" and she decides to sit down. I try to get her back into participating but sometimes she won't. 3 yr olds can be 3 yrs olds. It doesn't bother me and I always try to get her to participate, but her mom gets worried and thinks I am teaching too hard of steps. How hard is a shuffle hop step at that age? How hard is it to teach them how to jump out to seond and in. I don't use the proper term for but just teach the motion.

I think mom used to teach young kids through novelty songs and dance. I do not sing and would probably scare kids with my sining. I am sick of mom always watching and probably secretly criticizing me if her daughter decides to be three and/or for not using songs to teach basic steps. I have tried explaining I always do one or two harder steps because another girl in class is in her second yr of pre-dance.

Any creative ideas besides actually singing to teach pre-dance steps for tap and ballet that will good to a parent who used to teach?

I am also a law student so I do my best to really find ideas even though I get crunched for time. maybe mom thinks i just don't have time to figure out how to teach.