Just had a lady, (one who quit last year bc she didnt' know the MAY recital date, that was given to her in AUGUST) call up and wanted to know the latest month that she could sign her children up for dance and still participate in the recital? "can you give me a timeline of when the actually start learning their recital dances?"
"can they start in december or january?"
i'm fine with people coming mid year bc they just moved here or had a new baby in the fall but she's doing it bc she's cheap and lazy! her kids are like 6 and 8, plenty old enough where they don't just follow the teacher and mimic.
i don't even want to talk to her. how should i handle this with out completly going off on her?

Is there a place she can go to? For example we have an 8-week YMCA program and another 'studio' that runs 8-week sessions with a show and the conclusion. My suggestions is 1st, if applicable, redirect their search, or 2nd to simply tell her you don't run the type of program that meets her needs. Just utter over and over, 'I'm sorry, we aren't able to help you.' No more, no less. After awhile she'll realize she's shadow-boxing as move on. Good luck.

I only accept late starts if they are new students and are unfamiliar with out September -May dance season. It is a part of our policy. We make our parents aware that they must be registered and dancing in the fall if they are to participate in the recital. We stress that September -January is where the students learn the majority of their technique. Students starting in January would not be dancing at the same level. I let our parents know that we are a studio that teaches dance, not a studio that simply teaches a dance routine for the recital. When we first opened there was a studio in town that did just that. They started in September and all they did was teach a dance that the students would perform in April at the recital. When they closed, their students came to us and it was very sad that even though they had gone there for several years, they knew very very little.

Our cut-off for recital is like Feb 1st because after that its difficult to get in a costume for may. But with this situation... I would definitely tell her something like November - which is when our studio orders all costumes for the studio.

One of the reasons we have a November cut off date, with the exception for those coming from another dance program.

"We're full at this time, but if you'd like, I can put your on our waiting list!" You know, the eternal one. Then also offer her something like the Y in the mean time.

Tell her since the child will miss valuable technque during the fall she will have to enroll in a lower level class

My response- "I really recomend a student start in Sept when classes start so that they can be the best they can be. I also cannot Guarantee availablity in the class later on in the year."

Oh, I just had a mom email me complaining 3 WEEKS AFTER THE SHOW, that her daughter was not able to participate "and her little best friend was". Mom signed up after costumes were ordered.

Sorry you're unhappy. Get out.

Tell her not for that age group. They need to be on board in the beginning.

My cut-off date was November 1, except for preschool and that was January 1st.

I would tell her Sept 1st! LOL

thanks for the support.
so i wrote
"Hello,
It is recommended that students participate in our full dance season to perform at their peak during the end of the year performance. Technique and vocabulary introduced at the beginning of the school year is expanded and developed as students progress along our curriculum.

Classes tend to fill up rather quickly and there is no guarantee of class availability later in the school year.

Preparations for costumes begin in November.

I hope this helps you in your decisions."

and she responses with
"can my 6 and 7 year olds be in the same class? i'd like them to attend the 9&10 age group on tuesdays."

she is cracking me up! REALLY?! not only is she cheap but delusional!
her kids havent made it through one full year of dance class at any of the studios they have been to,
i just keep trying to duck and hide from her!

I would not even bother returning her calls or emails. Maybe she will go away. Either that or say, "Oh yes!! Unfortunately, that class is full, so I will have to put you on the waiting list. I will call you if there is an opening. Call me in May if you do not hear from me."

Don't forget, your studio is a business that needs money to operate. Smile politely, take the money, teach the kids as best you can and don't think about it.

TDAPaul wrote:

Don't forget, your studio is a business that needs money to operate. Smile politely, take the money, teach the kids as best you can and don't think about it.

Yes, if you run a studio just to make money.

You can make money and keep scruples and policies as well.

My business is not a free for all, where parents can make rules as they choose. If there's a cutoff date for participation, then there's a cutoff date for participation.

I don't just take the money and look the other way.

Ethics 101.

^^^ Exactly. Why even have rules, then?

I bet those 9 & 10 year olds won't mind a couple of misfit 6 & 7 year olds.

tcsso wrote:

^^^ Exactly. Why even have rules, then?

Don't have rules.

Just collect the money and turn your head.

After all...it's a business.

I hear what you're saying and I didn't mean to offend anyone. Sorry. My point was just that it seems like it'd be hard to tell a child "No, you can't dance", just because her mom is the lazy and cheap one. My ethics tell me that the child should have the opportunity to dance despite their parent's irresponsible and annoying behavior.

TDAPaul wrote:

I hear what you're saying and I didn't mean to offend anyone. Sorry. My point was just that it seems like it'd be hard to tell a child "No, you can't dance", just because her mom is the lazy and cheap one. My ethics tell me that the child should have the opportunity to dance despite their parent's irresponsible and annoying behavior.

Your ethics don't match mine.

Unfortunately, Sally May isn't paying the bills. Her mother is.

We are training dancers. It's skill based. You can't jump in any time you wish, regardless of your finances.

There's a deadline. Period.

I hear what you're saying and I didn't mean to offend anyone. Sorry. My point was just that it seems like it'd be hard to tell a child "No, you can't dance", just because her mom is the lazy and cheap one. My ethics tell me that the child should have the opportunity to dance despite their parent's irresponsible and annoying behavior.

Well how do you explain your "ethics" to other paying customers who want to know why 2 kids who are 2-3 years YOUNGER than their daughters and haven't taken half the year are allowed to come into their class and slow it down? That just would not fly at my studio. She isn't telling the kids they can't dance, she is telling the mother that she can't dictate the rules of the studio or tell her what class her children will be in.

Yes we do have a couple people at our studio who do this, and we have told the parents that the children suffer because they miss 4 months of basic technique and combos that will be in the routine. When they were 4, 5, and 6 it wasn't so hard to catch them up but now at age 12 it is. They did complain one year that their daughters are so much older and still in level 1 and 2 and I simply explained they come only to learn the recital and we don't focus as much on training technique and combos in the 2nd part of the year like we do the first part.

Finally her kids decided it wasn't fun anymore. Well yeah it's no fun when you are always the slowest one in the class. Luckily the mom and dad are still supporters of the studio and they even help out on events if we need them.

We have a big enough studio and live in a large city so we rarely turn people away...unfortunately the staff is sometimes forced to do whatever it takes to make it work especially in this economy. If you don't want to do that, then don't. It's okay to put your foot down and tell her it isn't in the best interest of your studio or her kids to jump into classes only to learn the recital dance.

I stand corrected.

You said you have seven studios and most of us here have only one, so I'm curious as to how your customer base reacts to this situation. Do they just accept placements being nilly willy or do you go by levels vs age?

I guess I didn't read the original post carefully enough. We allow younger rec dancers to add as late as February...younger being age 3 thru 5 or 6. Dancers ages 7+ are simply put into a class based on their level of ability...not necessarily age, but we won't turn away a dancer who wants to dance. They might not get into a class they want with all their friends, but we will find a place for them and teach them. Once the more serious performing company classes are set early in the season we don't add new students to those unless there is some really odd circumstance. I think this heated up so much because I didn't clarify the difference between beginning recreational dancers and more serious dancers. My apologies.

I'm a very small school in an area saturated with other dance schools, and competing low cost childrens' activities. I struggle to break-even, and will take any student at any time, and work to integrate them successfully into any class that they can cope with. When you only have a few students in a class, you can teach an easier version of a combo to the newbie. I wish it were otherwise, but I don't consider what I do unethical. I'm not in it for the money, but I do need to pay my bills.

vfdt wrote:

I wish it were otherwise, but I don't consider what I do unethical. I'm not in it for the money, but I do need to pay my bills.

Nobody said taking children at various times is unethical.

I do it as well. I will integrate babies into the recital dances all the way up until February. I will take kids later in the year, with the understanding that they will not be participating in the show.

Unethical is the assertion that we should just take the money and turn our heads.

I don't make it a habit of selling out on a policy while I "turn my head."

That "whatever...if their money is green, take it!" attitude runs counter to all that I attempt to instill in my students and everything I philosophically stand for.

I am a big believer in the ability to generate a very healthy income while maintaining the integrity of the classes/levels and policies. Why do I believe this? Because I do both.

What I used to do, for certain age groups, is run six week classes that did not perform. This worked well for the in and out people. They had to prepay for the six weeks.

As far as recital, preschool and beginner level kids, I could take up until the beginning of January. I had assistants in most classes to help out, but I did not get too many.

I would explain to people, who wanted to sign up kids late, that we move so fast in our syllabus, and that we cannot back track, and set the other kids back, to have them catch up, that it might not work for their child. I suggested that they wait for summer, or try the short term class (if it was available for them) and would give them two free passes to our recital rehearsal, if they liked (we usually sold out our show) or to come to one of the local shows we were involved in, to see them dance.

My bosses do not take kids past a certain point, over a certain age. If someone wants to join late, they will leave it up to the teacher. I will only do it with the little ones and if a child is really lost, tell the parent how frustrated their kid would be but I would love to have them come back in summer or fall.