If you had asked me a year ago, where to send a kid interested in dance I would've told you to go to a CVA. Now, I can't even think of a single nice thing to say. This will be a long review just so you know!
From the standpoint of a:
-parent of a dancer
1. Employing teachers that are not able to teach the age of dancers in their class. Having 18/19/20 year olds teaching 6/7/8 is fine, if they have the temperament for it. Our teacher did not. While my kiddos teacher is a nice girl and good dancer she obviously doesn't have much experience dealing with larger groups of kids. Her go to took when they dancers were not paying attention or talking was to yell at them. If they did not respond, she would just yell louder. Out of her class of 9ish dancers I would say only 2 had compliant personalities so there was a lot of yelling.
2. Communication between staff about dancers is none existant. We show up for dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker as scheduled on Saturday. Running behind, no big deal kinda standard. Our turn comes up, kiddo comes running out of the studio crying because her teacher kicked her out telling her 'get out of here, you're not performing'. My kiddo has no idea what's going on, I have no idea. Have to get the director involved when we're then told by the teacher 'someone told me she wasn't performing' Keep in mind, we've been there waiting an hour already. Kid is in full costume and makeup. She's talked to her teacher almost the entire time. I've talked to her teacher. Never once was there a 'oh hey, i thought you guys weren't performing?'. Kiddo is now upset because she's super embarrassed by the teacher throwing her out in front of everyone in her group. We decided to pull her after this as this was the last straw (this list is not in chronological order).
3. Your student will have very little opportunities for solos or specialty roles. The same dancers are chosen for these roles. Same 4-5 dancers will be cast in 6/7/8 different roles citing that they 'don't have the dancers with the skill level for those roles at the moment'. These productions are student productions. If you don't have the skill level for a role, the role can easily be adjusted for a dancer (ie just because the role has doubles or fortes doesn't mean you can't substitute a different movement for a less advanced dancer). They have made allowances in the past for dancers they like (taking a role traditionally done in pointe and changed it to flat because the dancer really wanted the role and they liked her) in the past so if your dancer is denied a part, it's cause they didn't want them not to have it. There is no reason for an adult student to be performing multiple solos and key roles over other students.
From a volunteer standpoint:
1. They absolutely do not care about you. I've been performing in the nutcracker for three years previous to this past season. I inquired and committed to two roles for this past nutcracker. One of the roles was given to me, but a past dancer came back to the company and asked if she could have one of the rules that I was assigned. They gave it to her. Which is not a big deal. I'm only annoyed about that because they didn't say anything to me. The only reason I ended up finding out that I was not doing that role anymore is because an older student had said they were sad that I wasn't going to be doing that part this year. Rehearsals started. This year they were held on a Saturday. Unfortunately I was already enrolled in a very expensive class on Saturday's that didn't offer refunds. I did not attend the first 2/3 rehearsals and honestly didn't think it would be a big deal due to the fact that only 3 people were committed to being a party parent (myself, my partner and 1 other gal who had done it in the past as well). What I ended up having to do was un-enroll from my class and then put me self back on the waiting list so I could restart after the performance. I show up for rehearsal only to be turned away at the door saying 'oh well I replaced you'. I talk to the director who had no idea that decision was made. I get a flippant voicemail later stating 'ya sorry i couldn't talk more. You know how it is. I was going to call you and let you know I replaced you but I forgot. We can still get you in for a different part of you want so let me know'. I still haven't been able to get back into my original class which turns out I didn't need to cancel. Lots of issues that could've been avoided with a simple phone call.
2. You will not be recognized. Myself and another volunteer have done so at times where neither of us have been taking classes or have kids who were taking classes. Literally doing it for fun and to help out. You won't get even a thank you though it is a big time commitment! You could get a card and candy bar for less than a dollar, not hard to recognize adults taking time off work, away from their families etc.
-I have more but I've exceeded the limit. read more