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Two dance schools at once?


Nutcracker-x

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Hi,

 

I was just wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to attend 2 dance schools at the same time (doing 3 hours at one school and another 3 at another one)? At the moment I am only managing to dance 3 hours a week at the school I'm at and they don't do private classes. So I was just wondering if this was possible to do?

 

Thanks x

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Hi. At one point dd attended 3 schools. she was very busy!!! but happy. the teachers tolerated each other but it all got a little difficult during the run up to shows which always need extra classes and we had one awful year when two of the school had a show during the same weekend...one school was Friday and two on Saturday with the second being on Sunday.  That was tricky!!!

 

I think you need to be open and up front with the schools....after all if they cannot provide the extra classes they ought to be supportive of you finding that help elsewhere.

 

I'm speaking as a parent NOT a dance teacher.The dance teachers on here will be able to help you more fully.

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My dd2 goes to 3 dance schools - in 1 school she does 2 Adv 1 and 1 Adv 2 and 1 pointe class per week; in another she attends 2 Russian Adv classes and pointe plus an Associate class on alternate Sundays (4 hours); in the 3rd she has private singing lessons and is soon to take Grade 6. The Russian ballet school dd attends expect dd to take classes at other schools and her RAD ballet school say that the Russian style has complemented her ballet. All 3 schools know about each other and support dd, and 1 school also has a dance college and dd's ballet teachers teach at the college too.

   It is expected in dd's schools that in the higher grades especially there is a need to go to other schools for more classes especially if pupils are serious about wanting a dance career. We have never had a clash in shows - the Russian school performs 1 full length ballet a year and in the Spring (last year was 'Swan Lake' and this year 'Cinderella') and the RAD school does a show every two years in November.

I think dd is extremely fortunate in having great teaching and supportive teachers :) I am also a parent, not a teacher.

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My ballet teacher wouldn't let me attend any dance classes apart from hers, regardless of the fact that she only offers 1 pointe class at my level, and no non syllabus work, or ballet on Mondays, Thursdays & Fridays, hence why taking enough classes to reach a level appropriate for vocational auditions is proving very difficult.....

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Im a ballet teacher and the schools I work work with, if we cant provide the lessons then we recommend those that do.

 

We do like people to be honest though about attending other schools so we can advise accordingly.

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Swan princess, my dd is only 12 but in hindsight although we were very happy with dds old dance school & the quality of teaching she was just not able to take enough classes.

 

She is now having to play catch up at vocational schools going from a once/twice a week ballet class to dancing with children who did multiple classes including stretch/limbering very classes.

 

With hindsight I should have moved her.

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Again, I'm a parent and not a teacher, so only speaking from what I have observed. Yes, it's possible, but there are potentially some significant disadvantages. My DDs school has 3 teachers and provides, in my opinion, very good tution across a wide range of genres of dance. I'm not aware of any of the students who "belong" to our school who also have lessons elsewhere, but there are a few students whose main school is elsewhere but come to our school for specific lessons. The teachers don't particularly like this, but do accept students from elsewhere if they think it is in that student's best interests. But it can cause problems.

One thing that can be an issue is if the two teachers are not "on the same page" when it comes to technique. I guess this is more or less of a problem depending on the precise reasons for wanting to go to 2 schools. If it's simply logistics, such as you want to do a class that yiu can't make the time of atschool A but school B offers it and the standards are similar, that may notbe an issue. But if you are going to somewhere that is very different to your original school, it could be a problem. I know my Dds teacher has had quite a number of students come to her over the years specifically to augment their ballet training but who have continued at their original schools also. On a few occasions she has ended up saying that the student needs to choose one school or the other, as she is trying to teach them very differently to the original teacher and it's simply not working out.

Also, as cornishprincess says, there can be conflicts of priorities if the two schools have events on at the same time for instance . Again, it will depend on the 2 schools and your own intentions. If its just a matter of attending classes that's one thing, but if you plan, or they expect you to join in with things like shows, competitions etc then it could get tricky.

I think that the key thing is to make your position clear to both teachers from the outset so that misunderstandings don't occur later. Personally, given the choice, I would look for a single school that could meet your needs, though I appreciate that isn't always possible

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As both a teacher and as a student, I always found it suspect when a teacher forbids a student to attend another school.  

 

While I would not recommend it for those students who are at the beginning (first 3 yrs or so) of their studies - and depending on their age - I would highly recommend a second teacher otherwise.  There are almost always more than one way to do any particular movement.   A student should be exposed to that variety.  

 

I believe there is no teacher, no matter how wonderful, who can teach it all at the same high level of expertise.  A different eye, a different voice, a different method of reaching a goal enriches the student.  No matter how much we try not to - at some point the teacher  operates through a particular mindset - we all do.  The brain likes to repeat patterns.  It can manifest itself in very small ways that are easily overlooked or taken for granted - but the brain learns it and then hesitates to  take on a new pattern.  

 

I also feel that any teacher who is truly worthy has no fear of the input of another teacher.  There were times when I asked my student to show me what the other teacher taught her - and thus I learned something new, too.

 

I think the student should be up front and inform (not ask) both teachers.

 

A teacher has no right to demand that the student take her classes exclusively.

 

You are the customer, you shop where you choose.

 

If there are conflicts in time committment - inform the teacher early enough so she knows what to expect.

 

She should treat you with the same courtesy and help you as if you went to  her exclusively.  You are the paying customer and if she takes your money she owes you that.  That is your right.

 

Sorry, but it is upsetting to me when a teacher places what I see as her ego problems (which she claims is a technical problem) on the shoulders of the student.

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DDs teacher had no problem with her taking classes at another school so that she could increase her hours of dance.  She did however request that it was not the same syllabus classes as she had found this caused problems in the past - not just in different approaches to technique but also for timings on exams etc.  She also recommended a few teachers for us to try.  In the end it meant that DD did grades 6-8 and modern at one school and adv 1 and a number of non syllabus classes and ISTD classes at another.  The new school entered a lot of fesitvals and did more shows and we were open from the start about how many hours DD could do there and the school accepted her on the basis of what she needed for her training.

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Years ago we had to increase DS's number of classes and his first ballet school asked us to look around for other places that might help. I rang up a ballet school in the Bath area and yes they could have DS for lessons but only if he went to them for everything, all ballet classes and modern. It was all or nothing and they weren't very helpful. 

 

We did find another ballet school about 10 miles away from home, so he went there twice a week for 2-3 years, while still at our local ballet school and it all worked out well in the end. He had to leave this second ballet school when he moved up the grades and the classes clashed. He had no problem doing the same grade at different schools.

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It is perfectly feasible to go to two different schools, especially if it is one for ballet and the other for jazz, tap etc. Doing ballet at two schools is possible, but as others have said, sometimes there is a conflict between the training methods of the teachers.

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