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Anyone with children in ballet classes - advice needed

7 replies

Fionamc · 29/01/2003 09:02

My 4yr old daughter has been going to ballet classes for almost a year, and ever since she started the teacher has been working towards putting on a show this June. She has explained to the children about the show, told them that they will be playing little mice, and they regularly rehearse towards the show. However at her class yesterday, the teacher handed out forms to the parents saying that if you wish your child to participate in the show, there will be a 'show fee' of £25 per child. There was no mention at all previously of having to pay, and all the mums I spoke to felt quite angry about it, as did I. This teacher has only this year taken over ownership of the classes, and is basically saying in this form that because this is her first show, she has no material resources, and so we're having to pay for it. I'm assuming we'll then have to also pay for tickets to see the show, and as no filming or photos are allowed, we'd have to pay for the official video and photos.
For those of you with children in ballet classes, have your children been in a show, and were you expected to pay for the priviledge? I really feel she's pulling a fast one here - I know it costs a lot to put on a show, but surely the idea is that you make the money back in ticket sales? I'm angry that she's been teaching the kids towards this show, and now some of us mums will have to explain to them that we can't afford them to be in the show. It especially seems a waste of money for children as young as mine, who would only be on stage for about 2 minutes.
Anyway, rant over lol, any advice appreciated.

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Bumblelion · 29/01/2003 09:24

When my daughter did ballet, tap and modern dancing, she was in two shows, both at our local theatre in Sutton. We never had to pay any money for our child to appear - although, obviously, we did have to buy a ticket to see the show. We also had to buy the video as no video cameras were allowed.

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Jaybee · 29/01/2003 09:40

Fionamc - I agree with you, I think she is pulling a fast one. I can understand that she needs to set up a costume library but you should not be paying for it. My dd does ballet and they tend to do demonstration days but we don't have to pay for her to do it - usually a ticket to buy for entry. I can understand her asking you to make a costume and even ask you to donate it to the ballet school but £25 show fee sounds a bit steep to me. I would be tempted to contact RAD to check whether this is the norm. Out of interest, how many kids are we talking about here? Dd's ballet school has about 6 classes each with about 15-20 kids in it - that would be between £2000 and £3000 if each paid £25. What sort of show is she putting on here???

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mears · 29/01/2003 09:52

Fionamac - the cost depends on how much the costumes are going to be. I presume they are going to look like mice in some way. My dd dances, not ballet, but had numerous costume changes. Although the dance school fundraises, we still have to pay for the costume material and for the woman to make the outfits. The last show cost about £42.
The ticket sales have to cover the cost of the venue and insurance etc. And yes we bought tickets for the show plus a video at £15 which was professionally made (another cost).
It is perhaps worth asking for a breakdown of what your £25 is being used for. I don't think she is pulling a fast one personally.

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Fionamc · 29/01/2003 12:55

Jaybee, she has numerous students I think, as she teaches in 4 venues around the city, and does ballet, tap and jazz, so yes, I would think if everyone pays she'd get a fair amount of money. Even if she'd just asked everyone to donate £10 I think no-one would mind, but to demand £25 after months of telling the children they'll be in a show and getting them all excited about it seems very wrong to me.

mears - you said that the ticket price has to pay for the venue and insurance costs, but the teacher is saying that our £25 will pay towards that. She listed what the money was for - 'Theatre hire, Lighting & sound, Props, Costumes, Music licenses, Insurance, Music production etc' - so, everything basically! So that leaves me wondering what she'll do with the proceeds from the ticket sales. I think if she had asked for the money in a different manner, such as asking parents to pay towards their child's costume, that would be more palatable, but to implement a charge simply for taking part seems unfair, especially since she didn't tell anyone in the beginning that there would be a charge.

Thanks for all the answers so far - I really feel on principle I don't want to pay as I don't like the way she's handled it, but I don't want to disappoint my daughter either, who's looking forward to being a mouse!

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SueW · 29/01/2003 13:41

This sounds about right to me.

My daughter's dance school puts on a show every two years. DD has only just started dancing, inspired by seeing her cousin in the show in November.

My niece (5yo) was in three parts of the show and had to have a different costume for each part - a duckling, a snowman and a santa outfit. Each cost my DB and SIL £10, IIRC. The tickets were about a tenner each too and the videos £15 each I believe. I'm not sure if there was a show fee as well.

It was fabulous. It was held in the Concert Hall i.e. proper venue and there were about 2,000 people there, It could have been very daunting for the little ones but they didn't shed a tear and o apparent stage nerves. My DD was absolutely enthralled and decided she wanted to be in the next show. She is determined to do this now - had always been a bit maybe/maybe not about dancing before but to see her cousin on the stage - wow!

It was a long day for them too - they had to be dropped off at 12noon and remain there all day - without parents - until the end of the performance so picked up again around 10pm.

I think this is part of dancing and why it is ocnsidered an expensive hobby. DD does tap, ballet and modern which coss 5.30/week but I know that come show time that will mean about 40 in costumes and tickets and video. At least I have a couple of years' notice so I can save up for it if necessary.

I nearly suggested that you got together with some parents and set up a sort of Christmas Club type account where you put money into an account in prep for future shows, maybe a couple of quid a month, or suggested that the dance school do this but I expect it would ause all kinds of problems when people left.

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janh · 29/01/2003 14:45

Fionamc, might the proceeds be for charity? It's what our local dance schools have always done. They usually raise a couple of thousand. I think you should ask her - it might make you feel better!

I was wondering though, as she "took over ownership" of the classes, didn't the previous owners ever do shows? Weren't there any costumes in the deal? (Or were they all past it?)

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Fionamc · 29/01/2003 19:06

janh - I think she was previously employed by the lady who ran the ballet classes, but I think that lady then moved out of the area, and this teacher took over the venues she used to run classes in, so the previous teacher took all her show resources, costumes etc with her.

I will ask her just how much of the show dd will be in, if she's going to be on more than once I may pay up, but if she's just going to be on for a minute or two I don't think it would be worth paying.

Thanks for everyone's advice, it's handy to know that others have had to pay towards shows, as all the mums thought like me, that it was only tickets/videos etc we'd have to pay for!

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