Is £16 per person to attend a ballet school end of the year show too expensive?

You need to take that up with the dance teacher. Being stuck in the dressing room for most of the performance is part and parcel of appearing on stage, by the way. So is wearing a crappy costume.

And it isn't much fun for the volunteer chaperones backstage who have to look after the tinies - I've done it numerous times and it's a thankless nightmare!!

At the school my dd was at when she was small, the little ones were in the first half, and could either stay to watch the 2nd half in the auditorium or be collected in the interval and go home. The trouble with that on matinees was that some would leave and then not bother to turn up for the evening show.

Under 5's are generally not permitted in theatre audiences, but usually dance schools try to make an exception to that rule.

Rehearsals for those willing to participate should be separate from the regular lessons!

Well this is a good idea and all very well, but how many dance schools would have slots available in their timetable to effectively double the number of classes for a term? Most won't have the facilities to do that. Also, how many parents would be willing to pay double the amount of money for these additional classes?

In any case, the youngest (under 5's - including your dc) are simply not up to performing for more than a couple of minutes. Half of them won't remember what they have been asked to do or what they are there for, and quite a few won't even know to face the audience when they are on stage. It is a very daunting thing for them to do, and most won't be capable of doing much once they're up there. At that age it's like herding cats and the most you can hope for is that they can hop skip & jump around a bit looking cute.

I always wanted to be a majorette as a child!

user the Royal Academy of Dance is an awarding body. They have many RAD affiliated schools of dance. Or do you mean the RAD headquarters in Battersea? In any case, I'm sure you will be happy with the teaching at a recognised RAD school. Although if they do shows there will be expense involved. Dance related activities often involve extra costs other than class fees and uniform. It's an expensive business!

OP, sorry but I think you are way over-thinking this. My dds have been doing dance and shows for many years. Yes the rehearsals are a pain. Yes it is costly. Yes sometimes the children are only on stage for a short amount of time. But as you can imagine putting on a show is a huge amount of work for the dance school. Sometimes if you want your children to have these hobbies, you have to suck it up.

I have just paid about £80 for my dd to take part in a show. The fee is for the extra rehearsals plus costumes. And the price of the ticket is separate (cost escapes my memory).

Your dd is 4 years old. If she enjoys her ballet lessons that's the main thing. If she turns out to be very good or wants to take it more seriously when she's older you can think again about dance schools.

Ballet Black, Northern Ballet & Ballet Revolcion are my total favourites - I'm not very high brow

@katymac It was amazing!

& Ballet Back are amazing!

We watched Ballet Black at Derby Theatre last week and the tickets cost less than that!

Oops caught post too early, sorry! I'd perhaps expect 2 dances for the little ones in a big production, a ballet and a tap or song perhaps but not much more. Their involvement certainly increases as they get older, do more styles, learn more steps, can concentrate longer, stay up later etc

My daughter is doing a musical theatre show and it’s £14 for adults to watch and £6 for children to watch. We’ve also paid £30 for costume hire etc. However lives to perform, and for that she gets a chance to be on a stage in a really great theatre, and 10 weeks of extra rehearsals where I am sure she will learn so much.

She has a dance school show in the summer, and I don’t know the prices of that yet. I have just paid £10 per dance type for costume “deposit” - a bit worried how much more will be charged on top. I don’t know what ticket prices or be or if there will be any extra cost, but she gets an enormous amount of pleasure out of doing the shows. It must be a huge amount for the dance schools etc to organise and arrange.

kittikat my daughter has danced for some years now. I have paid the compulsory minimum ticket purchases per child and the show fees. But certainly if I am chaperoning in and missing the show and contributing to the show, I wouldn't pay for my own ticket!

I pay approx £12-15 but we have to pay to buy all the costumes on top of that.

hmm I see lots of my friends paying loads for shows. Our school very rarely do them (like many years between them I mean) but did one last year. We paid costume hire depending on what they were in, what the costumes were etc. averaged £15-25 a child I think and the most I heard anyone paying was under £50 with a child in 7 or 8 different costumes. didn't pay extra for rehearsals they were done during lesson time. tickets were £12 I think if I remember right so they were expensive in my opinion but overall as a one off for most people because lots of kids will change hobbies in their childhoods so 6/7/8 years between shows means most won't do one again and haven't done them before I felt it was ok. A few classes had to buy their costumes I think but I didn't know anyone who did.

Yes that's expensive. Unless it's at a west end theatre or very prestigious theatre. My last show was £8 a ticket at a local 300 seat small theatre, my Xmas show is £4 a ticket at a local community centre