to think that if one wanted to start a fascist coup, one could do worse than recruit ballet teachers as your storm troops?

[grimupnorthLondon]

They rejoice in rules and uniforms, require obedient submission at all times, delight in putting on massive nuremberg rallies end of year performances of merciless duration, are not afraid of wielding the threat of punishment and exclusion at the first sign of a recalcitrant and are always seeking after the perfect master race body type.

(Can you tell that I have already been presented with a ridiculous rehearsal schedule and costume bill for the effin' nutcracker?)

Our Brown Owl was way more scary than any dance teacher! Mind you, she did also have a bun, so I do think it's something to do with their brain being tor turned by the tight hairstyle making them so scary!?!

They are merely Italian Fascists compared to Irish Dancing teachers.

We must be lucky then because the three that run the school DD and I attend are absolutely lovely and yet run a very successful school, they are passionate about dance and the school is like a giant happy family.

All the dance teachers DD has had have been lovely.

Worst parent I came across for many years was a dad. Dd1 was in pre-primary. So aged 4yo.

One dad started squaring up to me because I dared to suggest his precious wasn't "leader of the week" every week. I knew full well the teacher did it on strict rotation, so I said that as one of the mums got upset as he called her dd a liar for saying she'd been it last week.

Conversation when they came out went like this:

Dad: Who was leader of the week?
His dd: I was.
Dad: See
His dd's friends: Actually she said she wanted to be, but Miss H said that she'd had her turn for the term, and it was S's turn. So she sulked when we were doing the dances.
Other dc: Yes, S was leader.

Dad flounced out speechless and I'm not sure we saw him again.

Unfortunately we now have a worse mum, who had somehow got a hold on the ballet teacher. Things have changed out of recognition the last 2 years since that happened and the ballet school has gone from huge waiting lists to tiny classes as people vote with their feet.

My daughter's ballet teacher is absolutely lovely, as are the other teachers in the dance school (with the possible exception of the Principal who scares the bejeesus out of me)

It's the swimming teacher who channels Miss Trunchbull round here. I can only assume it's the fumes from the chlorine that have send her a bit odd.

I was expelled from my ballet class. My poor mum never lived down being asked not to ever bring me back.

In light of your post, I now realise I was not an overly talkative little shit, but a future Resistance fighter in the making!

My DD's ballet teacher has a habit of waving a fly swat around on occasions in their class. DD says its not the threat of being hit with it that worries her as much as the thought of bits of dead fly sprinkling in the air :) haha .... Nice!!!

My ballet teacher was like that OP. Which is why I drive 2 villages away to my friend's dance school. Dd adores her. She is very accepting of children's flaws, giggles like the rest of us when a stubborn 4 yr old refuses to co operate on stage during the show, and is just all round a nice person.

The 3 teachers at my DD's ballet school are all lovely. They do expect the children to behave, be on time, work hard in lessons, dress correctly etc but there is also a lot of laughter and the children all seem happy. My DD adores all 3. They also get very good results in exams and many girls continue until they leave school (and many return for the odd lesson in uni holidays!!)

DD's old ballet teacher had a voice like nails on a blackboard and used to screech criticism at the girls all the time. At the end of each term we were allowed to come into the room and watch them. On these occasions she was all sugary and: "That's right dear, well done!" in a sing-song tone. She obviously didn't realise we could hear her through the door.

She was horrible to the girls putting their hair into buns for the exam if they had the temerity to have any curls or waves. She practically scalped them. The only girl she was nice to was my DD who has poker straight hair.

I worked as a temp in an office once for a week, and there was another temp who had worked there for ages, she was more or less permanent in the role and just needed some help for a week. We were both from the same agency. She was also a ballet teacher in her spare time. One day I noticed her working out her hours on a pad, and multiplying it by her hourly rate to calculate how much she would be paid that week. I tried politely to talk to her about how much we was paid and she slapped me down rudely saying "I don't discuss money." Of course she must have thought I was rude trying to talk about it, so I tried to get over that I wasn't trying to pry or complain, and she cut across again saying fiercely "I don't want to talk about it." I think I might have tried a third time, politely and apologetically but she shot me down again. The thing was that I had seen that she was being paid £1 an hour less than I was! By the same agency! For the same job! That she was having to teach me! Absolutely awful of the agency that they were paying me more. So I was trying to tell her this so she could ring them up and get the same money - she was entitled to it. But she obviously couldn't possibly imagine that I might be trying to do something nice for her - clearly all she could think was that I was going to moan that I wasn't paid as much as her. In the end I thought: "Oh suit yourself you silly cow, lose £35 a week then if you can't be bothered to let me get a whole sentence out."

ahem: WERE paid.