Ballet classes

[Milmomma]

Okay so I've been waiting for the point when I can start my lil girl in ballet classes. Well being stationed abroad its harder to get into and cost quiet a bit. I was wondering if any other moms had some advice. How often, how much, what did you provide? Anything would be helpful.
I will have to get the clothes/shoes. Its only a 1 hour class 1 a week and cost $45 a month. There is very limited space and I will be waiting in line to sign her up in the fall. Oh ya my baby girl is 3 and potty trained. She loves the girly girl stuff and tutu's.

[MommaTrish]

I so want to know this too, though I have a few years before Belly's old enough to go..

[MyEbella]

My Bella just finished her first year of ballet (ours follows the school year).
She goes once a week for 45minutes and this year it was $40 but this coming Sept. it will go up to $45 a month.

good luck getting her signed up......... it was pretty cute to watch them dance around!

P.S.. We are NOT allowed to be in the room while they have practice and at first I didn't like it at all, but I think the teacher gets more of their attention and well it has turned out to be nice for her recitals....a little element of surprise!

[momtutu]

Abby is now 8 and started dance at 4. She did 3 years, then skipped a year and did gymnastics, but now is back into dance and just finished up the year with her recital. She does one class a week (tap/ballet) and we pay $48 per month. She wants to add either clogging or hip-hop this year so we will have one more day of practice and that will be I think close to $70/month.

What gets you is that you pay the monthly fee but then you usually have to pay a registration fee, recital fees, costume fees and whatever else they tack on. We moms do a lot of grinching and griping but in the end when we see the recitals, we are all there saying how totally worth it it all was!!

Abby at 4 - first recital:


and at 8 - this year:


*Sniff* Sniff*

[momtutu]

Hee hee - I think my skills have improved a little over the years as well! :-)

[Sheana]

Gabriella is getting ready to start her 5th year of ballet in the fall. Her classes are 30 minutes, once a week and it's $29 a month. In addition, we buy shoes ($22), pratice leotard/tutu ($18-40 depending on the one she picks out), recital costume ($70) and then tickets to the recital ($15 per person). We're also not allowed to watch the class, they have watch week twice a week and then dress rehearsal a few days before recital that we can watch and then recital.

[[michele]]

The baby ballet class dd took 9/08 - 5/09 was a weekly 40 minute class for $45 a month. She wore Bloch shoes ($15 - $20?) and tights ($8). Plain ballet leos from Target some weeks, other weeks her older sister's old bitty baby costumes.

Recital costume approx $70 and recital fees of $30. I don't remember how much the group & individual photos or recital dvds were, but I am sure they were overpriced! (And they are optional obviously, you don't have to buy them.)

Family week twice a year where the parents sat in the room and took photos/videos. Recital rehearsal where we could take photos/videos, actual recital where we could not take photos/videos.

I think that's it! Both my dd's chose gymnastics over dance and I am still a little sad about it!

[pewtertm]

Originally Posted by MyEbella

P.S.. We are NOT allowed to be in the room while they have practice and at first I didn't like it at all, but I think the teacher gets more of their attention and well it has turned out to be nice for her recitals....a little element of surprise!

Yep, us too...really wanted photos but oh well

Rachel had 30 minutes a week, $30 dollars a month. The girls were allowed to wear whatever they wanted for practice...most had leotards and tights.
There was a recital/costume fee of $40, but that was a one-time thing. Can't wait for August when it starts back up!

[Sarah8914]

Everything is so expensive!!

We opted to do one at a local rec center. It was very low key, but perfect for 3-5 year olds. We're putting our second daughter in it in the fall.

They didn't have fancy costumes, just little tutus that were like $20 (for 2). And it was $25 for 8 weeks (45 mins a week)

[newfiemountiewife]

Amelia does ballet, this year was her 4th year. We paid about $150 for 10 weeks I think, and this was 3x from Sept to June. Her classes are 30 minutes, once a week. She has two practice leotards around $30 each, her tights were around $20 a pair (she has 1 pair). She also wears a ballet skirt (not a big tutu, they are not allowed to wear those for practice) which was around $40. Shoes were around $40.

For recitals, we paid around $50 for the costume, which was a steal I thought. The recital tickets were $20 a pop.

We are allowed to watch them, but not allowed to actually go into the room. She danced with a different school for the first 3 years before we moved, and they had the same policy. I think the teachers have much more success that way. I coach figure skating, and sometimes I REALLY want to kick the parents out, because I think that the kids would learn more without their parents hovering over the boards.

[bdances]

I do Ballet! I love it!! We buy Pointe shoes (She won't get them til shes older) We get Ballet shoes ($30) <--Ish I have like 7 leotards so $23 each hmmmm then tights thats like $7.50.... And well I do other dances but since shes just doing Ballet thats all she would need.