too much time off

[kellylynn]

This is really just a little vent. I've really made a commitment to take class three times per week. However, it's a little impossible with all the "vacation breaks" that the studios take over here. The reality is that these dance studios are mostly geared towards the little ones and the studios follow a school calendar. The hoiday break in december wasn't enough for them. They had to take a whole week at the end of january for their personal "sememster break," and now there is a week off for february break, and looking forward on their hoiliday calendar there is a spring break. All these breaks are a week long. Also, every time the pubilc schools are closed they close. So every little hoilday (martin luther king, presidents day, jewish holidays) the studios will be closed. Last week sometime, there was like two little flakes of snow in the morning and the schools closed. Of course by noon it was business as usual....but of course the studios closed down due to "incliment weather" and I couldn't even attend my six pm class! So im really just jonesing for some ballet. And now I find out that when the studios re-open tomorrow there will be more snow! I'm sorry I just have no patentice for this considering that I have a corporate job and we have to come to work no matter what. I am trying to improve and advance and once I feel confident about things all the schools shut down like once a month! Whats the deal????? I know i can travel down to the city where the "real" adult ballet classes are like steps...that place is always open. I also can do a barre at home along with a couple of lame ballet class dvds. It's just not the same. I'm just disappointed that I can't attend class regularly due to all these closings and breaks. Just another challenge of being an "adult" ballet student!

[Mel Johnson]

The deal is that some studios have insurance policies that do not cover the insured if the public schools have declared themselves closed. It used to be only for inclement weather, but now it's for any cause.

[kellylynn]

I understand the weather thing. I'm terrified to drive even if there is an inch of snow. But on that particular day it just snowed the night before so by the time that night rolled around the roads had no trace of snow. I just find it hard to understand those little holidays. Just because the banks are closed why does ballet have to stop. What do you mean by "insured?" I thought that dance schools were independent from the school districts. I know there are some valid reasons behind it. I just wish that I can go to class whenever i want like most adults exercise and go to the gym whenever they want. At another school I take class at there are alot of adult classes and students and I've heard them complaining about it as well. I think alot of them plan to get together and take classes in manhattan to make up for it. That's probably what I'll plan on doing when the next week long break rolls around. The studios in the city seem to be less affected by school holidays and minor weather problems.

[Dance_Scholar_London]

Maybe you could add an open class to your schedule. My syllabus classes are also only during term time (each term is between 10 and 15 weeks), if I just would follow the syllabus classes I also would have big gaps, especially during the sumner.

[Mel Johnson]

I understand the weather thing. I'm terrified to drive even if there is an inch of snow. But on that particular day it just snowed the night before so by the time that night rolled around the roads had no trace of snow. I just find it hard to understand those little holidays. Just because the banks are closed why does ballet have to stop.   What do you mean by "insured?" I thought that dance schools were independent from the school districts. I know there are some valid reasons behind it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The dance schools ARE independent of the school districts, but some insurance companies use the schools, rightly or wrongly, as the arbiter of when it's safe to travel. You can choose a less restrictive policy, but the premiums will be higher. Then you have to fiddle with the deductible in order to make the policy less expensive.

[kellylynn]

I would love to take syllabus courses. However, in the US (ny at least) all adult courses are open. I don't think adult ballet is big enough here on the recreational level to have structured term courses. Even with open adult classes though the studios will still close if the school district they are in closes. They just follow that. Which makes sense some of the time but not all of the time. For instance, a public school will declare themselves closed in the morning due to bad driving conditions. But if your ballet class is at 8:00pm it won't matter because the ballet studio will be closed until the next day due to the conditions that morning. Meanwhile, other people I know will still have their scheduled yoga and pilates classes, or other sports related activities...but no ballet for me because the school district closed 12 hrs earlier. It's just so frustrating. Yeah, there are big gaps in the terms mostly due to the school district breaks. They also probably figure that they aren't going to get good attendence during school breaks because most of their profits come from the 200 kids...not the 20 adults. So why bother keeping just the adult classes open? That's how I look at it. The classes in manhattan have much more of an adult following and are less likely to close down due to "election day" or some other type of school/bank/post office hoilday. And it's not even just that. We tend to have snow here about once a week or every two weeks the whole winter. So you can add that, and then add the whole WEEK LONG breaks that the studios just take for the hell of it. Then when they have their winter and spring recitals they will close the studio down for the weekend for auditions/rehearsals/etc. So there has been only like one or two weeks this season where I've actually taken class three times. Sorry this is long but it's sooooo annoying when you love ballet as much as I do and you want to be able to take it as much as you can.