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These mothers are worse than the some of the pageant moms! My sons have done sports since age 3. T-Ball, Baseball, Soccer, Fencing, TaeKwonDo, X-Country, etc. NOT ONCE, did any coach make any of my sons cry.....and if anyone was ever sick, darn right they'd skip a practice!
Linda Leaver, Brian Boitano's coach since he began skating, has said that she always tells the parents of her students that figure skating, or any sport, is a great way for kids to learn discipline, establish exercise habits, learn how to win and lose graciously etc. but that if they can't give their kids the lessons unconditionally, without expecting any specific sort of results in terms of medals or rankings, then they shouldn't get involved at all. That's always seemed like a sensible attitude to me. Too bad the only parents we're seeing on these shows don't have this attitude, because I'm sure there are parents out there who do.
Fencing? Wow, that's awesome. It's a sort of elite and expensive sport, I know, my son has been doing it since he was 6. The actual US Olympics sanctioned centers are few and far between and even more uncommon are the ones that will instruct children under 10. Usually for the younger age groups it's just "play" fencing with foam swords at parks & recs summer camp. We have to drive to another city, 45 miles away, just to get him instructions. We live in a very historically significant area so he's had the chance to see people doing sword "fighting" and it made him want to take classes.Originally Posted by jenniferboston1
I think that perhaps Sonja and Mia would be instructors like Abby. Also, my son decided to take an Irish Step class one summer with some of his friends, that coach was a beast like this one. We lasted exactly one week, although the camp cost me close to $200, we just walked away from it because I wasn't about to put up with my son being treated like crap.
His Gracie Jiu-jitsu instructor can get pretty intense but there is still a level of respect present. However, I can promise you that they wouldn't put up with the way some of those mothers and even the kids were acting. I get the feeling that we are not getting the whole story here. Perhaps Abby is screaming at them because they were acting like little divas like their mothers? I'm not saying it's ok to be mean to children, I'm saying that we don't know the whole story and that I am going to have to watch the episode again to see if Abby actually did say anything hateful or if it was more just hyped up, fake drama for the cameras. The thing is, if she really were all that mean, would she have a thriving studio?
Edited to add: After reading some comments on the Lifetime site, I don't think I can try and see the "good" in Abby anymore. She's actually worse than she was shown. Wow, I am sort of stunned that parents are willing to put up with this. Will I keep watching, yep, but reading the comments from those who have actually taken classes with her and at this studio? Really puts this show in a different light.
Last edited by Harmony2000; 07-15-2011 at 02:07 AM.
Avatar: Eastern Amberwing dragonfly photo by me.
Ooooo look what I found.
www.reigndanceproductions.com <--official site for the dance company featured on this show. Now, scroll down and tell me if you see a familiar face? Why it's Miranda who was on this season of SYTYCD.
Also check out the titles some of them have, maybe she isn't completely out of line making the claim that she produces winners.
Now I'm curious to find out how much is just made up drama for TV and how much is legit.
They've been mentioning Miranda in everything lately. She may have some success stories, but so do other studios and I'll bet they don't browbeat their kids the way she does. That woman has no business working will little kids. She clearly doesn't have the temperament.
I watched the show again and she's still a total megalomaniac. Those mothers though, are delusional. They think their kids are going to be stars, so they allow them to be treated that way as a means to an end. I'm sorry, I think it's ridiculous and those mothers need to wake up. First, the likelihood of their daughter becoming a star is very remote. Second, paying someone to yell at your daughter and make her cry is just short of child abuse.
Abby saying she's being professional because that's how the kids will be treated in the business is ridiculous. They're little kids! That's like screaming at 10-year olds playing softball and claiming that you're preparing them for the Olympics.
The overwhelming majority of kids who dance - at whatever level - will be out of it by the time they hit their 20's. Either they'll get tired of it, find something else they like better, or they won't improve enough to continue....or like me, their body type will not be right (I was 5'9" by the time I was 15). A TINY percentage will ever go on to dance professionally and most won't do it for very long. That one mother who admitted she lets school take a back seat to dance should be ashamed.
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' - Isaac Asimov
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"
I finally saw this show's first episode. And I thought the moms on Toddlers and Tiaras were bad....
Was there even one redeemable adult on the show? Some of those little girls also look really, really thin. I realize dancers are often on the thin side, but it's still worrisome to think that some of them might already be overly calorie-conscious at their tender ages.
It also occurred to me while watching that I remember seeing a panel of several past Olympic and World champion figure skaters discussing what it was like to compete. Almost all of them admitted to being horribly nervous when taking their opening positions on the ice and wondering why they put themselves through all this--but then, if the program went well, they'd feel such a rush and think, "This is why we do this!" The sad thing is, I don't see a lot of these little girls having much fun or getting much joy out of what they're doing. If you really want a child or an adult to continue with an activity voluntarily, he/she needs to get some satisfaction from it somehow. One of the long term benefits of getting kids active as children is supposed to be establishing a pattern of healthy behavior, isn't it? If they don't feel any happiness or satisfaction from being involved in dance (or whatever), aren't they just going to quit as soon as they can and perhaps end up being ambivalent about picking up any other kind of activity for fear of it making them feel inadequate yet again?
Also, while I don't want to sound overly mean here, isn't it kind of odd for a supposedly terrific dance teacher to be that out of shape? I don't expect retired dancers to maintain the same body type they had before, but between her condition and her temper, I can't imagine that woman might not be in line for some pretty serious health problems. I'm not sure I'd want her modeling any kind of behavior for a child. And I'm really sure that if another adult scolded me for talking and reminded me to use my "library voice" in a hotel lobby, I'd burst out laughing.
One last thing--if the teacher is such a stickler for discipline, how come it's SOP for her to be putting costumes together at the last minute? I've done a lot of school and community theatre, and unless there was an unexpected issue with a particular costume, everything was in place by the first dress rehearsal and certainly long before opening. You need to know how it's going to feel to move in a costume piece well before you perform in it for the first time.
I thought the same thing when I watched! None of my dance teachers were heavy. Some had retired from dancing, but others hadn't. One ballet teacher still performed with various companies and another was courted by a big company (he didn't go). My tap teacher actually performed with us in one number. One of my teachers and I actually attended a class together for a while at another studio. I think part of teaching is being able to demonstrate movement and Abby clearly cannot. Also, I don't think her choreography is all that good. I was non-plussed.
Also ITA about the costumes. Whenever my performing groups traveled to competitions or paid performances, the costumes were sewn and ready days, if not weeks beforehand. She wants to claims she's a professional and they're that ill prepared? I don't buy it. Our moms always had sewing kits on hand for last minute emergencies, but we rarely needed them because we'd already danced in the costumes to make sure everything would stay put. Why is Abby not having them do dress rehearsals? That would have clued them in about the headband needing to be pinned better.
I'm not concerned about any of those girls being too thin. That's the age that they will be thin. If they still look at that when they're 14 or 15, then I'd be concerned. If they're very active - and it seems like they practically sleep at that studio, they will be smaller and may not go through puberty until later.
I was watching a documentary last night called Ballerina, which follows several dancers at the Mariinsky Theater (aka the Kirov) and the associated Vaganova Academy and, while most of the film focused on the professional company, it did show the very young children in classes. My point in bringing this up? Not one teacher yelled or berated those children. They were gentle and firm, but they never even raised their voices. This is basically the "feeder school" for one of the best ballet companies in the world. If they don't need to yell at children, Abby's excuse doesn't hold water. I think she's just a bitch with an inferiority complex who gets her jollies from yelling at little girls. She's obviously not capable of communicating with anyone like an adult.
Anyway, Ballerina is a terrific film if you're a dance fan. I've seen it a few times now and highly recommend it. I think it will stop being available streaming on Netflix in the next few days, which is why I watched it again last night.
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' - Isaac Asimov
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"
As a retired teacher, mom of 3 girls, one who was a college cheerleader, one who was a dancer in high school. and one who plays college basketball, I just can't understand any parent tolerating this behavior, and my kids have had some demanding coaches, but the principal surprises me, paying someone to beat down her childs' self-esteem? puhleez!
[QUOTE=Critical;4338516]I thought the same thing when I watched! None of my dance teachers were heavy. Some had retired from dancing, but others hadn't. One ballet teacher still performed with various companies and another was courted by a big company (he didn't go). My tap teacher actually performed with us in one number. One of my teachers and I actually attended a class together for a while at another studio. I think part of teaching is being able to demonstrate movement and Abby clearly cannot. Also, I don't think her choreography is all that good. I was non-plussed.
Also ITA about the costumes. Whenever my performing groups traveled to competitions or paid performances, the costumes were sewn and ready days, if not weeks beforehand. She wants to claims she's a professional and they're that ill prepared? I don't buy it. Our moms always had sewing kits on hand for last minute emergencies, but we rarely needed them because we'd already danced in the costumes to make sure everything would stay put. Why is Abby not having them do dress rehearsals? That would have clued them in about the headband needing to be pinned better.
I'm not concerned about any of those girls being too thin. That's the age that they will be thin. If they still look at that when they're 14 or 15, then I'd be concerned. If they're very active - and it seems like they practically sleep at that studio, they will be smaller and may not go through puberty until later.
I could understand a very talented teacher/choreographer who was much older or who could no longer perform particular moves due to injuries working with students if he/she had someone on-hand to demonstrate the movements he/she couldn't do as he/she was explaining the choreography, but this woman didn't seem to have anyone helping her. Some things you really can't explain without providing a direct example. Even if you're just learning a box step, you need someone with you, guiding you through it, not just telling you how it's done. You need to see how it's done.
I'll take your word for it with regard to the students' size, having not been a dancer myself. I just flashed to the days of teeny-weeny Olympic gymnasts who were very young (before the rules were changed) and seemed altogether too prone to injury. And yeah, I realize those girls spent even more time training than these dancers do.
Carrying an emergency sewing kit just makes sense. There's always the chance something unexpected might happen. A strap might give or a button or snap pop off--the kind of thing you can't necessarily predict. Heck, at a rehearsal once, I ripped out a back seam of a huge ball gown skirt, because I wasn't yet used to how much more room I required to turn around in that skirt and its multiple petticoats and caught it on the arm of an ornate chair on an exit (which is partly why I know how important it is to be used to a costume before you wear it in a performance). The fact that it's completely common for that teacher to be assembling costumes moments before they were set to dance is ridiculous. Incidentally, why was she doing it? Even in college or community theatre, you have costume crews. In high school, we had costume and prop crews, and I'm not from a particularly large town. If she's so successful, why doesn't she have someone to see to the costumes ahead of time? If nothing else, why can't she get a mom to help with the costumes in exchange for a reduced tuition rate for her child if she doesn't want to pay someone a straight-up salary for help?
The costumes for the big performing/competition group I was in were always sewn by one or several mothers. We once bought costumes, but they were awful, so one of the mothers recreated them herself and they were much better quality - they needed to be since we performed a lot.
I think that, even if a teacher had injuries that precluded him or her from performing the actual routine, they should be able to demonstrate the leg/arm/body position well enough. Abby can't do that because of her size.
While I did dance with girls who were too thin - it's just unavoidable, especially in ballet -many were thin because they danced so much OR just because that was their body type. Usually, when you get to a high level in ballet or any style of dance, it's not only because of talent and aptitude, but because your body type is suited for it.
You know, I normally avoid all shows with people yelling or acting the way Abby does, but I just can't NOT watch. It's probably because I lived in that world for so long, but I find it oddly hypnotic.
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' - Isaac Asimov
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"
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