Expert: Connie - 9/23/2008

Question
Hello Connie,
I am a Mom for a little girl. I want to send her to a ballet school to receive formal training.
We live in Buffalo area, and I found a local ballet school.  http://www.royalacademyofballet.com/index.html
In their website, they announced that " We base our training on the Russian method of ballet (Vaganova), with a Balanchine influence. All classes, no matter what level or style of dance, are taught with an emphasis on clean technique."
Do you think it is a good school? Do you have any good school in mind?

My daughter is young(1 year old), and we still have time. :-)

Thanks a lot!

Qian

Answer
I checked out their website, and it looks like a pretty good school, especially for someone as young as your daughter!  If she turns out to be really serious for ballet I would keep an eye out for other schools in the area, and not be afraid to try them out as well.  You want to make sure that you're getting the best training possible.  However, until your daughter gets to be about nine, the most important ballet training is instilling a love of music and dance in her.  Enjoy!