This is my 4yr. daughter’s first year doing ballet. She is in the nutcracker as a mouse and little princess. I had no interest in chaperoning because I wanted to enjoy her performance. We had to buy our own tickets to the show and I am super excited to watch her. BUT we all got this email and the performance is next Thursday – Saturday…. (My daughter is ONLY performing 1)
Hello parents of all our lovely dancers!
This is a follow-up regarding our need for chaperones for the upcoming performance. Several classes still do not have the required number of adult volunteers, and "without those positions filled, those groups cannot be cleared to perform".
Chaperones are a necessary part of these productions. They are required to keep dancers safe, organized, and where they need to be throughout the show. If your dancer is performing and you have not yet signed up, please take a moment to do so today so we can finalize backstage assignments.
Please do not wait until the last minute to sign up we rely on parent participation to support the directors and backstage team so we can run the show efficiently and without delays.
I’m kind of shocked at how they’re handling this because at another dance studio (not ballet) for their recitals they would ask the parents to volunteer and if they didn’t get enough volunteers a week or two before the performance, they would hire people to come in to be chaperones. That way the kids were taken care of. I’m very upset that the ballet studio is not doing that. I really don’t appreciate the fact that they’re threatening our kids not to perform because they’re relying solely on volunteers and not putting the money out to get chaperones. We want to enjoy the performance and already bought our tickets a month ago. Again is volunteering and if they don’t have enough that’s their problem and our girls should not be punished for that. AITA?
Let me clarify, my daughter is only doing 1 performance because they are the littlest dancers. There are 4 kids in her class including her so not very many parents to choose from.
YTA I did ballet for over 12 years and this is normal. My mom would be back stage with me and would go up to the balcony during the time I was on stage to watch. On a day she wasn’t a chaperone she would take the whole family to see me.
The thing that is more concerning to me is why don’t you want to be with your daughter backstage. It is very stressful at that age and she will be around adults she doesn’t know while changing into a very intricate costume. At 4, the lights can be frightening and I’ve seen one too many kids throw a tantrum after the performance (and during) because of the noise. You are setting your daughter up to have a terrible recital experience.
The nutcracker is a full length ballet production and she will be backstage for most of it and during the second act she will not perform. Do you want her to be alone with nothing to do for almost an hour while you’re watching?
You need to sit down and think about whether you’re up to being a chaperone for every recital she’ll go through; because if you don’t, this is essentially standard practice at every dance studio I’ve been at with the exception of the adult and high school classes.
THIS. Excellent reply, I 100% agree with everything said here. And I did the same thing: I wasn’t gonna just let some stranger change my daughter’s clothes.
But if you’re like me (sounds like you are), you’ve probably seen that a lot of parents (sometimes even most) are not as involved, and it’s sad