City Ballet School355

This is the WORST place to go if you want your child to learn, develop an interest in ballet and or try to have fun while learning ballet. It is definitely a high expectation/high demand ballet school. They are clear about that and that is completely fine. However, they are completely uncommunicative - there is no communication or feedback from the teachers - after 4 years of my child being there, I have never spoken with any of her teachers and have not been welcomed to. There is no feedback provided to the students, even if a students has a question on form or position, questions are unwelcome. The policies are inconsistent and applied individually to students without explanation. Rehearsals for performances are scheduled the Thursday before those weekend rehearsals. There is never anyone available to greet students or parents. And when parents do dare to ask a question, they are handed their heads and told to find another program. City Ballet doesn't even give written information on the student's performance at the end of the semester or year. It is impossible for a student to learn or improve if they can not ask a question.

Run far, far away from this ballet program. It is just unfortunately, a terrible place that just doesn't care. They take money and are never to be seen or heard from again.

I paid $1875 for my daughter to participate in the 2011 4-week summer intensive program and it was a disappointing experience because 1) they combined three of the five classes (the two morning classes were levels iii and iv, ages 8-15!), 2) they didn't have an instructor come over from the bolshoi as Ken said they were planning, 3) they did a one hour stretching class with 50 students instead of a rhythmic gymnastics class, as Ken had said they were considering, and 4) they had a secretary emailing very brief responses that show no consideration or respect for what i had to say. Ken (administrator, the artistic director's husband) was soooooo friendly and available in recruiting for the program. It's really a program just for the kids who go the ballet school during the school year... Fine if you're child is twelve or under and you don't mind the fact that they're so full of themselves. The red flag should have been that there was no registration paperwork or medical information paperwork, they just took the money and didn't ask/want anything else. TAGS for searching: Ken Patsel, Galina Alexandrova, San Francisco City Ballet School, Summer Intensive, Summer Program

I paid $1875 for my daughter to participate in the 2011 4-week summer intensive program and it was a disappointing experience because 1) they combined three of the five classes (the two morning classes were levels iii and iv, ages 8-15!), 2) they didn't have an instructor come over from the bolshoi as Ken said they were planning, 3) they did a one hour stretching class with 50 students instead of a rhythmic gymnastics class, as Ken had said they were considering, and 4) they had a secretary emailing very brief responses that show no consideration or respect for what i had to say. Ken (administrator, the artistic director's husband) was soooooo friendly and available in recruiting for the program. It's really a program just for the kids who go the ballet school during the school year... Fine if you're child is twelve or under and you don't mind the fact that they're so full of themselves. The red flag should have been that there was no registration paperwork or medical information paperwork, they just took the money and didn't ask/want anything else. TAGS for searching: Ken Patsel, Galina Alexandrova, San Francisco City Ballet School, Summer Intensive, Summer Program

This is the best Ballet school in the entire Bay Area if not the West coast. What a wonderful place! The teachers are world class!I recommend it highly to those serious about the training!