Wendy Diamond

If you are looking for a pleasant and educational dance experience, you would do better at a private dance school or city college. Wendy Diamond is cutting and cruel with her words. She attacks for no reason at all and especially little patience for non- dance majors. Wendy has no sense of people skills and is definitely on a power trip. From what I can tell (after taking her class for two semesters) she has a chip on her shoulder of some kind. She has no reason to be such a ballet snob; she seems to be better trained in modern dance than ballet. For this reason I would suggest taking ballet elsewhere. I have found that I have received better treatment from actual ballet dancers. The class may not be a total loss for everyone. She seems to be much nicer and more patient to dance majors. Her exams are small performances with a small group and are graded quite fairly. Technical perfection is more importatnt to her than just looking good or jumping around. Wendy seems to harrass the begining ballet class far less than ballet II. I wouldn't tell people to absolutely stay away from her, but be aware that she can be cruel and I would drop the class at the first sign of her harassing you. It doesn't get better or go away.

As far as dance teachers go, Wendy is very demanding, strict and critical. She has a well-trained eye and sees everything. Her bad days (and moods) are fairly intolerable, but they're not frequent. Overall, I learned more in her class than any other ballet class I've ever been commited to.

You should not take this class if you are not open to criticism or are sensitive as no one is safe from her scrutiny. She does it in a constructive way (for the most part) however and if you really pay attention and remain alert, your strength and technique will improve by leaps and bounds!

Wendy can be difficult but compared to other ballet teachers I've had - She wonderful! She is very focused and is available during office hours if you are having a real problem.

This is not a class for you if you A) can't make it to class EVERY class period B) can't show up on time or C) are overly sentitive to critism.

The only way to learn to do ballet is to corrected so corrections are frequent and she's honest about your faults AND when you have made improvements. If she see that you are really upset about the comments she;s made than she'll talk to you about that and try to encourage you. She also realizes that some people will hated her - but those people usually drop the class. She takes time to get to know her students - it feels very personal; it's nice.

If you really want to learn ballet - take her!