Jackie Cronsburg is retiring from BWNE anad MYB, closing her schools, and merging them with Boston Ballet! She will be taking over the new Boston Ballet Ensemble.She also brings with her a close relationship with the George Balanchine Trust. I think the new students will be a boon to the Metrowest studio especially. It sounds like exciting news for Boston Ballet and the Boston Ballet School. Any thoughts?

I am sad to see BWNE go.

It was the "other" ballet school in the Boston area -- now, Boston Ballet School is the only game in town!

I think it was especially wonderful how they provided very professional performance opportunities for their students. My daughter danced in their Nutcracker for two years, and it was a nice production.

The students from BWNE, obviously, have a choice whether or not to choose Boston Ballet as their new school. It will be interesting to see how many do. A lot of the students there loved the small intimate setting and might be overwhelmed at BBS.

While it will be sad to see BWNE go, Boston Ballet isn't the only ballet school intown.Walnut Hill school has a very good program and they aren't that far away. Just in Natick which is close I think to Waltham and Hopkington or at least as easy to get to... There are few other smaller schools around as well. ..

My daughter is a student at the Walnut Hill Community Dance Academy, and you're right, it's a great program!

I was thinking about Walnut Hill School, and wondering if one could really consider it a local ballet school (in competition with Boston Ballet School), since many families would love for their children to take ballet class there, but want their children to attend their local high school for academics.

Will they have a final spring performance?

I checked their web site, and it appears that the spring performance was early this month.

Some of the BWNE staff will be teaching at the Walnut Hill Community Dance Academy in the fall.

I have read that the Hopkinton and Waltham studios will close, if that has not already happened. It's too bad that BB can't find a way to keep them open. For BB to call its Newtonville studio "MetroWest" borders on the absurd, but that's a moniker that would apply very well to Hopkinton.

Although I don't know any of them, I feel badly for the parents and students who are now faced with a long, long commute to get to and from Newton or Boston.