Unfortunately after 4 years of dancing with this studio we have had enough and will not be returning.

For starters, there is absolutely no consistency when it comes to teachers. We had been doing Friday night classes for the past 3 out of 4 years. Ballet, Lyrical, Tap, and Jazz, most years there were two teachers each teaching two classes. Several times that we signed up, Michelle, the studio owner and director, was the teacher for ballet and lyrical. Each year Michelle was absent for more than half of the classes leaving the dancers to be taught by whatever teacher was available to fill in that day seemingly in the eleventh hour. Several times this was a young dance team member, or Michelle’s own teen daughter. The girls were left to mostly run around and play freeze dance the last 10 minutes of a 45 minute lesson. There was never any notice of these absences, and the subbing teacher never gave her name or introduced herself. And obviously as the director was absent, so was her staff much of the time as well.

At least twice during the 2019/2020 season my daughters classes were mixed with the little girls classes as neither the assigned teacher or a substitute was available. So girls ranging from 4 years old were in with girls as old as 12, while one teacher did her best to corral 20+ children of different experience in attendance for different classes. No apologies were ever issued, and no makeups were ever offered.

It almost must be stated that while the studio itself is fairly new, it it absolutely filthy. Regularly the trash cans overflow, the garbage stinks, the bathroom toilets are clogged, and the floors so dusty that girls leave with their black leotards covered in dust. One poor girl with allergies regularly had hives after her lessons.

During the pandemic, the studio understandably closed and the only way classes were conducted were via zoom. Imagine if you will several girls on computers of varying ages and abilities trying to do lessons over the computer, again with over 20 in attendance at times, instructed by teachers who were not their own. It was a disaster and was not conducive to learning at all.

With that being said there was much talk about a recital event for the girls, a promise of them using google classroom to learn their dances by their assigned teacher, seeing their costumes and use the music they’d be performing to during recital. I set up my daughter accordingly, but nothing ever came to fruition and the entire idea of the girls learning a routine fell apart.

Then came the drama of trying to secure our costumes, for which we paid on time and in full in December. After receiving an email about signing up for summer classes (!!! before the official season had even come to an end!!!) I contacted the director about the costumes and what would be done for recital. The director declared that she was just about to call me to schedule a pick up for the costumes... and stated that in place of recital the girls would be doing a red carpet event with details to follow sometime soon. At that time, we had enough and did not feel it was fair after spending over a thousand dollars in lessons, costumes and apparel that the studio expected more money for the girls to have any kind of conclusion for a red carpet event at the studio.

I would recommend anyone looking for a dance studio to look ANYWHERE else. The professionalism of this studio is severely lacking, along with any genuine care about the dancers, unless you’re pouring money into the dance team. We tried very hard to hold our tongues and support this small business knowing they must have been hurt by the pandemic, to only be treated rudely and as an afterthought so much of the time. Honestly, just a sincere apology would have gone a long way and that never materialized either