I'll start off by sharing a positive experience I had at The Studio Seattle, which was getting to…read morelearn from Hailey Henderson. Hailey is as excellent of an instructor as she is an actor. She clearly loves teaching and is incredibly knowledgeable about acting theory and applications. Hailey has high expectations for her learners and is also deeply compassionate, a perfect combination for creating an effective learning environment. I am immensely grateful to have been able to learn with her. Hailey is the primary instructor for The Studio Seattle, whereas Andrew Tsao is the artistic director and founder. Andrew was going to cover the last several weeks of classes in my Acting Foundations 2 class series, and prior to this he co-taught a class with Hailey. In this class, Andrew had us participate in exercises where we would be improvising interactions with a scene partner. These scenes were meant to be highly realistic- we were playing ourselves and had similar relationships to each other as we do in real life. Our objectives and given circumstances were given to us individually, without our scene partner's (or the class's) knowledge. In one scene, Andrew had one of our male classmates play the role of a sexual predator towards not one, but two of our classmates. When his scene partner responded to his unwanted advances authentically, by attempting to distract the perpetrator and leave, Andrew told her that she was responding incorrectly and that should/would in fact "fight". He also told her that her "avoidance" would be a hindrance to her as an actor. In another scene, part of the given circumstances was that one of my classmates had had an abortion. I followed up with Andrew expressing my concern that not one, but two extremely sensitive topics, particularly for women, were chosen for these exercises. I stated that that the nature of the exercises required us to be ourselves, thereby increasing the level of sensitivity and creating a high potentiality for trauma/re-traumatization. I acknowledged that while actors do work with difficult content, we get to choose and consent to this, which was not an option in this situation (since we did not know our scene partner's backgrounds or objectives). I stated my expectation that content will be more thoughtfully chosen for these exercises moving forward and that learners be made more fully aware of their options. Andrew's initial response acknowledged that he could have been more thoughtful in ensuring everyone was aware that they could opt out of the exercises. He did not address my concerns over the nature of the content itself, other than implying that more experienced actors would have been fine with the content (I have since heard from multiple other acting instructors that this is not at all the case). I responded by saying that I appreciated his effort to improve transparency around opting out of exercises moving forward. I again stated my concern over the content itself, particularly as it relates to women, and expressed skepticism that more experienced actors would have been fine with the content. Overall, I felt like my concerns were dismissed. Andrew responded by disinviting me to continue attending classes at The Studio Seattle. Based on my experience, I'm of the opinion that Andrew Tsao is not interested in feedback as it relates to the safety of his students, particularly women. For this reason, I would caution any woman/female person against taking classes at The Studio Seattle.

I have completed Foundations 1 & 2 at The Studio Seattle and cannot speak highly enough about this…read moreprogram and instructors. Alana's deep understanding of theory and process offers the groundwork to feel comfortable and prepared for the deeper work in Foundations 2, while Aaron has a magical way of balancing thoughtful and respectful lessons with a humility and irreverence that creates a joyful space to learn and try new things. Thank you, Andrew for creating a welcoming, enriching, and intensive space in Seattle.

A Very Die Hard Christmas -- Seattle Public Theater…read more For 33 straight years, my sister (WCP) and I have watched Die Hard and Die Hard 2 every December. A few years ago, a friend introduced me to this parody play -- and now it's officially part of my holiday tradition. I come back year-over-year because each production is different, clever, and full of new surprises. This year's version was one of the best yet: Upgraded set pieces, including a tall wall with TWO vents and working doors Smartly updated jokes and swapped-out 80s references Fresh additions to the villain list (shoutout to Huey Lewis & The News and Vidal Sassoon) And a perfect recreation of the iconic vent scene where McClane mutters: "Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs..." followed by "Now I know what a TV dinner feels like." This was my 3rd time, my friend Mary R's "don't ask how many," and my sister's very first time. The show was hilarious and high-energy -- but honestly, the best part was watching WCP react to it for the first time. Pure holiday magic. Seattle Public Theater nails the humor, nostalgia, and chaotic joy of Die Hard while giving audiences something new every December. If you love the movie, love parody, or just want a holiday show that's totally different from the usual lineup, go see this. Highly recommended. Yippee-Ki-Yay, Seattle.

This is a cute little local theater with all seats extremely close to the stage! Not a bad view in…read morethe house. I recently saw Hurricane Diane and it was full of laughs and quality acting. The seats are a bit uncomfortable and the rows are very close together but other than that it's worth grabbing some tickets!

I love supporting my local theater community!…read more Been a fan of taproot since I moved to Seattle 13 years ago. Well run, well managed and consistent. They are fantastic and everyone should go see more theater at this location. Currently too many older folks! It's bizarre, we need more ways to get regular/young people involved. I've been involved in east coast theater community in Toronto and we have a lot more diversity and easily more younger people involved in, volunteering for and attending theater shows than in Seattle where it looks like live theater is for the retired community. It is not! Everyone should have access to live theater. We need to change this pronto.

Very nice small theater. Not a bad seat at least down stairs. The production was very good and well…read moreacted and directed. The concessions at intermission were well executed. Nice you can take beverages into the theater.

I'm taking private lessons here and I've worked with several coaches. They are all great! The gym…read moreis not too warm in summer while the ceiling is high, which makes it the best aerial gym in the Seattle area.

I truly thought that I would be giving this place a 5 star review, and I'm sad that wasn't my…read moreexperience. I am always looking to support the Arts, small businesses, museums, and such - especially now - and this seemed like a good way to do that while also having a fun, unique work-out experience. I have actually had this place on my bucket list for years, so I was super excited to go. My husband and I paid $100 for a 1-hour private aerial silks lesson. We decided on a private lesson partly due to COVID, partly because we were hoping for a class that was at least partly-tailored to us, since it would be just the 2 of us, and partly because I am at one of the least physically-fit points I've been at in my entire life. (My excuses are: a couple of severe medical issues that affected my weight and my energy levels, and my rescue cat who is very needy and loves to cuddle, but he's worth it... but really I just need to get my butt in gear and get fit again.) Despite my low level of physical fitness currently, my minor physical limitations, and my total lack of experience, I was feeling confident that I could adapt or modify anything that I couldn't do, hopefully with the help of the instructor. I didn't even necessarily expect to be able to do every move. What I didn't expect was to be able to do NONE of the moves. None of them. Okay, I'm not THAT lacking in physical fitness... at least, I didn't think I was? I've done many virtual physical fitness classes throughout the pandemic - though yelp, through a few friends of mine who are fitness class instructors and I wanted to support them financially while trying to stay fit, and a handful of other classes, too. For some of these other fitness classes, I wasn't able to do every single move, and I did have to modify some of the suggested moves. However, this is literally the first time in my entire life that I was able to do NONE of the moves. I started feeling frustrated by this. My husband mentioned that it seemed like the instructor, Jen, had no idea what to do when I started feeling frustrated. I certainly didn't receive a single word of encouragement from her, which might have been nice. Although she did suggest corrections, she didn't really suggest modifications or alternate moves for me to try. When I asked her if the private lesson had a set curriculum and was really similar to the intro class, just with only 2 people, or if she was able to adapt to our specific needs and limitations, she got really defensive and insisted that she had given me "another option" for a move. But there were only 4 total moves that she taught us in the entire hour, and it seemed like the "other option" was just the next thing on her list of moves in the pre-set curriculum. My husband also mentioned that Jen seemed ill-equipped to trouble-shoot if one of us was having an issue with any of the moves. He only really had an issue with the last move of the 4 (go, Leo! It was neat to watch him go!!), but the instructor gave him feedback 4 separate times but none of her feedback enabled him to complete the 4th move successfully so she clearly had no clue what the problem was. My poor husband, who is an excellent problem-solver in general, felt badly that HE, as a first-time beginning student, wasn't able to figure out what the problem was - isn't that a big part of the instructor's job, especially for a private lesson? My husband also commented that the instructor's energy was really "flat". I agree with this - she had zero enthusiasm whatsoever, and almost no encouragement. When I was encouraging my husband and cheering him on for the 4th move - by this time I was sitting on my mat letting the lesson be his lesson since I hadn't gotten anywhere on ANY of the 4 moves - she looked over at me and then said a couple of encouraging things to him herself. This was the first time in our entire lesson, with about 5 minutes left to go, that she had said anything encouraging. This seems weird for a fitness instructor, they usually have a pretty infectious energy that is really motivating, and I started out this class super excited to learn this. We sadly would not go back, unless maybe in 5 years when I'm super fit again (it might take that long, LOL), but if we did go back, we would request a different instructor for sure. I will say that our instructor was friendly and welcoming to me when I arrived. My husband was still parking, so I arrived alone for the first few minutes. This reminds me - parking is horrible at this location, and super hard to find. We went today, on a Thursday afternoon. We arrived almost 10 minutes early. By 1 minute until our lesson started, we still had not found a place to park near the studio. Really sad and disappointed. It was nice to watch my husband do 3 of the moves, though. I feel like giving 2 stars really, but their COVID precautions are/were A++ which matters a lot to us since we're super strict ourselves, and the facility was nice.

Wow my daughter LOVED this camp!!! Sandy made this so fun for the kids and she puts on a great…read moreperformance at the end! I will definitely have my daughter do this camp again.

I sent my 5.5 year old and 3 year old sons to the Parent's Night Out Star Wars classes that…read moreculminated in a performance with the older kid class. The kids were a little slow to warm up for the first class but after 20 minutes, there was no looking back. They loved all the classes and had so much fun. The performance was very enjoyable too. My older son has been in a couple of other mini-plays with other groups and, as an audience member, the SLP performance was the easiest to follow. Which is saying something since I had read the scripts and knew the stories of the other shows but SLP put on an original play I had never seen before. My boys don't need summer camps just yet but SLP is definitely on my list of camps to sign up for when we do need them.

When I was in second grade and rehearsing for a class recital, the music teacher pulled me aside…read moreafterward and said, "Marissa maybe you should just move your lips. . ." Ever since then I've had an understandable fear of singing in front of people; A fear that I wanted to conquer. I needed a voice instructor who I could trust, who was easygoing, who had an open mind and a forgiving ear. I found what I needed in Kristin Chambers. Kristin is a talented, multi-faceted performer in her own right, and she put me completely at ease and made it clear that I'd be working at my own pace. She helped me set some realistic goals and then systematically helped me achieve them. I was a beginner and starting out at ground zero; but Kristin pushed me when I needed pushing, and didn't allow me to beat myself up when I was struggling. She was an A+ cheerleader. Because my fear of singing was boarder-line phobia, it's impossible to overstate how awesome it was to find someone willing to take me on, on my own terms and who tailored the instruction specifically to my needs. My brother asked me to sing a song at his wedding this fall. He's my brother and I couldn't refuse, but I first had to face the haunting legacy of that teacher's words. Thank Jeebus for Kristin Chambers because I sang in front of a big crowd in a small church this November and I felt strong, solid, confident, and prepared!

My daughter went to see Kristin for voice lessons a couple of years ago and, though my daughter…read moredecided not to pursue singing as a major hobby, we loved Kristin. She did a great job of helping my girl explore what her voice could do. She was professional, talented, and all around wonderful.

What a guy!! We got to know bubble Man from his impromptu performances at carkeek park. When i…read morefound out he does parties we had to partake! He was awesome and clever and made jokes for everybody in the audience. Some folks might consider enforcing boundaries as rude, but if that's the case they need to take a deep look into themselves. Bubble Man is clear about his boundaries and if you're not helping enforce them, then he will have to. It's gonna be a scary world if folks are complaining about this and raising kids without respect for their and other people's boundaries. See his background in this fun article: https://www.seattleschild.com/host-an-international-visitor-this-fall-in-partnership-with-a-local-nonprofit/

I didn't even want to leave a one star review. He deserves a negative rating. He came to my…read morepreschool years ago and was rude to the children and to the teachers. One specific child (with special needs) was very excited and so his teacher stayed close to help remind him of Bubbleman's rules. Bubbleman seemed frustrated by this child and after a rude remark to the child, the teacher attempted to redirect the child using positive guidance. Bubbleman yelled at the teacher and said not to step in when he already took care of it. The teacher politely told him it was her job and he said he didn't care and he was in charge because it was his show. Our preschool did not book him again. Several of the children told their parents about their negative experience that day so any referrals he hoped for went out the door. I understand how frustrating it is to work with children but let teachers and parents help during the show. He needs to retire asap.

We had a ballet birthday party here (Magnolia location) for our 5 year old. Teacher Heather lead…read morethe class of kids, with a Frozen, K-Pop Demon Hunters, Chappell Roan leaning playlist, by request. Heather was warm and welcoming to all the new dancers, and soon had them engaged with games, movement and lots of playful ballet. A really nice and enthusiastic energy, even for the reluctant dancers. We had cupcakes and a bit more play, and it was a comfortable and easy environment for a great birthday party for young kids. Highly recommend for a birthday party!

Consistently great classes, and wonderful teachers. We most recently took intro to ballroom and it…read morewas not only an amazing class, but also affordable and a small class size. I can't say enough good things about Julia the instructor. She made us feel so comfortable and made things fun. I will absolutely be back to take another class from her!

We absolutely love the Ballard Academy of Music & Dance and our daughter gets so excited each week…read moreto attend!! She enjoys it so much, we added a second class-- and now she gets to learn from both Eva and Madison. They're both excellent, patient teachers!

High quality school, with teachers who get it. My kid didn't want to do tap.. the teacher walked…read moreover and said my daughter may have sensory overload and may need headphones. That's what I'm talking about! She didn't say oh your daughter is "having a bad day, or not participating" She looked at the situation and provided a solution! They're moms... they get it!

Hoopsmiles is a great addition to any event! Jon performed at lead a hooping workshop at our past…read morenonprofit festival, and both kids and adults had a blast playing with the hula hoops. From giant hoops, hoop towers and hooping tricks Jon radiates positive energy through and through. Hoopsmiles was a pleasure to work with leading up to, during and following the event. Hoopsmiles appeals to all ages, and you can't help but have fun! If you're looking for a fun, interactive performance for your next event you should consider booking Hoopsmiles.

Jon not only puts on a great performance but is also very easy to work with! I have worked with…read morehim for two years now and couldn't be happier. I would recommend him for anything from Birthday parties to festival stages. Great for all ages too!