I'll give this 2 stars as I did learn beautiful cabaret-style belly dance. Let me tell you why I take it down 3 stars.
First, Schadia, also known as Loreen or Eileen or something, pays her troupe members to write good reviews on yelp and about 5,6 other sites. She pays cash or will give you more in store credit. So do not trust what you read.
Atlanta Belly Dance studios is a great place to learn belly dancing, but do not join her troupe.
You will realize how quick the turn over rate is there! How many people really stay in the troupe? She will blame it on their inability to make a commitment, but that of course is her side of the story that she wants to tell you.
Her accent is completely fake. She studied German in college, and traveled a few times, and she learned how to have "an" accent (as her accent is not attributable to any one particular native language, she uses all sorts of foreign phrases and sound when speaking her real language English). Her husband is German, and he has made fun of Americans in front of me before. Kind of made me mad since I am an American girl, and most of their customers are!
When you join the troupe, she'll brain wash you into thinking it's this once in a lifetime opportunity. She'll tell you how secretive you have to be, and how you have to make a new identity for yourself and never share you true identity with anyone in the studio. She'll give you a new name even to go by, an Arabic one! And you must never ever tell anyone you real name.
She'll also make sure to notice your faults, and bring them up (even months later) when she is sure everyone is there to listen to it. She enjoys putting people down and criticizing them in a hurtful way. She's done it to everyone, and you have to go through it to "move up" in the troupe. She doesn't criticize to teach you, she criticizes you to put you down, so she puts herself up. And no one dares to question her because we had all been well-trained, dancing in fear of being excommunicated from the troupe. If you did something wrong, she'd hold a grudge for 6 months, easy.
With the double identities she has, her secretiveness, and her ugly nature, I really believe she's a treasure box for the psychology field.
Not many have left her troupe remaining in good relations.
After all of this you have to go through, she makes you pay a hefty monthly fee for her "training".
Besides her husband making fun of Americans, Schadia also made fun of the indigenous people of Central and South America, and how she found them so unattractive. She's just a nasty person.
Her and the troupe members also make fun of other customers. For example, if there's someone who is particularly strange for whatever reason (clothing style, looks, dancing style, personality, whatever), rather than being ladies/kind people and not talking about it, they will make fun of them and make jokes about them during private dance practice. Yes, that could mean you. While you were there paying for a class, the troupe member or Schadia herself may be saying things about you behind your back, or may not be. You can't be certain as she's not professional nor kind.
The studio also advocates this idea that they belly dance because it is for a woman's body, with curves and all. The troupe members will tell you that all they do is belly dance to stay in shape. LIE. They all work out on the side and do these crazy juice diets because Schadia has a strict weight rule. She actually (and archaically) measures your BMI monthly or at random (when she sees someone gaining weight) and if you are not between 18-24 you cannot dance. Of course, you'll never see Schadia get on the scale.
So, all in all, go there for great belly dancing! Stay clear of joining the troupe and of Schadia!
Atlanta has a lot to offer. Try other studios. Meet NICE girls, and NICE teachers who want to have fun, and not take your money and attempt at braining wash you. read more