My girls both worked with Chelsea in her theater and dance studio for years! Our experience was…read morephenomenal. She always provided a space for them to feel accepted, celebrated and supported! I can't imagine their teen years without her.

I have spent a long time debating whether to write this review because Starlight was once a place…read moremy child genuinely loved. Unfortunately, many of the issues that ultimately led us to leave were not isolated incidents, they were patterns that existed for years and appeared to worsen as the owner took on more stress. Constructive criticism is not an attack. Honest feedback is not disloyalty. The common denominator throughout the concerns many families raised was leadership. Communication problems were present long before the recent turmoil, but they became significantly more noticeable as the program grew. Important information was often delayed, incomplete, changed without explanation, or communicated differently to different groups of people. Parents frequently found themselves piecing together information from rumors, social media, group texts, and other families rather than receiving clear and consistent communication directly from leadership. The situation surrounding the temporary location (without heat/AC and wall) and construction delays was particularly frustrating. Families were repeatedly given timelines and explanations that changed over time, creating confusion and eroding trust. We were told at one point that construction was halted due to human remains being found, this was false. As a parent of a neurodivergent child, I was also disappointed by decisions that appeared to overlook the needs of many students in the program. Despite the owner stating that Starlight is "inclusive and welcoming to all". The owner even going as far as stating "LGBTQ and neurodivergent kids are my specialty". One example was the creation of a teen group chat used for communication while excluding parents from those conversations. Most of the students involved were freshman, many of whom are neurodivergent and rely on adult support to manage schedules, stay organized, and process information. Removing parents from those communications created unnecessary barriers and left families struggling to ensure their children had accurate information. I was further troubled by comments made about students and families. Hearing a neurodivergent child who was struggling emotionally described as "throwing a hissy fit" demonstrated a lack of understanding and compassion that I would expect from a youth program serving diverse learners. I watched as students were guilted into taking on more responsibilities/roles than they wanted despite their feelings being clearly communicated. Likewise, hearing concerned parents characterized as "entitled" was disheartening. Parents were not asking for special treatment,they were asking for transparency, consistency, and accountability after investing significant time, money, and trust into the organization. The saddest part is that the students were often caught in the middle of adult decisions and conflicts. The children showed up to learn, perform, build friendships, and pursue something they loved. They deserved stability, professionalism, and leadership that modeled healthy communication and accountability. The students deserve nothing less. One of the most frustrating aspects of this experience is that many of the concerns raised by families over the years have never seemed to be genuinely acknowledged. Instead, there appears to be a pattern where criticism is immediately dismissed, explained away, or attributed to misunderstandings rather than treated as an opportunity for reflection and growth. Even when families take the time to leave thoughtful feedback or reviews, the response often seems focused on defending decisions, challenging the person's account, or explaining why their experience wasn't valid rather than recognizing that multiple families may be raising similar concerns. When every concern is attributed to a misunderstanding, a disgruntled parent, or someone who simply doesn't know the full story, it becomes difficult to believe that meaningful accountability is taking place. At some point, when the same themes continue to emerge from multiple families over multiple years communication issues, lack of transparency, shifting narratives, exclusion of parents, and dismissive responses to concerns. It is worth considering whether those concerns deserve genuine reflection rather than another explanation for why they aren't true. Again, constructive criticism is not an attack. Honest feedback is not disloyalty. Families who speak up are often doing so because they care deeply about the students and want the organization to succeed. Unfortunately, too often it felt like those voices were viewed as a threat rather than an opportunity to improve.

Miss Peggy is the owner and is quite wonderful! She is very engaging, answers every question you…read morehave, is super energetic during class instruction and inspiring overall. My daughter has been coming here for the last few months and she loves it! She is beginning ballet level four. She loves the school because of the spacious studios, constantly learning new techniques and receiving instruction for improvement. All of the teachers are kind and clear. As a parent, I immediately felt a sense of community and connecting this with the other parents and the staff that I did not experience at our previous studio for over 1.5 years. My daughter looks forward to participating in the Nutcracker and the spring performance.

I am very happy my step daughter had the advantage to be part of short experience at Ballet…read morepetit... now my boyfriend and I have his daughter once in a while for long vacations with us because she lives in san diego and we are here in the bay area. So it was summer vacation and she has been dancing waaaay to much in the house that I thought we need to get her into a dancing school ASAP. As we went to walmart I passed by this studio and gave myself a u-turn to stop by. I saw her little face suppper eager and full of excitement. We asked information and they had their program already started but the nice lady gave us the opportunity still for her to join, and accommodate the pricing. I explained to her we only have her for long vacations and she will be receiving her anytime ! Thank you for making her happy she LOVED it

Studio A has been home to my dancer since she was three years old. The teachers and director foster…read morea family environment where you feel you belong. Whether it's just taking rec classes or you are a veteran company dancer, people are treated the same. We have been very happy with our Studio A family.

This is my first season here at Studio A, my daughter has been dancing for 12 seasons and this is…read moreby far the BEST season she's had! It's been so great, my younger daughter also wanted to start taking classes as well! All of the kids and parents are warm and welcoming. You can really tell that Aggie loves and cares for the kids and families who come here! The kids have fun here in addition to their great training and choreography. My daughter's confidence has soared this season! This is exactly the type of environment we were looking for when we signed up for dance!! Not to mention they offer adult dance class as well that I am a part of. We've had a blast this season and can't wait for next season to start!

First, this review is long overdue…read more My daughter began her journey with CVPA approximately one year ago. She has been dancing ballet since the age of 3, which she has continued to grow in. Two of the things she has been training in are jazz (3rd year now) and hip hop (2nd year now). Prior to this last year before joining CVPA, she was not taught proper technique, vocabulary or even how to count correctly with music. The studio she danced at before joining CVPA never corrected or communicated any concerns. Janet (CVPA owner) took my daughter in and has personally spent time retraining her and reversing the poor and bad habits that were never corrected where she danced prior to CVPA. I have witnessed her do this for all her new students. I cannot say enough good things about the teachers, owner, and students in Castro Valley Performing Arts. My daughter has been on an emotional journey this past year, and CVPA has given her the tools and communication to help get her in the right direction. The teachers and Owner are wonderful communicators, and they truly take the time to instill correct form, alignment, technique, dance vocabulary, good attitude, amazing choreography, and so much more. Specifically, Ms. Janet, Ms. Gia, Ms. Kim, Ms. Kristina, Ms. Hannah, Ms. Michelle, Ms. Karisa, and Ms. Jenelle have all greatly influenced my daughter through this transition. Thank you all for believing in my daughter and welcoming our family to your studio. Ms. Cassidy, who recently began teaching at CVPA is also amazing. She has instructed my daughter in the past for ballet, and I feel was the only reason my daughter maintained good ballet training during our time prior to CVPA. Ms. Amanda is also absolutely amazing. While my daughter did have a hard time learning Latin Jazz, as it was something I'm not sure she was able to comfortably embrace, it is clear as day that Ms. Amanda is a wonderful instructor. I am so incredibly happy that she is working with such a strong team of teachers. If you are looking for a studio that teaches proper technique, etiquette, dance vocabulary, amazing choreography, and how to properly train their dancers, then this is the place to be. I would like to add that I drive all the way from Livermore for my daughter to attend this studio. I never imagined commuting my children for a sport. Worth every moment!

It just breaks my heart how the Art Programs have always been in danger of being cut. I can't…read moreimagine a world without Elmo and Super Grover 2.0! And if Daniel Tiger went away, who's gonna teach my threenager "to try new food cuz it might taste good"?!?! It would be dull without music, without the singing and dancing, or painting, drawing, and all the other art forms that make the world a beautiful... and a sane... place to live. If Game of Thrones is going to be affected by these proposed budget cuts, I'll be really pissed! The high school students at CVHS are fortunate to have their Arts Program, and an exceptional one, I might add. I've seen a couple of musicals since my nephew has been in them, and recently my fambam watched Disney's Mary Poppins on a Sunday afternoon. I'm a fan of Broadway musicals and I thought the high school students were indubitably as good as those professionals. I tried to watch the original movie twice, but I fell asleep both times as I did not find it exciting. These high school kids killed each song and dance, and I mean K I L L L L L E D it (and that's a good thing)! The costumes were bright and colorful, each set was simple and cute, the choreographic sequences were fun, the songs played by the hs band were lively, and the performances were SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS! The cast deserved a standing ovation. Hopefully, these high school students will continue to explore their creativity while expanding their imaginations. And I wish other children will have the opportunity. Save the Arts. As Mary Poppins would say, "Anything can happen if you let it."

My daughter started attending Ace 3 years ago. She previously attended dance class at another…read morestudio. The teachers were never consistent there and were not very engaging for the children. I was worried that my daughter would lose her interest in dance. Luckily, as soon as she started Ace it was a wonderful experience. The teachers are warm and really care about the kids. They make dance fun! The front desk staff is also top notch. They are so responsive and attentive - I'm super impressed by their customer service. My son just started taking a class at Ace and he absolutely loves it. I'm so grateful to Ace for making dance class a positive experience for both of my children.

This is a wonderful studio of caring and supportive teachers and dancers! Thank you to Ace Dance…read moreAcademy for fostering my daughter's love for dance!

My bestie and I are in our BTS era. So when a dance cover choreo class for 2.0 showed up on our…read morefeed, I just needed to see if my schedule was free and well I was. So we went! L O C A T I O N MKC Project is located in a two story house building near the Cinema Place Parking lot which is where they suggest parking as it's next to the place and it's free parking. Note if you park on the first floor it does smell like pee. You may want to go up a floor to avoid your car smelling a bit pee-like. I N S I D E Note that the place is a nut free space so make sure you don't bring any nuts as they want to make sure folks who have nut allergies have a safe space. You go through two sets of gates (one at the front, then another inside). Then go inside the place and go up a set of stairs. One room has cubby holes for your stuff. They have a restroom also and then there's a fairly spacious room for the class. C L A S S Reservations on evite and it cost roughly ~$33 for the 1.5 hour class. Make sure to reserve your spot as they do sell out. I think there's a slight discount if you sign up early. Saori Sunaga from The Ruby Slippers was our instructor who is apparently baby ARMY! She basically started learning more about them as she started teaching these BTS cover classes. She already taught Dynamite before this class. The first half hour or so we got into a circle and introduced ourselves, how we found BTS, any biases, and any other choreo we'd be interested in learning. To be honest, this was great, I loved being able to just geek out with other ARMY, but I think it also pushed us over time as we ended up going about half an hour over to learn the set of choreo for the class. Then it was class. We got into lines and we drilled the harder stuff first and took our time. I appreciated Saori slowing down the steps and making sure we were comfortable moving on. She also made sure we swapped rows though some folks ended up not going to the front which I get. I did feel the later half of the class felt a bit rushed as we were running out of time but it is what it is. When we covered what we needed to cover, she broke us up into 3 groups to do a final run through at about 0.75x the full speed. Everyone was great and cheered and just was a good place to just have some fun regardless of your level of experience. This choreo is hard but it was fun when you get it down! At the end end, for MKC's socials, folks who wanted to be part of their post did one more final run through. O V E R A L L This was so much fun. Would I do it again? Yes. Absolutely. Am I still trying to get this choreo? Yes. It's hard y'all! But it's inspired me to do more dance choreo or at least learn the rest of this particular song. It's a super supportive environment. The instructor is wonderful and supportive and encourages us to speak up if we don't get a move. The space is great. Free parking also great. Just wish this was closer to home! They do have other classes so if this kind of class doesn't suit you, they also have other dance styles. Check them out and just have fun and dance!

MKC project has becomed like a second home for my dauther she found her love for dance here …read more Everyone here is so pleasant the teachers are amazing and the recitals are beutiful .

My daughter has been attending here for over 2-2.5 years. Over the course, she had multiple…read moreteachers. It was a rough start as the teacher was impatient and scolded her in front of everyone for not keeping her personal space (she was only 4 and it was only her second class) She started feeling very anxious and refused to go to ballet despite loving to dance. Luckily, we sticked with our gut feeling and removed her from that class immediately. We tried another class with a different teacher ( i think it was Ms Dominique) Although she was young, she was very patient and gentle. It had a huge impact and my daughter become feeling more comfortable and enjoyed ballet at Tutu school. She was moved to Ms Leah's class, who was also amazing. She's now in Ms Hannah's class. We love Ms Hannah as her teacher because she's balanced between patient, supportive, but also not afraid to challenge the girls and reinforce structure in the class. That has pushed my daughter to become a better dancer (as we know older ballet classes are very strict). My daughter has become more confident and skillful and always looks forward to come to ballet at Tutu school.

My daughter has been attending Tutu School Walnut Creek for nearly half a year now--and she…read moreabsolutely loves it! She's becoming more skillful, more confident, and genuinely looks forward to each class with so much joy. What truly makes the experience so special are the instructors, especially Ms. Tina. I can't thank her enough for her patience, expertise, and dedication. She is incredibly thorough in her instruction and deeply attentive to each child. Her calm, gentle demeanor works like magic--the children stay focused and engaged, even when there are occasional distractions, whether from other students or a parent on the phone. Thanks to teachers like Ms. Tina, my daughter will continue her ballet journey here. Not only is Ms. Tina a fantastic instructor for the kids, but she's also a wonderful mentor to the newly hired teachers--no wonder the entire team is so exceptional. Thank you, Ms. Tina, for everything you do. My daughter and all the little ballerinas are so lucky to learn from you!

The best. I drive 77 miles 4 days a week to bring my granddaughter to this dance center.read more

My daughter had a trial today and she actually loved it. MS Katie the teacher was very nice and all…read morethe parents were nice as well. Only only downside is that there is no AC and unfortunately that is a deal breaker for me if I'm sweating then I know these kiddos are extremely hot. Great location and price but I may have to look else where due to the heat. Also by 6:15 pm it was cooler out and the front door could have been opened to air out.