My daughter went to DAC starting at age 2. She joined competition in 1st grade and company level in 3rd. For years she absolutely loved dance and had a wonderful time. But as she got older and took dance more seriously joining competition and company level, the environment at the studio completely destroyed her passion.
From my experience, the regular classes are great- inclusive friends, nice parents but the company level and competition level is different. The teachers have obvious favorites and consistently put those dancers first -- especially the competition director, Taylor Martin. My daughter also had a ballet teacher at the company level who even critiqued her body, which was extremely discouraging. The only teacher who ever made her feel supported and valued was Mr. Matt.
There have also been multiple parent complaints made to the owner, Sara, about favoritism and the toxic atmosphere. Despite that, nothing seemed to change. Sara also awhile back was telling parents to leave good reviews (everyone eft them on google reviews)... now that we left I gave my honest review.
Socially, the studio is just as difficult. The girls have strong cliques and don't include others unless they meet their "standards." The parents have their own cliques as well. Once my daughter hit middle school, all of this became very obvious. No one cheered for her at competitions, and girls who weren't in the "right" friend group were ignored. She ended up alone in classes and alone at competitions, which was heartbreaking to watch. She loved dance so much that she used to count down the days to class -- but eventually she started coming up with excuses to skip because the environment made her feel so unwelcome.
From what I've seen, younger competitive dancers don't deal with this as much, though their parents still form groups. But if your child is in middle school or older, I do not recommend joining the competition team at DAC. Many girls have switched studios because of the toxic atmosphere, and based on our experience, I completely understand why. I would say DAC is the right place if your daughter is younger and doesn't want to join competition or the company level. The normal level classes are great... everyone is inclusive and has good teachers just not competition or company. read more