I was here for a bellydance class I signed up for. $10 a class- pretty reasonable. :) There were a lot of cars in the parking lot, as there are a few classes taking place at the same time. There was still plenty of parking. I was pleasantly greeted when I walked in. There is a table with a calendar of classes and other events. There are large windows into each studio so you can observe the classes and folding chairs. There is an area with a sofa, a few chairs and a coffee table. The furniture was very dated-maybe 1980's style, and there were ratty old ripped sheets covering the chairs. I was not impressed by this, but maybe they are getting ready to replace them, or they are just frugal. Not a big deal as I didn't come to sit. The floors in the studios are wood and very badly need to be redone. I guess I'm used to shiny wood floors in a studio I used to attend. Again, not a huge deal, they just could use a facelift. I guess the only complaint I have, is the mirrors on the walls are not joined together seamlessly. If you are watching the instructor or Yourself to make sure you are doing things correctly, you don't want to have a large seem of wood frame chopping you in half. You want to always see everything in the mirrors and not have that interruption. All in all, besides the facelift it needs, the classes looked fun and interesting, the building has a lot of room and the studio rooms were very large. The people I talked to all seemed very friendly, and the classes are priced reasonably. read more

It's not all ballet! I took several rounds of Bellydance classes there. I also took Belly dancing workshops there. There are beginner and advanced classes taught by Naila. The classes are Choreograghy based so you don't learn as many moves in one class but you will learn to put all the moves into a flowing dance. She is an excellent teacher. When you reach a reasonable level of competecy you can perform either with a troop or individually at one of the haflas she puts on. There are special workshops from time to time with nationally/internationally known dancers such as Ansuya, Alexandra King and Tamalyn Dallal - all were begintermediate level or more advanced- I took classes with all three teachers mentioned above and they were all excellent. The students were all female adults of all ages and sizes. Very nice friendly groups at every class I attended. The facility has two large rooms and a smaller room. The larger rooms have large mirrors accross the entire front wall and Wood floors, although I suspect they are not the easier on your feet raised wood floors. There is a good sized waiting area with comfortable seating outside the class rooms. There are windows that let in natural light and some facing out to the waiting area. The place is well lit inside and out. There is plenty of parking in their private parking lot which faces a busy street and your classmates will be going out to their cars at the same time. (Search Keywords: Bellydance Belly Dance Bellydancing Belly dancing class classes instruction lessons) read more

Great place for ballet! The instructors and staff are kind and caring. My daughter loves coming to class.

Wow did I observe much here. First of all, a very snooty owner. You need to bring on a facade of "better than the rest" and high pedigree for her to even take you seriously. Maintains very rigid, outdated ideas on how ballet should be taught, and even holds young students back if they have been wearing split sole ballet flats. ?? There is no proof that this hinders their foot development, and in fact it does make the muscles in the foot stronger when using split sole. SMH. As I said, this is the owner's way of thinking. Therefore a lot of students progress at a very slow level. They are not exposed to classical modern dance at all. If you mention modern dance, the owner seems to shrug it off and stop listening to you...making an uncomfortable facial expression. It's as if she feels it to be beneath her for some reason, just because she personally prefers ballet, AND in her own method of teaching it. One of the more advanced ballet students informed me she was always discouraged from taking modern dance. I was appalled at this, since you MUST be able to have experience and dance a variety of genres in order to succeed at all in the competitive world of dance these days. I saw many students who were quite eager to learn REAL modern dance, but the attitude of the owner I feel is really holding them back in their development to be well-rounded dancers. While the studio rooms are more than spacious and hold in lots of nice natural lighting, the floors are wood, and terribly old. The owner does not believe in using marley flooring either, I suppose, even though it is very widely used and preferred for dancers. The studio mostly emphasizes on ballet (and strictly RAD method), and the students take jazz class which I've seen many of them do very well in. A lot of them also take tap, which is nearly a lost art, but it's very good regardless because it simply adds to their training. Etudes also offers hip hop as many studios do since it's very popular with the younger crowd. Now if you have what I'll simply call a traditional respect for the art of dance, hip hop is much regarded as a "fun" class, not nearly like a technique class. Meaning that it's not very critical to the development of a professional dancer. But classical modern dance is a rare find, and very complementary to ballet in fact. It incorporates different movement styles and engages other muscles that ballet does not, and that is just one way it is complementary to ballet training (and vice versa, of course). The owner chooses to turn a blind eye to this style. In addition, Etudes de Ballet also focuses heavily on competition dancing. If this owner prefers to hold onto long-standing traditions, she really should take the time to actually WATCH how a classical modern dance class is taught, (and ENCOURAGE it) instead of keeping such a tight closed mind and not even showing a pinch of curiosity.That is a shameful attitude, and IMHO it is one of arrogance. Contemporary dance -which they do incorporate some of it into their jazz class mostly for competition- is NOT the same as modern dance. One simply can't argue that what you see on SYTYCD is the same as Horton or Graham technique. The difference is night and day. Many of these young girls have much potential but sadly, many of them are going to be very lost in an audition that requires anything other than ballet and jazz. A lot of what professional dance companies, college dance programs and conservatories are doing in auditions IS outside the realm of those 2 genres. For what it's worth, the students are well-groomed and well-mannered. You can tell the majority are serious about dance. Many of them do have a lot of talent and potential. But they absolutely need more versatility to succeed in the dance world. Ballet and Jazz does not cut it. read more