After 4 years at Icon, we took a hike.
As someone said, the parking lot is dangerous, that is true. The owner is great, talented and kind and some of the former teachers were at one point, but most left. Several really good teachers left mid-year or a month before the recital in the past 3 years...it was a waste of time after that for my child. They replaced the teachers with plump amateur former students of ICON who were at best, 20 years old. I regret staying there for so long. In only one class at the new shcool we now attend, my child said more was learned then the whole 4 years at Icon.
The recital is a nightmare, between the costume fittings, pictures, getting seats for your family and figuring out which dress rehearsals and performances your child is in, is harder then calculus. And no one knows what the heck is going on, there is no one you can ask.
They are decent for Hip Hop and Break Dancing IF you get a good teacher, but Tap and Ballet are so lousy. The teachers have no technique and it is a waste of your money. If you don't have a child in a company and enrolled in at least 4-6 classes you are just there to pay their bills and will get nothing from this school.
You may never get a call back from their "office" You have to call for weeks and weeks to finally speak with someone. You end up coming in in desperation and the person you need is not there.
The satelllite studio is fine except it is not finished so the parking lot is like the La Brea Tar Pit.
What started out as a fresh-boy centered "street dance" school has morphed into a hub for kids from Staten Island who have very little talent to hang out in. The owners play favorites and it is like a little kingdom with families who are favorites of the owners.
The bottom line is that there are very few reasons not to look around for another school in our are that has at least 25 schools in a 10 mile radius. read more