As a fair warning- the owner of the company continues to use Google Business to remove all negative reviews of her company, and there have been a lot. Cross posting to this forum and any other that requests a review because potential customers should be aware what they are getting into.
As I've told anyone that has asked- if you value quality dance instruction or good people- JMB Dance Academy is not the place for you.
We are generally new to competitive dance (less than 1 year), but have been in the dance world for four. I have never seen such a level of weaponized incompetence as I did at this studio. In our mere three months of official affiliation with the studio (about 6 months overall), I saw things and heard things that have my mind spinning about how they are still in business. I've got all the receipts from many families - lots of receipts - about practices that are abusive at this studio. My sweet child was not victim (that I'm aware of) of the larger than life insecurities of the studio owner, but that's because I was almost always there leaving limited opportunity for that to occur and my child is one of those kids that will come home and report every single detail. The text messages, the photos, the allegations about this studio and the owner from existing or former parents either mean that the studio is full of dance moms drama that would rival Dance Moms on its worst day or this woman is just pathetic and sad. They might both be true, but that's neither here nor there. The greedy money hungry business model might bring in dollars today, but it's not sustainable. The parents at this studio aren't stupid- yet so many have been so careless as to drag this studio in ways that are simply too full of detail to be made up. It's my most sincere wish that they stay at JMB for as long as they can pretend to stand it. For my own experience- after discussions, emails, and calls with the studio owner that neglected everything from safety concerns to allegations of abuse, I pulled my daughter without second thought. It's one thing to have shoddy premises with nails sticking out of the floor and cockroaches in the bathroom every time you open the door, it's another thing to lack basic decency, let alone professionalism.
After pulling my daughter for safety concerns, the studio owner sent me a letter from an attorney alleging that I owed her several thousand dollars for a "broken contract" that had no consideration to begin with. Meanwhile- she owes me costumes and $1000 of pre-paid expenses that she never incurred. I haven't fought the money at this point because the most important thing to me was to get my child as far away from that place as possible and preserve as much of her first season of comp dance as I could.
JMB was a 7 min drive to my house and I now drive my daughter 50+ minutes each way 3-4 days a week to an environment that nurtures her soul, her spirit, and her passion for dance. read more