I want to start off by saying that we're a military family. We are on a stricter budget than most who send their children to dance studios here within the Monterey County Peninsula. Having said that - we consider quality just as important as value.
We moved here in Nov 2014 and after getting a good grip on the area, allowing the girls to transition into school and get comfortable, we began searching for a dance studio that would suit our daughters' needs and styles.
I looked at everything from CAPA to Spector and the list goes on. Every other studio was asking for more $ and none of them responded to my messages within 24-hours. I saw Rock Star's Facebook page, skimmed their photos and got that "feeling" of nostalgia; a throwback to our daughters' old studio in Florida. Their style seemed similar to what we were used to, all of the girls were in smiles and in appropriate costumes with lots of positive and supportive comments beneath the photos. I messaged the page and not even an hour later, heard back from Stevie. Not only were their prices reasonable - but their studio is SUPER militarily supportive - giving discounts and very understanding of military-related conflicts.
I explained that we would only be here for 18-months, gave the heads up on my daughters' previous experience and we were given the opportunity to take trial classes and test it out without paying. My youngest daughter bowed out, because she's a wild one, and headed over to a Rock Star parent's gym in Seaside - Monterey Peninsula Gymnastics (where she is in Heaven and treated so wonderfully) and my eldest daughter fell in LOVE with Rock Star. She was immediately hooked. She has now had the opportunity to take classes with almost every instructor/choreographer at the studio and adores every one of them. She had never taken an interest in tap, in years prior, but Devin is magic and one class with him sucked her in. She even convinced me to buy tap shoes of my own, to practice with her :) We have personally seen live performances, outside of the studio, featuring the instructors at Rock Star and they're phenomenal. Nicole, Stevie, Devin, etc... they're all such great performers, in excellent shape, well versed in the arts and truly love what they're doing. These are the types of choreographers we want around our children.
With all of that said - the prices for competition team/company are high - but definitely on a balanced level with that of the competitive community. Clearly we pay more here, in Monterey, than we did in FL because the cost of living is almost double. We opted to not allow our daughter to audition for company - not just because of finances but also due to the fact that we will be PCS'ing once again in June. It wouldn't be fair to fully engulf her and then rip her back out again. However - Rock Star opened up a wonderful opportunity for students to get a "taste" of competition, without the full commitment - "Pre Team." There are a bunch of fabulous girls on this team, they all practice for a couple months together and compete once and perform at a parade and the end of the year performance. It's a much lower cost commitment and was much more suitable for our family, specifically. BUT - if we were living here for a longer amount of time - we would have considered company, for the 2016-17 year. The company does so many fundraisers to help raise money to cover costs, and so on. It could have been doable.
I honestly am confused by the post from Molly, below. I don't know who that person is... but I do know that we've never once experienced any sort of drama or "stage mom" "stage dads" at this studio. Half the time, I'm literally the only parent sitting in the studio, watching class. I haven't noticed any "helicopter" mom's. Everyone pretty much trusts the choreographers, because as I said - they know absolutely 100% what they're doing. And every company mom/dad that I've ever been introduced to has been super nice and helpful, showing me how to do my daughter's bun - eye lashes, etc. Some have become good friends, in the community.
Everyone at Rock Star has been so supportive of our family, as a whole. The teachers have supported our daughter's Girl Scout activities, sending cookies to our fellow soldiers serving overseas. Any time our daughter was ill - overly stressed from school - etc - the teachers have been so understanding, flexible and caring. I honestly feel like they are our friends and we've created a bond with Rock Star that will last - no matter where we live around the globe. We're so incredibly thankful to them for all that they've done for our daughter, during our time here in Monterey.
Thank you, Rock Star. You literally DO rock! ;) read more