My daughter attended Thrive Performing Arts for about two years, two recreation seasons, summer…read morecamp, and 1 season (from August to June) on the competitive team. During the recreational seasons and at the beginning of the competitive season things were ok however, the moment I began asking questions and voicing my opinion, which I am entitled to as I am a paying customer to Thrive, things took a turn in a negative direction. Regarding hair and makeup, instead of giving a directive based on her vision for the dances and costumes, Ms. Andrea allowed the parents to decide. In my opinion, this is a flaw because when you are dealing with a group of 8+ girls, you face several opinions which can make it challenging to agree and at the end of the day, the parents aren't in her head to know what her "vision" is for the dances. Should Ms. Andrea have given instructions on exactly what she wanted the "look" to be, several disagreements could've been avoided. In addition, she lacks to communicate effectively with parents and can be vague with responses, and counts on other parents to respond when at the end of the day she is the director, owner, and teacher at Thrive. She should dedicate half of the time that she puts into making TikTok's with her favorite dancers to preparing communications with important details such as looks for competition to avoid any confusion instead of sending responses such as "What did we do last time?" and if she is overwhelmed then she needs to seek/hire help. At the end of the day, how she runs her business is what is going to keep her business going, not TikTok or Instagram. Despite her responses to other reviews, she does indeed show favoritism towards other dancers and families in the studio. When you disagree with her, she treats your child differently and barely shows common courtesy of even saying a simple "hello", mind you, you are the paying customer. Ms. Andrea would often send Ms. Jalin or one of the teen dancers to open the door when I would arrive with my daughter to leave her for dance. Not only did she act differently with my child but some of the parents and their children did as well... this speaks volumes of their character. After I expressed my opinion, Ms. Andrea informed me that I was questioning her integrity, which by the way is how you do things and morals are indeed questionable, especially in today's society. She gave me an ultimatum, not considering my daughter only her ego. This goes to show that she does not truly care for all of the dancers, only those she favors. This is a display of lack of professionalism. Lastly, I decided to leave the studio a few months back and took my daughter to audition at several other studios only to find out that my daughter is behind as she is not being taught the basics at Thrive. That being said, if you are looking for an affordable recreational studio then this might be the one for you however, if you are looking for a professional studio because your child is a passionate dancer this is not the one for you.
P.s. I am not one to leave reviews however, I am truly disgusted with the services received and that is indeed the case in this situation don't pay attention to those five-star reviews which were made by an employee and her "teacher's pet".
