I wish I could give three and a half stars! Studio B is home to numerous dance classes from ages 3 to adult. Each spring, students work together and put on a big recital, for which parents have to stand in line to buy tickets. Costumes, production, the whole shebang.
Rehearsals are daily the week prior to the program. Every other week of the school year, students attend a weekly class. The little ones take in the downstairs classrooms, accessed either through a back door (which they don't want anyone using when weather is cold, because it puts a chill on the downstairs studios), or through the painfully tight upper lobby and down a set of metal spiral stairs. When classes change, this is a truly hectic scene. I've started just dropping my 3 year old daughter in the lobby to walk herself down, because the stairs make me so nervous! In the changing area/restroom, something is always broken or out of order. The big dance area upstairs is a beautiful space, with plenty of room, great windows, and the tweens and teens seem to take their classes up there. The little girls are allowed to wear whatever leotard they like to classes, as long as they have appropriate dance shoes and purchase the tap shoes provided by the studio (they must all match for the show). Hair is to be up in a bun when possible, and not in a bow.
When we came to join the studio in the fall, we may have caught the staff at a bad time. Miss Deborah, the dance teacher for the little ones, had just driven to Chicago and then lost her phone while she was up there. I never could get anyone on the phone from the actual studio, and have not been able to get much information from them via email. Your best bet is just to come into the studio between 4-5:30 one afternoon, to get information in person.
It sounds from this review that it is a terrible place, but my daughter *adores* her hour-long ballet class, Miss Deborah, and the other little ballerinas. As long as she continues to enjoy it, we'll keep her enrolled. Maybe someday they'll expand, or get a bigger space. Until then, keep handing out the stickers, and we'll keep paying! read more