It has taken me a few months to write this because I've been going back and forth on how much…read moredetail to divulge. I will start by saying that Miss Maria threatened to sue me for sharing my experiences with others. She said she was planning to sue me for liable - I can only assume she means libel. Anyway. Her threats won't stop me from sharing. After 3 years of being part of this dance school, it has become blatantly obvious to me how appalling Maria's behavior is, and what a horrible business person she truly is. While at first Maria comes across as friendly and helpful, you'll notice that if there is any conflict, for which there will be many, she will flip and she won't know how to approach the situation. The most recent exchange we had started as a fairly simple one and could have been easily diffused. Instead, she became defensive, heated, accusatory, and spewed disgusting insults at me. If she had responded like a professional, she pretty much could have guaranteed that my three children remain enrolled from age 2 until age 18. She severed that, unfortunately to her.
Over the three years my children were enrolled, there were many instances in which communication was handled poorly. Of these, the most concerning was a pattern I saw in which it seemed like she completely forgot previous conversations and did something entirely different than she said she would. This happened with assigning teachers (switching last minute after I requested a certain one), changing dance class time to accommodate another class that she never added, allowing my son to join prior to turning 3 and then accusing me of lying), and then becoming defensive and flustered when confronted.
There was also an instance when my daughter was enrolled in a 2/3 class where a child's nanny brought her boyfriend to class, and he would take photos and videos of children unrelated to him (including my daughter). I wrote to miss Maria expressing my concern and told her it made me feel uncomfortable. You'd think she'd show up to the next class - she didn't, and instead, I was greeted by a passive aggressive nanny who proceeded to live stream FaceTime the class to her boyfriend who was waiting in the car. I should have pulled my daughter out then, and looking back, I wish I had. Maria should have absolutely asked them to leave, but alas, she wasn't there, and the teacher of the class seemed to be oblivious.
Her approach towards handling conflict makes me wonder how on earth she has a successful dance school. Based on the other reviews on this page, I can see I'm not the only one she has done this too. I am saddened that I wasted so much time, energy, and money on this school. I even continued to pay her through covid, after she quite literally begged.
There are many other dance schools out there -- trust the reviews.
