I do not recommend the dance studio-the price tag is higher than any other studio in the area, the…read moreleadership is chronically unstable, and there's no transparency. The gymnastics and tumbling program is excellent, and well-respected.
First, the cost per one hour of dance is a little over $100 per month. This studio does not provide pre-professional training-the owner has stated multiple times that her studio is "strictly recreational" but the price tag is higher than at Dance Depot, which is $80/hour for a month, and offers pre-professional training. There is also no "cap off" point with regards to cost per class-at most studios in the area, when your student's enrollment reaches some number of classes per week, additional classes are at no cost, because the dance program owner wants dancers to be in the studio getting better. There are a few pathways to a lower cost per class, one of which is that the student can work as a class assistant, gymnastics or tumbling coach, or with the cheer program, but that student will have to work 100 hours without any pay. But the students do receive a reduced rate for tuition.
There are also leadership issues. Many of the other dance studios in southeastern PA-Dance Depot, Rising Star, Visions, Let's Get Dancing, PADA, Pottstown Dance Theatre-were founded by a former professional dancer, someone with a degree in dance from a respected institution, or someone bringing a significant interest in quality dance instruction and with a clear vision of building confidence, fitness, and actual dance skills. Many of these programs have a competition dance program. Upper Merion Dance is a 21 year old program with no clearly defined vision. The founder has a recreational dance background, and relies on staff to bring all of the knowledge of proper technique and good pedagogy. This can be fine, except when there is no unified sense of student preparation or pedagogical technique, and the owner doesn't know what makes a good instructor of a type of dance they don't know. Contributing to this lack of unified teaching is a lack of understood rules. There is no rules handbook. As a parent you do not sign off on any set of acknowledged rules, so the rules are whatever suits the owner at that moment. This can easily lead to questionable decision making; a child of a well-liked client can be a problem in the classroom with no consequences, a child of a less-liked client can be ejected because the parent expressed an unpopular opinion.
The lack of a rules handbook is just one way that there is no transparency in the Upper Merion Dance program. Many studios tout their instructors' credentials on their website, but not here. The founder may be teaching your child Jazz 1, and leaving the classroom assistant to teach while handling some administrative issue. Your instructor may also be very qualified and hold a bachelors in dance from Temple, but you will never find that information because there is no website. There is also no progression checklist for any form of dance other than a very vague evaluation in your online payment portal, so kids are moved up or held back at what may feel like the whim of the instructor. One instructor may wish to create a "class" of children who just so happen to be all close in age, even if the children are receiving very different amounts of instruction. It's a recreational dance school, but one kid may be held back while the rest of the class moves up, despite that there were no clearly outlined goals for the year, which seems out of place if this is just "for funsies."
Regardless of whether you would like your child to learn a dance form or just enjoy some fitness with friends, I recommend going somewhere else. The price tag isn't worth it.