Bella Ballerina

So we have been with Bella Ballerina for a few years now. After much thought I have decided that I think this will be our daughter’s last semester at Bella Ballerina. My daughter LOVES her teacher here and she really doesn’t want to leave, but it is time to look elsewhere. I was hoping we would last here until summer, but I am too frustrated with how things have been going this semester. These are some of the reasons we have decided it is time to shop around dance studios:
–The large age range is killer. Sometimes you get one of the really young students who needs a lot of love and I noticed only that child is requiring special attention from the teacher constantly. At one point the instructor had another teacher come in to work with the class while the one student got one on one time with the instructor. Unacceptable. Also– at times I felt my daughter was too young/​old.
–Class times can be pretty loose. I have see late start and end early on a regular basis. Our Halloween class ended a full 15 minutes early! Throw a story in a the beginning of class and a princess dress at the end and really how much dance time has my child gotten?
–Price $ 299 for 12 weeks is expensive compared to other studios I look at which are $ 70 a month. If you are a first time student you might catch a Groupon/​Specialicous/​Certifikid deal where it will hook you and so you don’t bat an eye at paying at least twice as much for many more semesters. Bella does offer a dance all year program for $ 70 a month which wasn’t really advertised much and was kinda you had to know about it… by the time I knew about my student was almost school aged and wasn’t sure I wanted that commitment, plus you couldn’t take a semester off… which included summer… so that was a deal breaker for us.
–The open classroom concept was cute when they were little (easy pictures), but now that my daughter is getting older it is annoying. Students who need a little love are going back and forth between parents and class and is total distraction.
Parents can be rude and talk very loudly between one another. Some semesters are worse than others with how rude the parents are. This is distracting to the students.
–Class sizes for the popular classes can be as many as 10 in this small sized studio… which some weeks depending on how many siblings the moms bring leaves no sitting room for all waiting in the studio. There have been many weeks I have sat on the floor waiting for my daughter. Also with packed classes which are back to back with no time in between it is hard to get students out who are done while parents are coming in and hard for parents coming in to get students in and she’s on and starting on time as we wait for the other class to clear out.
–Recitals–
Totally cute… but don’t expect your daughter to be looking at the audience as the instructor will dance on the side of the stage and your daughter will probably be one the 98% of dancers with their head turned looking at the instructor. You will get a DVD to practice at home and plan to practice at home as you don’t really spend that much time working on the actual recital dance in class.
Ok…so the past few sessions the recitals have all been one big combined recital between three studios and it has been entirely too long… especially watching 8 baby solos at the beginning… this time they are breaking up the recitals and so they are shorter. YAY. However, this time our dress rehearsal is taking place from 6:45 — 7:30 PM on a Friday which will run past bedtime in our house.
For the recital– The DVD quality is decent and not a bad purchase. The pictures I would personally skip as we have tried them twice and have been horrible each time.
–Summer Camps. I used to think it was one of the best value camps around. We have done camps for two summers. The first summer there were a lot less «campers» maybe 10 – 12. However last year when we showed up to the Frozen camp I would guess there were 25 girls in the «camp» crammed into the small Brambleton dance studio. Perhaps I lucked out with an off week the first year… but I also noticed that high school girls were teaching the camps or at least part of them this time and not the Bella Ballerina instructors exclusively like they had before.
We had a good time while my daughter was little. My girl loved her teacher and it was a good intro to dance for her. My daughter learned a lot of dance vocabulary. However perhaps we are aging out (or maybe I am) or perhaps I am just seeing things differently. It is time we look elsewhere.

My daughter loves dance class with Ms. Ashley. She is almost 4 years and has attended there for 2 years. It’s perfect for this age range because classes include a story and dress up as princess. The girls have fun and still learn correct terms and positions for the ballet moves. Plus they coordinate with fun music. This is first year we are paying extra for the recital because my daughter’s attention span is recently improved. Bella’s make up policy is great and easy to reschedule. Parties are fun too and a good value.

My daughter was signed up for the 1.5 year — 2.5 year class at the Ashburn location. At this age range, I would expect more flexibility in the class since this age group is working on their listening skills. My daughter would get a bit more distracted during some of the activities, and I felt that she was not included by the teacher because of this. The girls would use the ballet bar, and the teacher would not make room for my daughter to use it. It would have been nice to feel that the teacher made an effort to re-​engage a student if they got distracted. Disappointed in the studio and won’t be back.

Ms. Ashley is a great teacher here. My daughter had taken classes with her for three consecutive seasons.
If your daughter is hesitant to dance or participate, Ms. Ashley notices and does her best to get your daughter back into the class. There are popular kids songs to dance to, and there is a nice balance between classical, tap, and jazz.

I take a little girl that I babysit here every Friday. Ms. Ashley is fantastic with the kids! She talks to them in a sweet voice and has a way to direct or correct them without being too stern (but still getting the job done).
Every class they start with a story (always a classic) and then quickly move to ballet, doing simple easy moves for the girls to follow and Ms. Ashley always says the real name of the dance move, which I appreciate, teaching them young is great for later on! After ballet, the girls switch into their jazz shoes and dance to some great kid-​friendly music. Some times its music that I hear on the radio (only the good songs though). At the end the girls get to dress up and everything that happens in class relates in some way to the story at the beginning of class.
The studio has a bunch of benches at the end of it so that I can watch my little one the whole time. My only advice would be to wait until your little girl is over the age of three. Any younger then that and their attention span and community play isn’t quite developed all the way and they don’t participate well in class, they can also become a distraction to the other girls. (My girl is 2 and ½ and I wish the mom would wait a few months before putting her back in class, eventually she’ll get it!)