Fine Arts Academy of Dance

This review is specifically regarding my daughter’s first recital experience last weekend. Note my daughter is 3, this was her first recital and we paid over $ 200 for costume/​recital fee. The dress rehearsal was scheduled for sat 945am and had to be there on Sun at 11am for a 12pm show. When we showed up at 945am we were advised to wait 2hrs for our turn, however if we wanted to watch the show until then we could. I was a little annoyed that we were being asked to wait 2 hours (with a 3 year old) but I sucked it up because I wanted to watch the show. Then when we got in we were told by an extremely rude lady that we could not enter because the school had not paid to use the seats for parents to sit in the audience and suggested that I wait outside. I flatly told her NO I was not going to do that and sit out in the sun for 2hours with a toddler and reiterated we were told we could watch. With my insistence she reluctantly allowed us to enter but ONLY IN THE FIRST 3 ROWS. I heard her tell a parent that B/​C her daughter’s shoes had glitter she could not go and made her TAKE THEM OFF. I found my friend who told me that she had already been yelled at 3 times & that her daughter had to be on her lap b/​c the costume had too much glitter. WTF. Then the same crazy lady came to me and tried to kick me out of my seat b/​c I could only sit in the first 3 rows. I politely told her that the 3 rows were filled already and she reluctantly said ok first 6 rows then, luckily I was in the 6^th row. For the next 2 hours, I watched her yell, berate and scold parents who arrived to drop off their kids for the show and sat in the wrong row. The inability to PLAN this rehearsal appropriately was appalling, these are children in the show, who did you think would take them to their rehearsal. The parents! Ridiculous. By the end I had already witnessed 10 parents going off on the lady for her rudeness. Moving forward 3.5 hours to their rehearsal, although all the girls were nervous, tired and cranky, being on stage the first time with their teacher assisting with the moves made a huge difference and they did great, nailing all the moves and were in synch with each other. Ok fast forward to the recital day disaster. When we arrived at 11am as advised, they told us that we would have to wait in a dressing room for two hours till our performance. when we advised her that we were told they could watch from the audience until it was our turn, they were hesitant but said ok but said «you will need to hide the girls.» Apparently they did not want anyone wearing costumes in the audience so we had to literally disguise the girls and take their tap shoes and costume goggles off just so they would be admitted into the auditorium. Fast forward to 230pm which is when they were finally called to the stage. My daughter being extremely tired and cranky by this time reached the stage and realized that her teacher was not there (miss charlotte called out sick) and promptly began to cry. She refused to go on stage and even with us and my other stage moms begging her to on, with promises of ice cream, presents and the world if only she would go on. frustrated because I had an audience full of family members who had been sitting 2.5hours waiting for her performance, I demanded that a teacher come and walk her on stage because she was scared and tired and did not see her teacher. They brought Penny who yes, managed to get her to stop crying and got her on stage but absolutely did not know the dance. In fact, the dance was supposed to start with the kids faced towards the back so that they could flip over to the front however she started them all FACED FORWARD which confused all the kids completely because when they flipped they were facing the back of the stage. The rest of the performance was a complete utter disaster, there was barely one moment when the kids were in synch and it ended with my daughter completely breaking down crying and running off stage. Needless to say her first recital was a memorable disaster and really shook up my daughter. I am already starting to look for a different dance company because it is obvious as these other reviews have indicated that this company only cares about money (they are cheap as hell, photo packages to buy 25 dance pictures will cost you $ 500+. I paid $ 100 for 4 pics and $ 55 for 1 digital which I sent to Costco and ordered 40 pictures for $ 10) and did not show good planning or executing for this event and was not considerate of my daughter and her friends’ feelings when scheduling them almost last (3 year olds need naps) especially when they did not have a teacher available who knew the dance well to support them. As the youngest and least experienced of all the dancers, they still deserve the same effort as if they were professional seasoned dancers. my daughter loves to dance but you will never be able to tell from her performance at this school.

The staff at FAAD is amazing! Miss Julie runs an incredible dance company that builds character and confidence in their dancers. Not only is the staff professional, they are friendly and make you feel welcome. I can’t wait to experience more from this company.

I don’t think the place is even desired a star, very old building and old interior. However, if good management and instructor it will be fine. The classes were cancelled without any notices twice in few months. The owner talked to me with her nose pointed at me and said you were the first one we notified and she was lying. The employee, maybe the daughter admitted that she DID NOT notify me. The instructor Chalet said they have hundreds of students and cannot notify everyone. Very bad management and instructor. Wasted my time and my daughter’s time there! Although my 4 year old said, I still like them, they were just forgot after she was so discriminated since she didn’t sign up for the $ 200 recital.

I knew way too much about my teacher. She got distracted often and would tell us too much of her personal life. She would instruct well when a new student arrived, however other times we had stretch classes (which many of us felt they were lazy days).
Mrs Julie and the staff does care for the little ones no doubt. All of them looked like they were having a blast in class and had received the better side of costumes as far as recital went.
I do agree with Robert H’s review (5÷10÷2011) on overcharging being a major issue, because the prices of the costumes I paid were never on display on the costume nor could I find them online when looking up the company. This hidden price allows the studio to charge your whatever they wish, and making a profit at that.
After the recital, many of my class mates knew we could get better training else where and all of us have since changed from this studio. Unless you are a little one (ahem cuteness and youth, hopefully in their eyes leading to the company if you continue) or are interested in joining their competitive company and have the means to do (ahem private lessons) I would not go here.
Edit:Regarding teachers, sometimes I preferred when we had a sub. I felt our main sub was often more lively, more focused, and well flat out cared more and gave us better instruction. Lastly if you look through their photos on the website or facebook it mainly features their company dancers. Their company dance are spotlighted many times in the recital. While their company dancers have well choreographed pieces in the recital, the rest of the groups tend to have minuscule unorganized parts.

I sent the kids there for simple reason of getting some good exercise and learning appreciation of art. Though the teachers seem fine, the policy of office is very unreasonable — the studio charges a fixed fee per month no matter what. For the same convinience, the studio has so many more closing days/​week for holidays and summer and … which is rediculous and unfair for kids and parents.

My daughter has been attending Ms. Meghan’s kids ballet classes for over a year now. Everyone is very courteous and very professional. Ms. Meghan and Ms. Charlotte are great with kids. They also teach tap, jazz and hip-​hop. A great dance school for kids 4 and up to kids-​at-​heart (adult dance classes also offered).

I’ve had nieces that started dancing their over $ 10 years ago. Now my daughter does ballet there and we love it. The parking sucks because the parents just double park and clog up the drive way. The teachers even remember most of the kids even years after they stop attending.

My daughter attended this studio for almost two years until recently. We decided to change classes because we could no longer take her at a particular time. On one occasion when she had to do a «make up» class, which was already paid for, she was ridiculed and humiliated by the instructor Michael (one of the classes she changed) because he felt that it was rude that she could no longer be in his class and yet she was in his class for a make up. He continued to do this in front of everyone and asked her never to return to her class. It was completely unprofessional and to top it off, he had the nerve to tell her (14 yr old) that he wasn’t getting paid while she sat in the make up, when in fact we had paid all along, hence the make-​up.
The worst part about it was that the owner, Julie, didn’t call me back for weeks and everyone continued to say «maybe he had a bad day» really? He’s the adult, the professional and she is the child. I would never recommend this studio to anyone.
She has since moved on to Cutting Edge and she loves it. You can just tell all the girls there really study technique. They move with such grace and poise. I’m glad she’s happy.

I am a teacher and I always look for teachers and environments for my children that have a good sense of discipline and direction. I have been to many studios and I was pleased with Fine Arts 100%. I am saddened by the negative reviews mainly because I feel they are a little unfair. My daughter used to cry at every other studio because the love and support was not there from her teachers. Most studios are in the business of turning out little «competitors» This studio does compete but it is not their main purpose. The dance teachers here are passionate and they love what they do. Who wouldn’t want a teacher who pushed someone to be their very best? It wasn’t until my daughter came to Fine Arts that she blossomed. I am so thankful and grateful to Fine Arts for that. Yes… they are strict, and yes they are passionate about their craft… but no, they do not ruin self esteem or self worth. It is a shame that some parents have a hard time when others discipline their kids. I welcome the structure and hope that all the teachers my children encounter possess that.
If you want your child to be in an environment where they will be taught to believe in themselves, to never quit, and to dream big, this is the place. I have reviewed may things on Unilocal and I often wonder when negative reviews show up by the dozen from people that have never reviewed anything prior… and it often makes me think that someone is doing their best to tarnish a very reputable business. It is so unfortunate. :(I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion and mine is that Fine Arts is fabulous!

I am familiar with this dance studio, as I have had two family members attend. One attended recently for two years and the other some time ago, however, my views on this establishment have changed considerably!
Firstly, There is a complete lack of professionalism employed by the staff. Mainly the way they conduct themselves in front of students is a problem, not to mention the counter productive and negative remarks the kids have dished out on them in class on a consistent basis. Clearly, the profession of being a dancer is extremely competitive, nevertheless, there are alternative ways to encourage students and get them to work hard while informing them of the possible hardships they could face in the professional dance industry. Specifically, an incident involving cookies being given to ballet students comes to mind. The owner of the studio (Julie) visited a ballet class to give the students some cookies, seemingly harmless enough, right? However, after the kids were given them and Julie was leaving, the dance instructor ran out of the class to confront her and while in clear ear distance from kids, she exclaimed «Don’t you come in and bring my students cookies, they’ll get fat!». Surprisingly, the obsession with the ballet students food consumption and the paranoia expressed by the constant use of the word fat continues on a regular basis to say the least. Therefore, is is quite fair to state that if you are looking for a place to manifest your child’s future eating disorder, this class would be a good place to start.
Secondly, overcharging is a major problem at this dance studio. This is achieved though a deceitful method of not displaying the prices on the costumes that must be purchased by parents for dance recitals. the rule that costumes may only be purchased from the school seems to be embedded in concrete, as all costumes are purchased from a single catalog. Now, this is fine an understandably they want all the kids to look the same for recitals. However, parents are never informed of the actual cost, which enables the dance studio to make considerable profit at parents expense.
Finally, it is imperative to point out that this is a dead studio. In the last month several students have left and from past experience this is a disease. Once five or six leave a class others follow as the bad taste of parent gossip and politics seem to infultrate the class.
In conclusion, if you want to place your kids into an environment that is negative, counterproductive, overpriced and on a one way ticket to self destruct, this is the place for you!

Fine Arts has been a wonderful experience for my daughter, she loves her home away from home. Miss Julie the Director is AWESOME with her little Tap dancers (her babies) lots of Tender Love & Care, and her staff are all very talented professionals. Highlights for us have been the unbelievable recitals (or should I say Productions) you have to see to believe.

I searched high and low for a dance studio that offered a variety of classes for adults. I finally found Fine Arts! They encourage adults to join not like other places that stop offereing classes pass the teen years:(This place has awesome teachers and great classes for all different levels. I’ve been here 3 years now and love it!