New American Youth Ballet

The New American Youth Ballet gives young dancers amazing experience and opportunity. Elizabeth is so wonderful with her students. The instruction is thorough and professional, and there is an emphasis on respect for each other. This school gives young dancers the opportunity to participate in full productions, with orchestra – an amazing alternative to the basic «recital» format. It is an option that, if taken, gives our kids an experience they will forever treasure. I would recommend The New American Youth Ballet to all parents who are looking for a wonderful environment for their kids to learn ballet, the right way. My daughter has taken from Elizabeth for 3 years, has been in 3 of these productions and can’t wait for the next! She has developed a great deal of poise, knows many many steps and has SO much fun. Thank you, Elizabeth!!!

My daughter was in a class here for the last few months and just had her holiday recital today (The Nutcracker). All I have to say is: never again. I feel as if my daughter basically learned nothing all semester (mind you, I have pretty low expectations for a young child’s performance in a show of this type, but she didn’t do a single thing on stage that she couldn’t have done before taking this class — i.e., walk, stand in a line, and hold hands while turning in a circle, all for a grand total of maybe two minutes).
Okay, so my daughter didn’t learn anything that I could discern. But beyond that, everything having to do with this holiday show was disorganized and poorly thought out. Elizabeth’s emails as to who had to be where when were very confusing and hastily put together, which led to a waste of everyone’s time. The show today was not child-​friendly. You don’t have kids aged 2 – 4 sit around for over an hour doing nothing (including a 30 – 40 min intermission during which literally nobody was doing anything as the curtain was closed) just so they can line up at the end for what was called a «finale». She could have had the young kids go in the beginning and then leave, like many other shows with children do. Elizabeth has much to learn about running a business, communicating with parents (replying to emails would always be a plus), and providing a child-​friendly environment. Her costume person was also very rude to me when I tried to find my daughter’s costume amidst the complete chaos backstage.
The space of the school is small, the prices are not low, and the owner is trying to juggle too many things at once. Too bad, as it’s right in our neighborhood, but we’re out of there.