I am neither "crazy" nor "afraid to post my real name", but I will tell the truth as to what happened to my child at Amyclae Dance Academy...
My daughter also attended this studio from its opening and was on their Junior Team, Junior Elite Team, Teen Team, Teen Elite Team, and Hip Hop team for every year accept the first. Initially we were very happy at Amyclae Dance - the facility was beautiful, clean, and the instruction seemed to be adequate. My daughter was a very happy and confident dancer for the first three years. Her happiness was hit or miss for the fourth year and by the fifth year it was a struggle to get her to want to go. While my daughter was not initially "picked on" or "bullied" by the Owner/Artistic Director of the studio, she came home on most nights with specific instances of other children being yelled at, picked on, and bullied. She was afraid that if she remained friends with the children being picked on that she would also start being picked on. At this point, my husband or I made the choice to sit up at the studio and observe while our daughter was in class so she would atleast complete the year.
On the night of April 27, 2013 was the On Stage America Dance Competition in Woodbridge, VA. My husband and I had to attend a wedding and could not go watch my daughter do her two solos that evening, so we sent her in the care of another dancer's mother. Another family, whose child was dismissed from this studio earlier in the season, was invited by myself and my daughter to come support her while doing her solos. The family came into the facility, sat in the auditorium, never approached/nor tried to speak to the Owner/Artistic Director of Amyclae Dance Academy...only came to support my child. After the first solo was completed, my daughter had about 10 minutes to change outfits for her second solo. During that time she was approached by the Owner/Artistic Director of Amyclae Dance Academy and yelled at for not telling her that family would be at the competition. At 13 years old, most children don't think about telling adults who they have invited to watch them at an event, and to be approached before going on stage and yelled at in front of witnesses, is unacceptable behavior "in my opinion."
Needless to say, my daughter herself chose to not return to Amyclae Dance Academy. At first I chose to keep quiet about this, but seeing the damage that this person was capable of doing to my child's self esteem, I can't sit by and not speak up about what I personally have witnessed at this studio. I have personally witnessed the Owner/Artistic Director talk negatively about students and their parents on numerous occasions. The Owner/Artistic Director also shared with me the fact that she called another local studio to give a negative opinion of a young student who had been dismissed the prior year from Amyclae in hopes that they would not want this child on their competition team.
These are just a couple of the things I have personally witnessed while my daughter attended Amyclae Dance Academy. If you chose to have your child attend this studio, my only advice is to make sure you closely monitor what is happening at all times while your child is involved with activities at or with this studio. read more