It's our first year at Chara but my girls (age 2 and 4) have had a great experience. Character is emphasized and I think that is so valuable. read more

We have been with Chara for years. I can not imagine a better environment for my daughter to spend so much quality time. The owner, directors, instructors and even other parents are focused on developing quality dancers as well as quality people. I love that they weave in character lessons as well as biblical principals into the classes. The dancers pray together after class, the studio has twice yearly progress reviews as well as private lessons if you like, and there are many opportunities to audition for dance in groups or competitions. The ballet testing and advancement is structured under the Sonshine Christian Syllabus which is available online to review. We have been very pleased with the recitals as well. Absolutely moving. read more

This review is primarily about the Chara facility built at 101 Hunters Lane, Friendswood. We have had our daughter attending Chara for the past couple of years and have enjoyed the professional staff and loving atmosphere that is offered. The prior location in Friendswood was smaller and the dance studio had clearly outgrown it. We were looking forward to the new building and all it would bring; larger dance rooms, bigger windows to better view your child's progress and an overall better experience. At first blush, I am not impressed with the new location. Here are my initial thoughts. 1. The windows to my daughter's class are tinted, so I cannot actually watch my daughter. What you really see are shaded figures moving about. To make matters worse, the windows are directly across from the building's main entry doors. They are glass, and cause terrible reflections that further hamper what should be an enjoyable experience. It would help if a flat screen TV would be installed, since the windows are obviously useless. I cannot speak for the other rooms, since she is only in one class. 2. The parking lot is no bigger than the prior facility. Why spend money on a new building, in a more desired location, and pinch pennies on the parking lot? In order to access the parking lot, one has to maneuver around the Hunters Creek private gate entrance. If there are cars backed up at the community's keypad or vehicles exiting the subdivisions gate, this can be a challenge. Why should I have to drive through an obstacle course in order to enter a place of business? The building faces 518. It seems a logical design would use this main thoroughfare as the entrance/exit! I'm sure there will be some fender benders or worse very soon. 3. The inside of the building was very stuffy. I don't know if the air conditioning was off, but I felt very warm. Another parent was using a magazine as a fan, so I know I'm not the only one who felt hot. Perhaps, they are still working out some of the kinks with the HVAC? I hope this is improved. I understand no person or place is perfect, but I hope the items I've mentioned can be improved. Again, I gave a star rating if 2, primarily due to the new location. We like the staff, the principles of the business and care given to our child. read more

I can not say enough good things about Chara Christian Dance Academy. My daughter started dancing with Chara about a year ago and our experience has been amazing. It was everything that we could have hoped for and more. She has grown not only as a dancer but as a follower of Christ. The teachers are well educated, positive, informative, and they pour themselves into my daughter week after week. Her technique alone has improved so much this year under their instruction. The staff is knowledgeable, helpful, and organized. They are always available at the front desk ready to assist parents or students in whatever way necessary. My daughter is involved in regular dance classes, voice lessons, and the competitive company. The competitive company shows God's hands and feet working thru each dancer. The team won lots of awards over the dance season, but even better than that, they shined brightly for Christ to each other and to all who had the privilege to watch them dance. Studio owner, Shanna, has an amazing foundation at Chara and my family has been truly blessed to be a part of the Chara family. read more

We enrolled my daughter to this studio to introduce her to dance after hearing and reading many great reviews. We were very pleased for a while, then things went downhill January 2014. The dance instructor began missing quite a few classes, which caused confusion and instability to the young students. When the instructor was in class, she often seemed distracted and began to get lax on the discipline, allowing the dancers to walk out of class, lay down under the bench, lay down in the middle of the floor, etc., without encouraging them to stay inside the classroom and participate. I understand that young kids have their "off days," but I also expect for the instructor to acknowledge their acting up and talk to them or the parent instead of turning a blind eye. I had to ask and constantly "remind" the instructor to get my daughter focused and back on track when these distractions would happen, as did other parents. With young kids, if one walks out of the classroom, the others will take notice and follow the leader. It's the teacher's responsibility to step in, and she did not. The recital dances were not taught in a timely manner allowing the young girls to properly learn and practice them, setting them up for confusion at recital. And again, the teacher missed more classes than she should have prior to recital and the substitutes did not have notes or music to help the class practice. There were also a lot of things we were not informed about when registering. There is an "Offerings" performance that is TWO weeks prior to recital that the teacher has to focus getting students prepared for. Offerings is a demonstration mini-performance held at the local Jr. High school where the students go on stage for a couple of minutes, demonstrate their ballet technique and receive a certificate. No music or costumes are utilized for Offerings, and anyone wishing to go and watch must PAY to see this. I believe the fee was $8 per person. Ridiculous! Since the kids had to prepare for Offerings, again, it held them back from fully rehearsing for recital. These 2 performances should not be held so close together. As for recital, it was nice. I was not pleased with finding out that in order to attend the recital, you must purchase tickets in additional to the recital fees that we already paid. It's like a concert where you have to log on the computer early the day tickets go on sale and purchase your assigned seats. Some may like this, but if you find out later that more family/friends are able to attend, there is no way you are all sitting together. The recital pictures done at the studio and ones taken at recital are expensive. Not sure why they selected photographers who are from out of town and out of state... perhaps this is why they are so pricey. Parents get to cover their travel. Check out the fees at neighboring studios... you'll see that they do not have many that Chara does. We did speak with a couple different ladies that work the front desk and were told that our concerns would be addressed, but unfortunately changes did not happen. At that point, we had already paid many fees and just wanted to finish out the year. Overall, we feel that things started going in a direction that is not what was presented when we enrolled and first experienced at this studio. read more