If you want your kid to be a professional dancer there's no question, this is the best studio out there. No other WA studio can compare. That said, if you're looking for a fun extracurricular for your kid, or even a more serious one, but still one you don't expect them to make a career out of, I'd advise staying away. I attended for ~7yrs and suffer nightmares years later. It's a cutthroat environment. There are some good instructors (ex. Ms. Hiromi), but also some very unkind ones. The culture between dancers is not very good either, I suspect because of the students mirroring what is said to them by certain instructors. Bullying runs rampant and was, in some circumstances, pretty extreme. Outside of comments about technique and jealousy over roles, there were also a lot of damaging things said regarding weight, both by students and, rarely (but still enough to leave scars), instructors. read more

Take the negative reviews with a grain of salt! My daughter is 14 now and has been going to IBA since she was 3 or 4 years old. It is one of the premier dance academies in the area with amazing dance teachers! My daughter started in the little girls class, progressed to intermediate, went on pointe when she was 11, and has been enrolled in the pre-professional program. Not only has she learned a beautiful art form, but the classes also keep her in great physical shape, giving her a drive and a goal to strive towards. She's also made some amazing friendships along the way. Even in the young 4/5/6 year old classes, she was learning ballet but in a fun way. IBA encourages even the youngest dancers to have good technique and a good foundation, but also making dance fun and enjoyable. IBA even has a children's production every year to ensure even the youngest dancers have a chance to get on stage and experience that magic under the stage lights. Yes, IBA does have expectations for ALL their girls including the younger ones - simple expectations of having a neat bun, appropriate attire and a good attitude. Expectations that are something the girls will need to be prepared for later on as they get older whether in dance (at any academy!) or simply in life. Some expectations also include volunteering in the shows if your child is in it, even the older girls, us parents are required to put in our time. The expectations for both the children and adults are laid out explicitly ahead of time and its not the fault of IBA should someone not adhere to those. I highly recommend IBA - smaller class size so more individualized attention and teaching, solid foundation for classical Vaganova style dance with emphasis on encouraging a well-rounded dance background so they offer classes in other dance disciplines like jazz, contemporary, character, flamenco, modern. read more

Do NOT send your kids to this place. The staff are abusive and they care more about maxing your payments than nourishing your kids. I realize this after 1.5 year and I deeply regret it. My 6yr old daughter was talented but no longer willing to go to any dance class. The school makes the money for sure. The school and teachers repeatedly pressured kids directly during classes about how their hair buns are badly done. I only found it out later after my daughter said afraid going to class because of stress and low confidence about her appearance! This is toxic at the next level. The front office manager Shannon is worse and she threatened that they could send kids out of the classroom if they don't do perfect hair and dress. To confess, I'm a single dad trying my best with hairs, but they obviously don't give a crap about kids or parents but their authority and your payments. Yes, the school still keeps my full payment despite my daughter dropping out mid year because of stress caused by them. I can't do nothing more about it. Don't let your kid and yourself go through this. Try another school. I can share a lot more, like forcing us to buy expensive dress from their store only good for a single use in performance, making up facts to defend their problems, and blaming us for missing practice knowing because of my daughter's birthday. read more

Very nice people, I've been always treated with respect and Miss Vera is a wonderful teacher. I'm grateful to have found it.

It used to be a ok school until on one of the class my kid was bullied by another girl. The teacher has done nothing with that. Very disappointed. I highly recommend to avoid this school unless you want an emotional abuse or trauma to your child. read more

This school and Mrs. Vera the art director are only interested to make $. 1. for their spring show of 2018 in the 3 year old category, they told all parents they would have qualified care takers of their children for 4 hours. instead they had the 15 girls in a 10ft x 8 ft open space next to a door that opened to the Meydenbauer center's garage. Had I not fought to get in with my daughter I'm not sure what would have append, given I was stopping the other little girls from running into the garage. Also, the 2 care takers I saw were teenage girls and boys 12-14 yrs old who would stop by once every hour and walk away. 2. Summer camp 2018 they had Ms. Anna Marie who is barely 18 yrs old, without any experience dealing with 14, 3-4 yr olds teaching without a helper. I had to complain that state regulations are no more than 8 3-4 yrs olds per adult. Also no one was designated to take girls to the bathroom or help in the class. After asking to speak with Mrs. Vera for 4 months, I had to finally threaten that I would tell all the parents about #1 & 2 before Mrs. Vera made time for me. But things didn't improve. 3. Mrs. Alison was a great teacher for the 3-4 yr old range, but when Ms. Anna Marie took over Sep 2018, the class was a mess. The girls would push each other on the way out, my little one got hurt. When I said I would like to find out what's going on, Ms Vera complained that I was interrupting class. 4. Finally, there is a little girl in my daughters class who on the day of observation proceeded to throw a fit, not just screaming and unhappy but throwing tap the whole bin of tap shoes at her mom. When I told the girl to stop, she is interrupting the class, Mrs Vera didn't like it. The girls dad threatened me outside of the school, and Mrs Vera proceeded to tell me that I am no longer welcome, because I don't value their experienced teachers. Mrs. Alison has moved on to teach older children, the 3-5 year old group is being taught by Ms. Anna Marie who is 18 and can't control a class nor make sure our children don't get hurt. On top of it she has a 15 yr old helper for a 18 4-5 year old class. there are other ballet schools out there who care about more than just making $, they make sure all the children are safe and having a good time. I stayed because I have personally danced with Mrs. Alison's husband who is a Latin ballroom teacher, who I very much admire and I admire Mrs. Alison the same. But now with Mrs Alison changed to older children, there's no one qualified to teach young children. read more

Worse Ballet School in Seattle Area! Stay away! My 6 years' old daughter went to this place. In one class, she was hurt and bleeding a lot. The teacher brought her outside of classroom and gave her to a random parent. The teacher wasn't willing to spend 10 more second to walk to the front desk/waiting area to find either my wife or the office manager. When we asked the teacher what happened, she first said that "I didn't see and I don't know." Then she said it must be your kid's fault. Come on. You are the only adult in the room! My daughter had a trauma both physical and psychological. The teacher did more bad things in the past such as ignoring my daughter when my daughter told her another kid kept hitting her/bully her. My daughter didn't want to return the class to face this horrible teacher. So we tried to talk with the director Vera Altunina to get refund for unfinished classes. After ignoring us for 10 days, Vera (the owner) finally sent us an email and said that she will not give us refund. Because we signed a waiver when we paid, which means if our kid gets hurt in the class, it's our own problem. We tried to solve this peacefully, and asked whether we can get credit and use it in future when they have new teachers. The answer is still no. Things happen. The way IBA how handled it is outrageous and unacceptable. If you love your kids, please stay away and try other Ballet place. read more