There are many, many dance schools in the South Bay and my strong recommendation is that you take…read moreyour children, especially young ones, to anyplace other than Center Stage Dance Company.
At Dancin' on the Avenue in Willow Glen on June 23, 2012, during a performance to promote CSDC, owner and head teacher Mary angrily grabbed our four-year-old daughter's cheeks and jabbed a finger in her face, bringing our daughter to tears. This was humiliating for our daughter, upsetting for our family, and shocking to the assembled audience of around 100 people.
Several times during the Dancin' on the Avenue show, Mary apologized for the children's "off" performance and explained that they were out of practice. These are four- and five-year-old girls! Six or eight little girls, performing on a big stage in front of a big crowd with no rehearsal. It was absolutely plain that Mary was upset with the emcee of the event and disappointed with the overall performance, and she took her anger out on a little girl.
In our nine months at CSDC, Dancin' on the Avenue was the most extreme I saw Mary, but I found her behavior consistent with her general approach: she falls into power struggles with the children, which she ultimately loses due to her inability to take her ego out of the situation and control her temper.
Steve S's review references Katie B's review, but the latter has been "filtered" by Yelp. You can find her profile here: http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=NmriPbG4U3IX8g3q5bJhOA
I can't testify as to the truth of Katie B's post, but as you can see, our experience was very similar to Katie B.'s so I find it credible. And, like Katie B., rather than positive memories of our daughter's final CSDC show, we have memories - and a video! - of a teacher denigrating young children's performance and humiliating our four-year-old to the audible dismay of the crowd.
Positive reviewers of CSDC note the school has standards and rules. It is important to understand the difference between the rules set for CSDC's students (which are not so different from any dance school's rules), and the way the teacher treats young children. We support rules and our daughters are eager to follow them. Rules and standards help children to learn poise and develop self-control. Also important are building positive self-esteem, learning to love dance, and having fun - but unfortunately Mary's outrageous behavior undermines all of the above. In my opinion, she should not be working with children.
I do find Elizabeth A.'s and Steve S.'s positive reviews entirely sincere and believable: many children and their parents have good experiences with CSDC. We had another daughter in CSDC last year; if I were to base my review on her experience alone, I would not be posting a negative review. I still would not have given CSDC a highly positive review however: the facilities, classes, and recitals were just okay, not great. The school is generally not very well organized: communication is late and often not very helpful; the recitals were interrupted with equipment malfunctions and miscues; and parents are left to organize themselves for backstage support.
