My 9 year old daughter has taken ballet at OBS for 4 years and absolutely loves it. She now wants to be a dancer or an engineer when she grows up! My daughter has become very strong and flexible in large part due to her dancing here. I was initially concerned about putting my child in an environment where there might be too much emphasis on having a certain body type, but I have seen no sign of that at OBS. Girls of all shapes, sizes, and colors are featured equally in all performances, which I think is great. The dancers have the option (but no pressure) to participate in at least two public performances per year - The Nutcracker in December and a spring ballet. In 2012, the spring ballet was performed in conjunction with an acting class because Genevieve wanted her dancers to have more theatrical skills on stage. The resulting Snow White ballet theatre was wonderful. There is also a week-long ballet intensive in summer during which students and professional dancers from elsewhere come to Oxford to teach. Students are exposed to various forms of dance during the intensive, which ends with a small performance. In 2013, rather than an Oxford intensive, a ballet tour and lessons in France are being planned! Genevieve, as well as all of the other teachers my daughter has worked with at OBS, are patient beyond imagination while teaching the girls top-notch dancing skills. read more