Southbay Dance academy is a exelent place to accomplish your Dance goals in Ballet jazz contemporary tap floclorico and hip hop. Highly recommend read more

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I have been meaning to write this review for about a month now but keeping this low profile because I will get backlash on it. My daughter said this studio was great at first. She was having fun learning new things since it was her first time dancing again in a while. Then after a while she started to complain that she already knew these techniques and that they never learned anything new. This studio has horrible teaching, they keep reteaching the same technique from the RAD exam sheets and don't even try to learn anything new which doesn't give children room to reach their full potential. Also, students who have parents that work or / volunteer often give students with low experience hard and good roles to bad students and give good high experience students very low expectation roles. It's very disappointing how high my hopes were for this studio to only see how cheap and disgusting it really is. Also, I have heard this from other moms at the studio but staff from the studio have made children uncomfortable by saying things about how they look. Just absolutely sad and depressing a child has to think how they look because of these ignorant selfish people. Not even kidding, they are always having sewer problems, they always have to cut up the roof during class and water is dripping from the sealing, and to mention they always have construction going on and they just can't do it on a day not during class. Prices are way too high for low venue cheap places just to go see our kids dance. This studio also only focuses on one student who has been there for 15 years and all the photos on the photo review section is all about her and they maybe have a few other students but other than that she is the star of the show practically. I swear there is other and way better places to put our beloved children in other than this dump. Do Better. read more

My daughter has been attending this dance studio since last year. She absolutely loves going to her classes. The staff is polite and very kind and answers any questions you may have. I overall highly recommend this dance studio Carla is amazing and my daughter has learned so much and progressed in ballet so quick. read more

Great school. Great teachers. My daughter absolutely loves going to her classes. She truly enjoys them. I can't wait for the next show to come around so our family sees all that she's learned. read more

My son goes hip-pop classes twice as week, he loves it. The teachers are nice and friendly.

This studio is not the best, classes are taught off of rad exam syllabus videos and the teacher doesn't teach any original work outside of rad, this whole studio just seems super unorganized they do not show the proper technique that is needed. This studio is more for a hobby if you are looking for somewhere to expand for opportunities and grow as a dancer this will not be the place. This whole studio is a bust sadly. read more

Ms.Karla is an exceptional ballet teacher,the best in San Diego.She was my daughters teacher and now my granddaughters.

This is a great family owned and run ballet studio. I love the new location in Chula Vista. The studio is a member of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and it gives my child a great opportunity each year to advance to the next level. The school performances are a lot of fun and very professionally done. I have realized that all of the dancers receive equal opportunity to advance or have a good role in their performances as long as they attend classes and try hard. There is no bias. All the teachers are friendly and knowledgeable. read more

The problem I have is not with the lessons themselves or any of the staff other than the ones who process payments. We set things up for autopay, and money was coming out each month, but when we cancelled because of moving, the charges kept coming in and we called numerous times to stop the payments. They continued to keep charging, even after repeated attempts to get them to stop, and eventually, we had to call the bank and put stop payments in place. read more

My daughter has been to many different dance schools. Sure, the owner and teachers are competent and friendly but it just isn't quite the level of what I've seen especially SDCYB. Also, I don't get what the importance of the Royal Dance Academy annual certification is. I've never seen any premier schools advertise this as a selling point. I suppose it sets a goal to work towards and provides some sense of accomplishment...and it's also something else to pay for and take extra lessons for. I'll give them this, the kids enjoy and they don't care about size shape or experience. You won't find a cutthroat atmosphere like you would in some other competitive dance schools. If you want to watch your kids take their lessons, though, it's kind of tough to do. Not a great set up for viewing. read more

This is probably my favorite dance studio I have ever been to. The staff is friendly and have knowledge on what their teaching and have a true passion for dance. It isn't so much about the money for them. One time I was short on my tuition and the teacher covered it for me!! I truly recommend this place to anyone who wants to get into dance. read more

Both studios are ok (Chula Vista and Picador Ave.), the personnel are knowledgeable. The problem I see is that I will probably have to get a second job to keep my daughter in Ballet. Each show ends up costing in excess of $500.00 (about 4 times a year), the point shoes are more than $90.00 (about twice a year), and now for some reason, level promotions are about twice a year and of course a new uniform is needed setting me back about $100.00 each time. It's a good experience for the students, but not so much for the parents (money wise). read more

My daughter has been enrolled for several years and does enjoy the experience which is the reason for 3 stars. However, for us parents this business is poorly run, unorganized, and kind of expensive. If your child has the first class of the day don't expect the studio to be open on time, specifically the Saturday classes and the Chula Vista location. Classes are paid by the month, but for months where the studio is closed for holidays or vacations the prices aren't adjusted. This is minor, but an annoyance. Multiple times my child has been asked to miss school for RAD exams and promotional events. Dance, especially for children is not more important than school so I get upset when they say that the dance stuff is very important. Things like this need to be scheduled better. Too many times communication is through the child and not the parent. So don't get your child distracted when they get out of class or you might miss some important information. In general communication regarding dates, times, requirements, has been an issue and very frustrating. For the performances you have to buy a minimum number of tickets, rent the costumes which can be several, pay for pictures if you desire, and possibly purchase the video. Individual pictures for each performance occur on costume pickup day and words cannot describe the chaos. This is dreaded by my wife and me because this is a minimum of three hours typically during the weekday. The day of the performance the dancers are asked to arrive early (1 hour or so) for photographs and preparation, however the photographs never occur on time and as a result the performances start late. For us parents this becomes a 4-5 hour event, not fun. If you choose to purchase the $35 video don't expect much. Terrible is the only way to describe the camera work, editing, and video quality. Feet chopped off, unnecessary panning, too much zoom, and very choppy editing result in a video that you are lucky to see your child in, see the group dance, and keep your lunch. It kind of reminds me of the Blair Witch Project. Even the easiest of scenes such as solos get messed up which I find remarkable. The video quality is just plain terrible. I don't know why they don't offer higher definition. The quality is essentially VHS. In fact it was a video that caused my child to ask to go somewhere else since the dances weren't captured. I hope my child truly wants to move on because this place is sucking the life out of me. read more

My daughter took a jazz and tap class at the studio on Palm Avenue. If I could rate this studio I would give it a D-. It should have been a red flag when I saw there were only two students in the jazz class, including my daughter. When it came time to practice for the recital my daughter only practiced twice the routine! Mind you I paid a lot of money for the costume, tickets, etc. Picture day was complete chaos! There should have been staff there to direct the students during the photo shoot instead one of the students that was assisting the staff asked me how "I" wanted the girls to pose! I wanted to get money back and never take my daughter again but I knew that was not possible. The recital was also a joke! I invited my family but ended up apologizing to them for spending 3 hours of their time. They had a Wizard of Oz theme but it seemed as if it was put together last minute as far as the routines which they kind of were. As I mentioned earlier my daughter only practiced twice. I would NOT recommend this place! read more