Elite Dance Academy

★Joanha Mendoza

The owner Devon is extremely rude, unprofessional, and has no customer service etiquette whatsoever. She talks badly about her students, employees, and the parents of students. My daughter absolutely loves going to class, but we will no longer be spending our hard earned money there after being treated like shit. Spend your money elsewhere if you want to have a good experience and want to be treated with respect and politeness.

★jess

My daughter was referred here from CVRC. I enrolled her in the Adaptive Dance on Fridays. CVRC was paying the bill and we still received an email stating that we owed almost $200. When I tried calling, there was no response. I emailed the owner and she told me, "Theres no reason to get upset." It's was quite unprofessional. She then went on to say that she usually tells people to disregard the email since her billing system and CVRC don't correspond well together. She went on to say that she told me to disregard any billing email, WHICH WAS A LIE. Theres no accountability from thier faulty payment system and no interest in that she is asking people, who aren't even the ones paying, for money. Money hungry and dishonest isn't any way to run a business. Another substandard business practice is that the very young dance instructors with no qualifications to assess any child with special needs gets to decide whether or not a child gets to stay in the class after a 25 minute full class evaluation. If the young unqualified dance instructor thinks a child wont do well, the instructor will tell the parent of the child, IN FRONT OF EVERYONE IN THE DANCE STUDIO, that their child needs to find another program. They have no credentials to show their experience with special needs children. I've witnessed this disheartening interaction a few times. My daughter was pulled from the program after a few classes and she won't be going back. The dishonestly and lack of professionalism is overwhelming.

★★Alexandra Melvin

This review is for the Parent & Me dance class for ages 18 months to 3 years old. I was initially excited to enroll my 2-year-old daughter, who loves to dance. Unfortunately, the class quickly became a disappointment. The instructor, Janelle, offered minimal instruction and mostly ran through routines without engaging the children—only occasionally praising the same few students while ignoring the others. While I understand parents are there to support their child, other Parent & Me classes we’ve attended had instructors who were far more hands-on and encouraging. My daughter was also going through a phase of learning boundaries and keeping hands to herself. Instead of addressing the concerns with me directly, the teacher reported the issue to the front desk, and I received a text stating that my daughter's behavior was a problem. I offered to withdraw her from class as I didn’t want her to be a problem or distraction for others, but was told I would not receive a refund for the class or recital. The receptionist Ms. Sophie said she would speak to the teacher, but essentially offered no real solution or options on how we could work together to address the issue. Recital picture day was also poorly organized. Multiple groups were assigned the same time slot, and everyone was crowded into a hot classroom with limited seating. Our group—despite having the youngest and most restless children—was scheduled second to last. As I was heavily pregnant, I alternated between sitting on the floor and standing for over an hour. When I went to the lobby to look for a seat, Ms. Sophie, immediately told us to return to the classroom. I calmly explained I was pregnant and needed a seat, but she showed no concern or professionalism and rudely dismissed me (she was generally always rude and curt with me for whatever reason, and it seemed like she seized this opportunity to be even more rude). She escalated tensions by raising her voice at my husband. Eventually, another teacher who was present reluctantly found me a chair. My daughter then came running out of the picture room (parents were not allowed in) stating that she was scared and that her teacher had yelled at her. Overall, the staff came across as young, unprofessional, and lacking in basic customer service. The teachers do not seem prepared or have the experience to run a classroom with toddlers. The only positive thing I could say was that my daughter was allowed to perform on recital day despite having a rough morning which caused her to arrive late and upset. Aside from that, our experience was overwhelmingly negative. I would not recommend this studio for Parent & Me classes; you’re better off with city-run tot classes that offer a better value without the stress or high cost, and more importantly, treat families with more care and respect.

★Marissa Arresondo

My daughter attended this dance studio from the summer to winter performance. The summer was well organized. The prices are fairly reasonable. After summer, I decided to sign her up. There was an issue that came up at the studio. I wanted to speak with the owner about it. I kept being told by the receptionist the owner would return my call. I even emailed her, she failed to respond. I was disappointed because as a small business owner you would think it would be easy to communicate with the owner and the they would be willing to listen to your concerns. In addition, the winter performance was another disappointment. She failed to thank the parents at the introduction of the show. Normally you would thank everyone who made the show happen including parents aka your customers. She appears self centered and only cares about making money and making fundraisers to make more and more money. She needs to realize its because of her customers she has a business and needs to focus on that. After that I took my daughter out from the academy. I have seen her at the Visalia Children's museum Halloween event. She never smiles or help her staff. Shes your typical self centered boss that you don't want to work for. Being humble and kind goes along way.

★★★★★Robyn Marsh-Tizzano

Elite dance academy is the best dance academy in town! Seriously! My grand daughter has been with Elite and on the dance team for 5 years now and I couldn’t be happier. My youngest started with elite this year too. I love the fact that the owner makes sure the costumes are age appropriate. The teachers are patient and kind and very talented. The boosters for the dance team are constantly helping the students have a successful journey on team. The place is always keep clean and in order. If you are wanting your child and you to have an amazing dance experience, Elite is definitely the place to be.