International Conservatory Of Performing Arts - Plano, Texas

Curtis Haines

Parents beware of this studio.

We have been dealing with dance studios and dance in general for years. But decisions made at the end of this season created the worst experience we have ever had and compels me to write this review to warn other parents about the business practices of these new owners.

In the final months of this season, the owners brought on a new co-owner and made her part of the new management of this studio. This new co-owner then decided to fire their dance-team coaches just days before the final competition of the season and cancelled the recital without any discussion with parents.

Now, this is not the first time we have lived through a shake-up at a studio. They happen in the dance world. However, usually during such shake-ups, both the coaches and the owners do their best not to let it ruin the year for their dancers. This was not the case with these owners. Their decision to fire the coaches and cancel the end of the year recital displayed a callous disregard for all of the hard-work and dedication the dancers had invested in their dances all year long as well as all the money the parents had invested for their kids to be able to do so. Not to mention what having no recital would mean for the graduating senior dancers, including our daughter. No recital. No senior solo dance. No senior send-off. No celebration of the ending of a 10 year long chapter in a dancer’s life. And they did not even have the courtesy to email us to let us know that the beloved coaches our kids had worked with all year long had been fired, and they refused to tell anyone why when the news broke anyway and they were directly asked. (Btw… Personality differences/differences of opinion is the rumored reason. And that’s no good reason to ruin a year’s worth of your dancers’ hard work and your parents’ hard-earned money. It could have waited until summer, after the last competition, after recital.) But I cannot for the life of me understand what could possibly not wait a week. Their timing shows how little they care about their students.

So if any parents are interested in checking out this studio, be warned that this studio no longer employs many if any of the teachers that have been discussed in previous reviews on facebook, and those now in control have no studio management experience. In fact, the one they put in charge (and the source of all these bad decisions) is simply a parent of one of the younger dancers. A parent. So much damage done in so little time. Don’t waste your money and your dancer’s time, talent, and tears on this studio. Keep looking. Far better are out there.

Pixie Haven