Maryland Performing Arts Center - Severna Park, Maryland

Brittany Spiker

Wonderful dance studio and performing arts center. Talented staff and excellent instruction! My son loved the hip hop class! My 3 year old little girl is currently doing ballet/tap combo class and LOVES dance class days!! Studio has a lot of positive energy!! Recitals are very impressive! Highly recommend to friends, in my opinion, best in the area!

Wayne Sarro

This arts studio is the best in the area, from their attention given to each child’s success to the cleanliness of the environment where the classes are held. My daughter is going on her third year at this studio she could not be in better hands in developing into an amazing young dancer! I would fully recommend MPAC to anyone looking for a studio to further develop their children’s dreams, aspirations and potential.

Alyssa Cary

We coordinated a trial, but they didn’t update me on instructions on arrival and when we got there it was unclear if there was even a class.

Two girls did join late and they allowed my 2 year old to participate. The instructor was wonderful and patient with my daughter, but said she would reach out to discuss if she was a fit for the class.

This class was advertised for 2 year olds, but I could tell the instructor was hesitant. I never heard from them. I sent an email that I was disappointed and we still never heard from them.

I think it’s important for parents to know this experience. It takes a lot to put your child out there with new experiences and I’m not a fan of the how this studio handles their communication.

Sarah Dungan

My oldest started here almost 6 years ago when she was 3 years old, and our youngest just started last year. I would never take them anywhere else! Kelsey treats my children as if they were her own and is incredibly patient and kind, even when teaching the youngest of children. When my children started they were nervous and anxious (they were only 3!), as this was their first experience in any form of sport and for the first few classes they cried and were scared to go in to dance without myself or my husband. Kelsey and Colleen were so patient with them, encouraged them and were finally able to get them to come in class (so much that they didn't want to come back home afterwards!)
I personally danced for 15 years when I was younger, and I wish that I had attended dance at a studio that measured even halfway to Maryland Performing Arts Center! They recently moved into a new space that was completely remodeled and is gorgeous. I would recommend coming here to anyone looking for the perfect dance studio!

Rachel Endo

I've tried several dance studios in the area and I have to say the quality of the teachers and facility at Maryland Performing Arts is the best in the area. I tried Dances Dream (Pasadena) and Creative Force Dance (Severna Park), and while they were acceptable, they didn't meet my needs any where near as well as Maryland Performing Arts did.

With Dancers Dreams the responses to my email inquires always seemed very short/curt. When I inquired for ballet and/or tap classes for my girls we were placed into a technique class with a teacher who caters to younger students. The girls liked the teacher (Hannah Feather) well enough, as she was very friendly and causal, but I thought for my daughter's age (9yr), the classes should be more mature and have a better balance of seriousness with fun. At $90 per hour of class per month (as of this writing April 2021) I didn’t find the tuition on par at all with the level of service.

My experience with Creative Force Dance was a slight improvement from Dancers Dream. Creative Force Dance offer a very large selection of mix dance classes (like acro/hip hop, “creative dance” or strength/stretch/jazz to give you an idea of the array...) which seems novel at first but I think too much selection made it overwhelming to pick a class, especially when we couldn’t do in-person trial lessons (which to be fair, was mostly Corona’s fault). When trying out the only in person trial class available (tumbling) my older daughter felt very self conscious by one of the teachers' comments (she couldn't do a hand stand and the teacher said "she's as flexible as a stick”—while I’m sure he didn't mean any harm, my daughter can be overly sensitive and she was turned off from the class). After that, I didn't want to commit to any classes until my daughters had done in person trials to make sure they were comfortable with the teacher(s) but none of the other classes were offered with in person trials. In the end, I just gave up on doing trials and jumped into signing up for strength and stretch and tap to try it out (I thought I could put in the 30 day notice when signing up in case they didn’t like it but we were told we that the cancel wouldn’t commit until next month so we had to do 2 months). The girls liked their tap teacher well enough (Maura DePascal) and their tap skills improved greatly over the 2 months they attended but at $60 a month per class per child (as of this writing April 2021) I only found the tuition to be satisfactory for the level of service.

As for Maryland Performing Arts, they offered in person trials for every class. They recommended age appropriate ballet classes for my girls when I explained their ages, situation and break from dance and set us up to try Tap, Ballet and Movement trials on Tuesday and Hip Hop and Ballet trials on Thursday. They followed up with phone calls after the trials and even helped to set up make up trials when the snow cancelled Thursday's trials. The girls loved the Hip Hop class but my priority was the Ballet. Maryland Performing Arts requires Ballet students to take two Ballet classes (as with my experience with more professional dance studios). We ended up signing up for Ballet 2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and voice lessons on Fridays. The girls said, even though they find the Ballet classes challenging they like both their Ballet teachers. The dance rooms have glass facing the parking lot so you can observe from you car and I can see how skillful the teacher are. It was also refreshing to find a male Ballet teacher for a change (Patrick Harrington on the Thur classes) to give the girls a little balance in gender role models. The voice teacher, Mr. Michael (Michael Gellert) is my favorite. He lets me sit in during their lessons (so I feel like I’m getting a free singing lesson myself), and he’s always very animated and enthusiastic to teach the girls. I really get the feeling that everyone who works there loves to teach and loves their job. At $80 a month per class per child, it is well worth the tuition for the service we receive.

Nicole King

Amazing dance studio! My stepdaughter attends MPAC and I couldn’t be more pleased with her growth and accomplishments. I’m so thankful for the teachers there. They truly care about their students and helping them reach their individual goals.

Vesta

The teachers are wonderful with children and very experienced! I really appreciated how careful and attentive they have been especially during COVID with clean up and following cdc and county guidelines. You can tell the owner really cares about the well-being of their students. I have been at MPAC since 2014 and loved every season and recital!

Edward Clark

Wonderful dance studio and performing arts center. Talented staff and excellent instruction! My son loved the hip hop class!