Cary Ballet Conservatory — Local services in Cary

Our daughter attended Cary Ballet Conservatory for the last 4.5 years and this summer, they have made some changes to the ballet program. At the same time, this summer my daughter started losing her passion and self confidence in ballet. We realized as a family that it was time for a change because she has a gift and was getting lost in the bigger classes and new vision. We decided to attend another school for ballet and stay at CBC for the jazz program. We saw in our contract that as long as she attends one Rec Ballet Class that she was able to attend the Pro Jazz classes. She auditioned for the CBC Jazz Company and was accepted. There is nowhere in her contract with CBC's Jazz Company or with the Conservatory that we are not allowed to dance at two different studios so we tried some other studios out and found one we liked. This was a very difficult decision for her that we kept private because she worried her teachers she loved wouldn't understand and it was a private family decision. Unfortunately, we didn't know until after we made the transition that the owner at CBC would not agree with our decision. She removed my daughter from the Jazz Company without any warning or without legal cause hours before rehearsal after attending company rehearsals for almost 2 months. I have tried to contact the owner and she will not return my messages or address the issue. We have supported, advertised, sacrificed for, given our resources, time, and a huge amount of energy into the Conservatory and put the Conservatory out there as the best thing for dancers in the Triangle area but after watching what has happened over the last couple of months, we are extremely disappointed in the way they've treated our daughter and our family this fall. We will never forget what many of her teachers have done for her, they loved, valued and poured into her as a dancer but we are not ok with this behavior. I have since found out that she is allowing other dancers to attend two different schools but we were not allowed to be in the company because she has issues with the owner of the new school we chose. There is something that happened in that relationship before we started at CBC that we were not aware of and the owner has said that people should just know. We did not know. I find this behavior to be unprofessional and even more disappointing because my daughter is 13 and has worked hard to get to where she is. I would not recommend Cary Ballet...

Burning up the road this week and arriving home very late makes me ever so thankful that our daughter spends her weeknights in the loving home of Suzanne Laliberte-Thomas and Andrew Thomas in Cary! We typically only do the drive to and from Cary twice a week now and after years of daily trips out of town for her dance classes, this is a life-altering difference.

I'm so happy to have been able to catch a second glimpse of the AWESOME classes at Cary Ballet Conservatory and watch Haley and her dance friends in action. Tonight was jazz with guest choreographer Yaqshaan Medan and WOW, what an exciting class! Our daughter has lucked out and had his class once before in the Winston Salem area and her jaw pretty much fell to the floor when she realized she would get to take his class tonight. Such fun was had by the dancers! Everyone worked super hard and looked great! Ballerinas can jazz it out too, you know. :) It's also been nice meeting and beginning to recognize many of the other dancers and parents at CBC. Everyone has been welcoming and I feel right at home when I'm there! I'm hoping to go back to watch ballet again tomorrow evening and I can't wait! It's rewarding and reaffirming to see Haley smiling, learning, and thriving as she works so hard doing what she loves! I'm so glad that we went for it this year to find a way for her to join this wonderful conservatory! Thanks Mariaelena Ruiz for all that you are doing to develop this truly top notch training program for these lucky, hard working dancers! It has been such a treat to visit and observe the energy in the school! We appreciate all of...

I am so thankful for the CARING and QUALITY of teachers and leadership at Cary Ballet Conservatory! My daughter had pretty much decided to drop ballet based on unfounded fears (having been absent for over a month). One of her teachers, DEANNA SEAH, reached out to her and Grace was able to open up and share her heart. Deanna not only answered her questions honestly, and added a needed balance, but she really cared. As a result of DEANNA SEAH taking time to write a couple of emails and taking out half hour of her face to face time, my daughter is now happily back at ballet. Without knowing the major decision we just took on our way out the door, the Founder, Suzanne Laliberté Clark, then spent a whole hour of her time talking with us and clearing up more misconceptions. Our pediatrician told us to simply expect to be in pain if we were going to choose ballet. That's not true if you have caring and quality teachers to ensure you have the right foundation before moving on to the next level. I am so thankful for the caring and quality teachers & leadership of Cary Ballet Conservatory which has made a huge positive impact on our daughter,...