Studio Five Dance Co — Local services in Fuquay-Varina

We danced at Studio 5 for 3 years. In 3 years, my daughter lost most of her ballet she already knew when she was 3 because they hardly focused on ballet. They only received around 30 minutes of ballet at max. Pointe Ballet is offered when it shouldn’t be due to the lack of ballet training which can cause injuries. Rules have never been enforced there unless it benefits the owners. It has a high school feel due to certain groups of moms and kids forming "cliques." If you are not a part of that group, you are not treated the same. They will gladly hand out awards and compliments to those moms, but not to the other parents who are not in those groups, who have also volunteered their time and efforts to support the studio. I feel it shows favoritism. I do not want my daughter nor our family to be a part of studio who allows bullying, drama, and high school "cliques." I feel like everyone should be recognized and appreciated when they have put the same efforts and volunteer time as those other parents in the cliques. Where is the awards for those other families who also deserved it? We also paid for a lyrical/ jazz class for a year and the dancers hardly got any lyrical training at all. The main focus was on jazz all year leaving only a month of lyrical training.Due to not enough practice their recital dance was a mess, which was a huge disappointment as well as the audio mess ups during competition and recital. You were told about certain important information (regarding competition/recital) at the last minute. Multiple times dancers were late due to not having the correct location information. Parents would have to message the owner asking where and when things were taking place. Another huge issue that occurred while we were there was witnessing a situation regarding another family with two daughters who had attended dance there for many years even before the owners currently took over the studio. Their one daughter was a part of the special needs program they offer. Their younger daughter was a part of dance troupe was being bullied by the owners daughter and other kids. Our daughter even witnessed bullying. Due to issues of bullying by the owners daughter as well as other dancers, and a heated discussion due to the lack of resolution on this matter, the owners became defensive instead and this family was not allowed to return to their dance classes or perform in recital. They have their daugnters in the yearbook with class pictures of them but their names were not even listed, like they did not exist other then their image. They clearly did that on purpose, especially since the timeline adds up. The yearbook was not completed until after this huge issue occurred and they already were not allowed to return to the studio even though it was not their girls' fault. After several times reaching out and no resolution they naturally became upset and frustrated. Their daughters have always been kind and respectful towards adults and dancers. The rules in the troupe handbook state bullying is not allowed when in fact it was allowed and no disciplinary measures were taken! The special needs daughter had nothing to do with this situation and it sadly effected her. Both girls looked forward to performing in the recital. Again it was neither girls fault for the poor behavior of other kids and lack of discipline. Their daughter who was bullied and apart of dance troupe worked hard this year with all her dances including a solo dance. Our daughter was also effected by this as she was close to their daughter. Kids are allowed to run around the studio inside and out side. Including unsupervised children under the age of 6 running in the parking lot. They lost 3 of our daughters teachers this year. We only stayed because of her teachers and friends. However after witnessing multiple issues and dealing with the negativity environment we made the decision not to return this year. I do not recommend studio 5...

My toddler son was mistreated at this studio, and when confronted, the studio staff and owner did nothing about it. You would think as a studio in a small town that they would have sought feedback in an effort to improve their tactics or at the very least understand why they lost my business. As a former professional dancer myself, I will not partake, let alone pay, for a dance establishment to make my son feel bad about himself.

**Edited to respond to the studio's reply below: The suggestion that the studio has "proposed several positive behavior supports" for my son or "always endeavored" to collaborate with me is unequivocally false. I received one phone call in September asking what methods we use at home to promote listening after a 45 minute dance class where the children sat on the floor for the majority of the class. That is it.

The reality is that toddlers, just like everyone else, have varying attention spans and energy levels. Children should never be publicly shamed simply because their needs are different or unexpected. Using exclusionary punishment in an environment that is meant to be positive is unacceptable. It is unfortunate that rather than attempt to solicit constructive feedback, the studio's stance and response is defensive and defiant. It's my hope that this review puts other families on notice of this studio's...

Terrible! I have been dancing there for 7 years. The owners are not very nice and the service is not very good . The owners children dance there and one of them was bullying me and some of the other girls and the owners made it out to be like it was our fault. The teachers were very nice and I loved working with them, but that's all I liked. They don't keep their studio clean and maintained. There are 3 different studios, one of those studios I got multiple splinters on the floor, one of which my mom could not remove and I had to have the doctor cut it out. I saw a roach in one of the bathrooms. The floors are also really dirty. Some of the dancers got plantar warts from the dirty floor. They also force all the families onto fundraising committees whether or not they want to take part in that. They have rules for the troupes that everyone breaks and gets away with. There is not enough ballet offered there and the owner refused to add more ballet classes even when several families made the request. We found a much better dance studio with better training and a nicer...