Steps On Broadway — Local services in New York

Dishonest and shady business practices!

Hi, Steps! It's me. I'm sure you'll remember my complaining about this several times, but no matter how high I took this, it fell on deaf ears.

Why did it never occur to me to just post an honest revue?

So my nephew came to visit New York for his tenth birthday. I thought it would be fun to take him for a tap class in the big city.

I studied tap for years. So did his mother. So did his grandmother. I really wanted to share this with my nephew!

Okay some things to know here:

• He was TEN years old (to the very day). Now I know what you're thinking... "But they don't teach kids that young!" BINGO! You are correct! Ohhhhhh, but wait! It gets better!

• This was his absolute first dance class ever. EVER!!! And so we took an "Absolute Beginners" tap class and I made sure the staff knew it was his first class.

Ready? Now that you're armed with that knowledge, here we go...

Having looked at their schedule and called ahead to ask their input, they recommended the "Advanced Beginners" class. I told them this was my gift to him for his 10th birthday.

We arrived. We checked in. The young lady at the front desk wished him a happy birthday. I made sure she knew he was ten years old and that it was his first dance class ever.

She assured us the teacher would take great care of us.

The teacher welcomed us with enthusiasm. He wished my nephew a happy 10th birthday. I made sure to remind the teacher that, while I've had a few years of tap, this was my nephew's absolute first dance class ever. He assured us we'd be fine.

There were two adult women still in the room having completed his previous tap class.

FOR WHATEVER REASON...... the teacher let the two women stay in the room -- for the entire class -- and just do their own thing over in the corner.

......ahem........

This isn't ballet. This is freaking TAP!!!!!!!!!

So here my nephew is at his first tap class ever, and while trying to hear the teacher and pick up his instruction, there are two women stomping out Morse code loudly in the corner for the entire class. Like...... The ENTIRE class! Yes, at every! given! moment!

While my nephew struggled to concentrate over the dissonance, we started to learn the very basics of tap.

Listen. I'm not an absolute beginner. I've been to many a tap class at various levels.

THIS WAS BEYOND ABSOLUTE BEGINNER! The teacher was giving us an entire combination which frankly, even I struggled to pick up without making a few mistakes.

At a certain point my nephew just kinda gave up and spent what must have felt like hours just waiting for it to end.

The teacher noticed my nephew wasn't getting it. But he just pressed on and the teacher just left my nephew in the dust.

My ten year old nephew left that room embarrassed and feeling like a dummy.

To this day, it embarrasses him to talk about tap. He "doesn't know where" the tap shoes are that I bought him.

So when I called them later that week, guess what they told me?

"Well...... We don't TEACH kids as young as 10."

Okay. Well then we should have been told that BEFORE you took our money!

I was told they can't give a refund and that if I want a refund, I should email the management.

So I did.

Same response.

"We never teach kids that young."

WELL, YA DID!!!! So...... where does that leave us?

I told them the whole story. They KNEW the kid was ten. They KNEW this was his first class ever. They even recommended this exact class based on his age and expecrience level.

So I don't know who or where the ball got dropped in your estimation, Steps on Broadway, but you dropped the ball.

And when I asked for a refund?

MULTIPLE TIMES.

"No."

I was told "We can't."

Oh really.... You "can't"??? As if it were the law of gravity, there is no conceivable way to honor your word by returning the money, for which we received LESS than no value?

I won't bore you with the details but I called. I emailed. Several times.

Steps hasn't budged.

Steps would RATHER clench that $40, knowing it was earned by sabotaging a child's...

Would like to share this.

Never wrote an online review in my life.

I went through a terrible and traumatic experience at this establishment.

I am a Senior who happens to be a father of three young daughters who were eager to take lessons at Steps..

We went to steps a few times to get information always greeted by a smiling assistant directing us to the app. All the classes are signed up that way. By the way this is a drop in class facility but kids , understandable need to be evaluated prior to classes.

The times we went to steps the elevator didn’t work and mothers with strollers were walking four floors up to get to the studio. No help provided to these poor people. Guess it’s something special if these people are willing to carry strollers to get there, I thought.

After visiting to get info, I had also called to make sure there was no errors as I’m not familiar with Dance classes, as I’ve never taken a class myself.

After hours invested by speaking to the staff and traveling for two hours from Long Island. We got there!

My two daughters one 10 and the other 8 years old, we’re super excited. As they were led to the the studio after they were told to change out of their street clothes. I was asked if they were Vaccinated which I was asked in front of other parents children. I informed the staff that they were. I was asked if I had proof, I did not.

At that point my kids and I were told to leave. At this point the two girls are crying.

First, there are no signs in the building asking for vaccination documentation. Also, your are asked to sign a waiver on the app, which I did.

There is something called HIPA which requires that medical conditions Can and Should be kept confidential. This is not legal and racist. There is confidentiality and I should not need to discuss in person my child’s medical conditions in front of students and parents.

You made my children feel terrible.

The fact that my girls are ethnic made the whole thing ugly with some bullyism.

Shame on you guys.

PS I want...

I attend online classes here almost every week and have taken from a variety of tap teachers over the past 3-4 years. They are all clearly very skilled and I have thoroughly enjoy almost revet one of my classes. The great thing is that there are so many teachers and so many levels that if one doesn't fit what you need or want, you can always try another. And if you find what joy want, you can stick with the one person over time. Based on skill, style and schedule, I have been taking class with Tommy Waisutta Monday nights for several months. I have loved every class with him. This week The substitute teacher (wish I could remember her name) was fantastic and very friendly. She is clearly skilled in tap dancing, teaching and generally being a nice person. She also did well with making sure the thoughts and needs of both the in person students and the online students were addressed. Doing the Classes over zoom introduces some technical complications, which can be frustrating at times. On a good day, the volume of music is much too loud compared with the volume of the teacher's voice and taps, and the low latency of zoom causes issues that make it difficult to keep your rhythm/stay in time with the class. On a bad day, it might be impossible to hear the teacher, or the mic might be crackling and static-y the whole time. The studio does have a team for trying to fix it during the class, and if they can't fix it, they do refund you. So, the team does try to help, but it can be frustrating if what I want is to take a class and what I get instead is no class and...