Dance Center of San Antonio

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General

Who is Reviewing?

Parent

Program:

Dance Center of San Antonio

Season Attended:

2025-26

# Of Levels In School:

Dancer Age:

Hours of Dance Each Week:

6-10 hours

Company Affliated?

Was Student Scholarshipped?

Years At School:

6 years

Full time or after school?

Full-Time

Date Submitted:

4/27/2026

Curriculum

Days Per Week:

Classes Per Day:

Weekend Classes?

Yes

Weekend Schedule:

Half day

Students Per Class:

25-30

Weekly Repertoire or Variations?

Yes

Pointe Classes Per Week:

Live Music in Technique Class?

Dedicated Men's Program?

Men Taught by Male Teacher?

Men Taught Batterie?

Boys In Level:

Less than 5

Separate Technique Class for Boys:

Techniques Taught:

Vaganova

Technique Teacher Rotation:

Different depending on week

Did School Director Teach?

Often

Classroom Corrections:

Dancer specific: detailed but only a few dancers consistently got corrections

Attention From Teachers:


Very Little	A Lot

Quality of Instruction:


Poor	Excellent

Did Technique Improve?


Not at all	Tremendously

Curriculum Comments:

Depends on the track you're on. There is ballet, contemporary, musical theatre etc. But classes were typically taken over by having competition students work on their pieces.

Partnering

Frequency of Partnering Class:

2x per week

Partner Ratio:

Most girls had to share a partner.

Who Taught?

It varied based on the week

How Much Partnering Improved:


No	Tremendously

Quality of Pas Teaching:


Poor	Excellent

How Were Corrections Given?

The teacher focused on one or two couples and the rest of the students were on their own

Description of Partnering Class:

It was basically the time the owner had their competition dancers work on their pad de duex pieces and had the others copy after.

Other Classes

Other Dance Styles:

Musical Theater, Jazz, Hip-Hop

Other Class Quality:


Poor	Excellent

Contemporary Offered?

Yes

Types of Contemporary Classes Taught:

Technique

Contemporary Quality:


Poor	Excellent

Master Classes?

Yes

Master Classes Description:

The owner has the judges from competition come in as a "masterclass".

Strength & Conditioning

Physical Training Offered?

Injuries/Health/ Mental Health

Are Doctors Available?

How Parents Notified?

Student told parent. School not involved

How Treatment Obtained?

on our own

PT Available?

Was There a Recovery Plan?

Describe Recovery Plan:

Doesn't exist

Mental Health Therapists Available?

Were Students Given Fat Talk?

Yes

Staff Made Comments About Bodies?

Yes

Were Students Weighed?

Yes

Was "Coded Language" Used?

Yes

Additional Comments:

Restrictive eating is encouraged. Body shaming is prevalent.

Performances: Winter Show/ Nutcracker

Performance Opportunities:

2-3

School Winter Show?

Yes

Company or School Show?

School puts on it's own production and students dance all the parts

Cast in Winter Show?

Yes

How Chosen:

Chosen by school director or the company artistic staff

Winter Show Role:

I had both types of parts

Were You Paid?

Rehearsal Impact on Classes:

Rehearsal Hours:

6-10

Performance: Ballet Season

Cast in Company Productions?

Yes

Kind of Part Given?

I had both types of parts

How Chosen:

All students allowed to AUDITION

Was Casting Fair?

For some but not all

Did Rehearsals Impact School Schedule?

Rehearsal Hours:

3-5

Perfomance Opportunities:

Nutcracker, Spring show

Were You Paid?

Competition

School Does Competitions?

Yes

Competitions Required?

% of Students Who Performed:

How Chosen?

Anyone can ask but not all get approved. Owner will let many compete to improve income and bring lots of dancers to competition for higher chance of placing.

Competitions Cost Extra?

About $5000 per year, plus costumes and travel

Separate Competition Rehearsals?

Competition Interfered With Training?

Times that should have been just class were taken over by comp rehearsal or show rehearsal

Communication

Formal Orientation?

Handboook & Paperwork:

Vague and incomplete

Quality of Communication?


Poor	Excellent

Who Received Communication?

With parents and students

Exams

Formal Exam?

School Culture

How Supported Did Student Feel By Staff?


Not	Completely

How Supportive Were Students of One Another?


Not	Completely

Describe School Culture:

Unhealthy, tense, stressful

Placement Notification Timing:

Yes

How Dancer Was Notified:

Written communication via email or regular mail

Dancer Had Mentor?

Mentoring Details:

Non existent

Overall School Culture:


Lord of the Flies	Warm & Inclusive

School Outcomes

Highest Levels of School?

There are no bridge levels (If you chose this answer, please skip next question)

Where Graduates Who Do Not Get Bridge Level Go:

Some find positions elsewhere and about half leave ballet

How Many Left and Went to College?

None

Career Support:

Received no help - I was on my own

Describe How School Helped:

Not old enough yet, but no dancers who have graduated here have made it into a company even as an apprentice

Building & Surrounding Area

Security Around Building:

Safety of Area Around School?


Not Safe	Extremely Safe

Studio Space:


Cramped	Lots of space

Studio Cleanliness:


Dirty	Spotless

Housing

Was Housing Provided?

Where Did Dancer Live?

Lived at home

Academics

How Did Academics Work?

Separate e.g. online, independent study, etc.

Academic Support:

There were no formal study requirements. Students were on their own

Did the School Support Academics?


Didn't support	Definitely supported

Overall Program Grades

Overall Dance Instruction:

Career Support and Placement:

Emotional Support:

Housing & Food:

N/A

Performance Opportunities:

Overall Comments

Program's Best Aspect:

My child stayed for friends and performances.

Program's Worst Aspect:

Favoritism, unhealthy habits like restrictive eating encouraged.

What Changes Would Be Helpful?

Everything, the owner has created an environment that is causing mental and emotional damage to young dancers. The culture there embodies everything about old school ballet that is bad and needs to change!

Anything Else We Should Know?

It’s taken me a long time to remove my child from this place. What I'm about to share is known by many but not talked about. My child spent several years training here. There have been issues for a long time but they didn’t want to leave their friends and we held out much too long but we finally got out. This is written anonymously because she is vindictive and will try to ruin people. The owner and the head employee here are manipulative and mentally abusive. It is also physically unhealthy because the super thin anorexic look is encouraged. Body shaming and bullying occurs. There is encouragment of low calorie and strict eating to keep the skinny “ballet” look. It is such a toxic environment. A lot of hype is shared about “top school” and competition winners but it’s deceiving. The study they keep quoting is based off only schools who compete at YAGP so its not accurate. She has had absolutely no dancers make it professionally as a ballet dancer yet. Not one. All her promising dancers from the past either left or got burned out and stopped dancing. She doesn’t even let the dancers attend summer intensive other places unless she approves the choice. She never used to at all but starting losing people over it. So now her favorites are allowed to go to summer intensive somewhere if she approves it. Her current dancers win at the competitions because she basically bribes the judges. And because she brings so many dancers to the competitions they reward her. There is nothing fair about it. If you aren’t a favorite you get ignored or even belittled. Daily class time is used for her favorites to work on their competition pieces instead of teaching a typical technique class. Of course a dancer will do well at competition if all they do is work on one or two pieces every day for years. She also can’t keep good teachers because she is so hard to work for. The married teacher couple that finally were able to leave had been threatened with losing their work visas. And families are afraid to speak up and ask questions. So are dancers. She and her husband have connections so families are afraid of the backlash. She also threatens people with legal action. Dancers who have left have had to correct bad technique that she taught. So many families know what it is truly like here but won’t speak up. The ones actively supporting this place and saying its great are doing so because they want their child to be a star. You’ll see reviews posted to counter any negative reviews but that’s because she makes people write them. Some are written by her employees or family members. All those news pieces or articles making it look like a great place are paid for and orchestrated by the owners. The kids who choose to stay do so because they are either a favorite, win at competitions or they want to stay for friends or performances. But is it worth the damage it can cause? Please if you want to protect your childs mental, emotional and dance health stay away from here!