Atlas School Of Dance

I did not want to have to write this review. Our daughter is dancing at another studio but we contacted Atlas School of Dance to request a meeting with Debbie Dariano-Decker, the owner and director to discuss the items listed below, and was declined. My wife and I have NEVER SPOKEN to Debbie NOR MET WITH HER PERSONALLY, most of the communication has been with Michelle Dirk, the ex co-director. If I could save just save one family from the inconvenience and problems we incurred at Atlas, then writing this has been worth my time.

Pros:

-Miss Amanda and Miss Courtney great teachers for Tiny Dancers

-$60.00 per month per class

-Children can start at two-years-old

Cons:

No regard for health and safety of dancers. My three-year-old daughter has FEBRILE SEIZURES and fell ill after intermission. A backstage volunteer barricaded herself to the exit and forbade my daughter to leave. The volunteer said “No one is allowed out until after the show” and said to my daughter, “YOU CAN MAKE IT. IT’S JUST A LITTLE BIT LONGER!” After 15 minutes of arguing, a teacher told the volunteer to release my daughter. When we saw our daughter, she was hysterical! She said, “They locked us in. They wouldn’t let us go!” She cried herself to sleep and kept repeating those words during the following week. Parents came up to us in the parking lot to tell us what they had witnessed and felt badly for the way our daughter was treated.As with any school, I understand a child is expected to stay until dismissal. However, when a child no longer feels well, a parent has the RIGHT to take the child home early.

Backstage “Security”

-Sign-In- with your telephone #, seat #, and signature

-Sign-Out-only a signature required. NO ONE CHECKS IF SIGNATURES EVEN MATCH! If you’re female you can walk in and out of the dressing room and walk out with a child without any verification.

No Parent Confidentiality

-Atlas does not protect the privacy of students or families. During dress rehearsal, a lady sat on stage and READ THE NAMES OF ALL THE FAMILIES WHOSE ACCOUNT WAS PAST DUE IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE STUDENT BODY. She said, “If your name is called, you cannot dance in the recital.” As the names were read, you can see the shocked look upon the children’s faces. Some asked their parents, “I’m not going to dance?” THE PARENTS WERE EMBARRASSED! Other dancers recognized last names and told dancers, “Your name was called. You haven’t paid your tuition.” That is not how you collect unpaid fees in any business.

Recital Programs

-Does anyone check to make sure names are spelled correctly before they are printed? Our daughter’s name was MISPELLED and they put down the WRONG LAST NAME!

Dress Rehearsal Schedule

-Odd times in the afternoon so you have to request time off to leave your job early

-They don’t start on-time so you really didn’t have to leave your job early

-They don’t follow the schedule that was emailed in May. Dress rehearsal is the only time you can take videos and photos of your child. Our daughter was scheduled to dance between 6:00 pm-7:00 pm. I arrived at 5:30 and found out my daughter danced at 5:17! We have not photos or video of her dancing.



Accounting Department Disorganized

Shelly from accounting sent an email on May 28 threatening that if we do not pay, our daughter doesn’t dance in the recital because our account was PAST DUE. She accused us of not making a payment for SEPTEMBER when the check we wrote CLEARED Atlas’ bank on SEPTEMBER 6. On JUNE 17, I wanted to purchase tickets for the recital. They refused to sell me tickets because they said our account was PAST DUE for June. The June payment was made on JUNE 3. We received an email from Shelly on JUNE 4 thanking us for the payment. On JUNE 18 they called my wife and said they couldn’t find the check. HORRIBLE!



Save yourself the headache and find a more professional dance studio.

I loooooove this place ECSPECIALLY Amanda I recommend you go here. It's probably the best in San jose