Centre Stage Academy

(1 of 4) Dear Jupit3er

Thank you for your feedback. Whilst it is disappointing to hear that some aspects of your experience at our school did not meet your expectations, I am grateful for the opportunity to address your points in further detail.

I am sorry to hear that your daughter was shouted at in her classes and consequently became upset. Group dance classes, like team sports and group gymnastics or fitness classes, do involve the teacher needing to raise their voice to varying degrees to communicate with all members of the class and make corrections. This is amplified further when music is playing in the background, as happens during parts of the dance lesson. Indeed, we have a focus on technique and developing polished group choreography at our school.

(2 of 4) However, I do not condone any teacher treating a student in a belittling or upsetting way. If this is what happened in your daughter's case, I sincerely apologise, and request that you message me privately on tanya(at)centrestageacademy.com.au so I can look further into your specific situation.

I have in place a Teacher's Code of Conduct that all of our teachers should be following, and accordingly, any deviations from acceptable behaviour are acted upon.

Regarding our prices, please be assured that we are not 'cashing in' on any of the extra costs you mentioned. They are all standard purchases for anyone enrolled in dance classes (no matter which school), and have been listed on our website FAQ for over 10 years, with price ranges for each item. In our FAQ we also state the total to expect to pay for an entire year of classes, including compulsory extra expenses.

(3 of 4) In our first newsletter of the year, we list a payment schedule of items that are charged throughout the year, and when. In light of these actions, I would argue that we are more up-front about payment commitments than most other dance schools. The hairpieces you mentioned are an optional purchase that has been initiated in response to parental demand, just over the past 3 years. They are sold at cost-price, and until now, we have received only positive feedback about them from parents.

It is correct that we discourage parents from feeding their children whilst they are wearing their dance costumes (to clarify, I am not referring to our dance uniform, rather their concert costumes). This is because concert costumes cannot be washed, only wiped with a damp cloth, as they are usually made from coloured lycra and embellishments such as sequins, tulle etc.

(4 of 4) I am concerned that this advice may have been misinterpreted in the point you mentioned. Concert costumes are meant to be fitted, with no 'room for growth', however if there is a concert costume that is clearly one size too small, we have a procedure that we follow to get a larger size re-ordered. If your friend would like to contact me privately to discuss her situation regarding the costume, she is most welcome to do so.

I hope that the above comments give you more context surrounding our customs and procedures, and I encourage you to follow-up with me privately if you so choose. I hope that your daughter enjoyed other aspects of her classes and performances with us, as feedback of that nature is the type we usually receive! Nevertheless, thank you again for your review.

Best wishes,
Tanya (Artistic Director)