Dance Elite All Stars

My 3 year old daughter started in the Tiny Tots class in August 2015. Miss Danielle is her teacher and is so patient and loving with her and the other kids in the class, as well as being a very talented dancer herself. The studio is incredibly informative with emails and phone calls about any upcoming events and guidance for us rookie dance parents! The front desk and every employee we have talked to is helpful and passionate about dance and spreading their knowledge on to their students. We are so excited to have found such a loving, compassionate, talented studio!

We moved to Rocklin a year ago and found Dance Elite right away — how lucky we are. We have been met with wonderful customer service and prompt responses to any problems we have had. Miss Dawn met with me and was a wonderful resource for problem solving. I believe this studio is trying to reach its full potential. My four kiddos are trying to figure out where they fit and the staff has been very accommodating to help with that transition.

Good studio. Felt it was too pricey, especially since my 5 year old is play dancing half the class. Referred my sister who was signed up and is paying $ 10 less a month than me, yet her 12 year old is doing technical level classes with smaller class sizes. So I casually asked a parent at one of her classes what she is paying and she is paying $ 15 less. Your class prices should be consistent. I really feel cheated now. Seems like bad business to me. I don’t think I’ll sign up again after the performance coming up.

I have been dancing at Dance Elite for 9 years now, and I can honestly say it has changed my life for the best! I started in 2006, when I was 9 years old, and I had absolutely no confidence and low self esteem. When I started doing the competition teams I saw myself grow as a person and a dancer. My personality grew to become more outgoing, and I felt happier and healthier the more I danced.
The studio is a great environment, with amazing staff and students! I have created life long memories and have made many new friends. (which is so fun when we travel to competitions!) It is shocking how much my overall confidence, presence, and technique has grown in the last few years and it is all because of this studio (and my hard work & time had something to do with it too)
My one complaint with DEA is the price of comp teams, fees, classes, costumes etc. But you have to realize that dance is an expensive hobby and you are paying for the experience and professionally trained teachers/​choreographers. You will NOT find a dance studio in the Nor Cal area better than Dance Elite!
— Student/​Sr. Dancer of Dance Elite

My daughter has been taking classes every semester at Dance Elite for almost 7 years. Our overall experience has been a good one! We started with just one ballet class per week (when she had just turned 2) and over the years as she has continued to learn and grow as a dancer, and has added jazz, tap and hip hop classes along the way. She is currently on four company teams and even though it is a huge commitment for our family (time and money), we are happy to see our daughter thrive in this environment. She is focused, her time management skills are incredible, she is an excellent student at school and I attribute much of that to her dance class experiences. She has learned respect, discipline, hard work and team spirit from a variety of teachers that are genuinely dedicated to their students. No dance studio is perfect, but I personally have had nothing but good experiences with the front desk staff. The studio has grown considerably and with that growth, there are growing pains, just like any other business. On the rare occasion I have had a concern, I have gone through the proper channels at the appropriate time and have been treated with respect and professionalism.
I decided to have my 9 yr old write a review, since ultimately, this is her studio and her experience. This is what she wrote:
Dance Elite Allstars is an awesome place! The teachers are awesome and they teach you fun ways to dance. They help you to be a better dancer. I’ve been dancing there since I was two and now I am nine. One of my favorite teachers is Loco. He teaches hip hop and makes it super fun! Miss Jeni & Miss Beth are awesome at helping me with Jazz. Miss Anne is the best ballet teacher. Miss Carrie is always great with jazz production and tap! Miss Mercedes and Mr. Derek are great hip hop dancers and teachers. I am dancing 10 hours a week and I am always having fun! I love all of my friends at dance! Dance Elite is the BEST!!!

My 2 girls have danced at various studios in and around Roseville, and we have found that Dance Elite has the best dance program by far! We are here to stay! The teachers are great at what they do, and most of them dance themselves– so they are great role models for the kids. The choreography is challenging for each age group, and the teachers are great at cheering the kids on. My daughter says her favorite part of the shows are when the instructors are standing off stage, cheering for the students! That shows they want their students to succeed, and it always puts a smile on my kids faces!

We are new to the area and after 5 years with a fabulous dance studio in Napa, CA we were very mindful of what things we wanted (and did not want) in a dance studio for our daughter. Dance Elite All-​Stars has proven to be just that: elite all stars! They are a very high quality dance studio with very professional instructors. This is where the rubber meets the road for our daughter;they require a lot from their dancers and the opportunity is there if you want it. Our daughter is in 5^th grade and on 4 of their «youth» dance teams. She is required to go to conditioning class once per week, ballet class once per week and a technique class as well (those are to support her main dance classes). We have had a positive experience so far but it’s definitely been «drinking from a fire hose.» There is just so MUCH, I just wasn’t really prepared for it. In terms of administration, Michelle and Alicia (I think her name is Alicia… Ashley maybe? Sorry, I forget), both are fabulous and know their stuff. Dawn’s name was (I think) slandered a bit by Beth L. in a prior post. I’ve had several communications with Dawn and she’s not at all what was described. She is professional, meticulous and factual. She’s not there to give you a warm fuzzy — she’s there to be a professional accounting administrator and she’s polite, respectful and does her job well. I haven’t had any interaction at all with Faith Gardner, except for being a parent at a teams meeting before the season started, and all I can say is she’s well spoken, knows her stuff and has really good jewelry (I couldn’t help but stare… sorry, the ADD kicks in and I really admired it). The bottom line is my daughter likes the studio and is getting what she needs from it. Do I feel nickel-​and-​dimed? Yeah, sorta. But that’s because she’s on competition teams and there’s always a fee for something. But, overall, are we happy with the studio? Yes. Do we want to move our girl to a different studio because Mom feels nickel’d and dimed? Heavens no. They’re tough on her and she’s getting so much better for it. Is she going to be a professional dancer? Probably not. But she’s learning discipline, teamwork and how to set and meet a goal. My girl is happy, so mom is happy and that’s why I’m writing this review. If you’re thinking about a studio for your dancer, check out Dance Elite. They really ARE a top-​notch group of people with a really good program.

Not only is this the most professional studio, but in addition to teaching proper techniques of dance, they care about building up our kids and teaching character. My 16 year old daughter chose to move to this studio some years ago when she realized she wanted to compete and have a career in dance. She was quite young and did the research herself, and I must say I couldn’t be happier! She recently won the NEW FACE of Starbound 2014, meaning she will be featured in the brochures and posters, and this is something she would not have even entered if the owner, Faith Gardner, had not encouraged her. I’ve always felt safe leaving my daughter at this studio!

Ms. Gardner is correct. We did end up sending our daughter to their princess camp because they did, in fact, hold our money «hostage.» Our choice was to buy $ 159 worth of merchandise from their facility or use the credit towards classes in the fall. Neither option was feasible. I chose not to pursue the matter because if I had to take a day off work to deal with this in court I would lose much more than the $ 159. As a small business owner I personally would have worked with a customer requesting a refund, even if they signed a contract, to keep a good rapport. Word of mouth advertising and customer satisfaction is worth much more than $ 159 to my business; obviously the $ 159 is more important to Dance Elite.
The crafts that were done at the princess camp, as far as I could see, were a princess crown, various colorings and a tutu. Most of the materials could have been purchased in bulk or at the Dollar Tree and I am sure that the young instructors were not paid $ 20 an hour.
Also, regarding the initial incident, of course Miss Dawn’s version of events is different. She is trying to keep her job. During the phone call with Ms. Gardner she assured me that Miss Dawn «doesn’t have people skills» and that she is good with numbers. That very well may be. As a small business owner as well I know that customer service and customer relations are of the utmost importance and if I chose to employ someone without people skills I certainly wouldn’t put them at the reception desk. I am not the only parent that has had issues with her. I personally know of three different families that are not returning to Dance Elite because of Miss Dawn and another family that is not returning after an encounter with Ms. Gardner.
Our daughter will be attending another dance studio in the fall that promises to be more appreciative of our business.

Just a bit of feedback on this studio to share. Our daughter took Dance classes here and also the music together classes for our infant. My husband and I both felt very mis-​treated by the staff and have been encouraged to speak out through this source in our feelings. They do not appreciated your kids and in fact treat you with rude behavior. They asked for our daughter to be in a performance which we paid for and then they told us they could not give us tickets to the event because it was sold out in 2 days and they stated exactly «u snooze u loose» you can stand outside or in the back to watch. We stated we prefer to just not have her in the performance if we could not watch… they then stated we could get no refund on any monies paid period. This is a horrible way to run a performance and to treat us as parents and our children now who are suppose to perform with-​out any family or support there to watch. Go elsewhere…

called on Friday night, try to get some info such as schedule and price. The person who picked up the phone said he could not answer my question. He asked my name and phone number said someone will call me tomorrow. Waited for half day, no call. I just drove to their place try to ask in front desk. The door is open, someone is eating a sandwich in the studio, looked at me, ignored me. I stands there about 10 mins like invisible and I have to leave because no one is gona talk to me. Watched the video on their website, feels like great. read posts here also. But my experience tells me… Unilocal is a place that you can ask your friends do you a favor to post a fake good comment.

I have been apart of DEA since the beginning in Granite Bay. Not just your typical dance studio but a family that pushes you to be your best. Whether you want to compete, become a prima ballerina or just dance for fun. Dance Elite All Stars is just that ELITE.

Felt I needed to upgrade my ratings and point out why… This year, it’s clear that the studio management clearly understands and promotes the importance of BALLET in dance fundamentals. They now require all competition dancers to continue with ballet classes (except those only doing hip hop). Again, this is an example of Dance Elite making sure that all ‘serious’ dancers remain up to date in their fundamental technique and skills. Miss Anne, the ballet mistress, is innovative, creative, and experienced… and has a wonderful way of making all dancers ENJOY ballet — even the ones who may have thought ballet was boring, compared to jazz or tap. Not anymore!