Westside Academy of Dance & Westside School of Ballet

By far the best ballet studio in Los Angeles. The teachers come from all areas and expertise of Ballet. I have studied ballet since age 7 and will continue as an adult. My teacher, Rebecca Witjas teachers adult ballet and I encourage anyone at any age to start. Parking is a bit tough so I recommend leaving extra time to find a spot.

I’ve been to the Nutcracker performance by Westside Ballet for the past five years. It has become an annual tradition in our family. It is a professional quality performance with many outstanding dancers from within the company and from outside. This year Joy Womack, first American female to be accepted into the Bolshoi Ballet and former Westside student, came back to dance as Sugar Plum Fairy.
I strongly disagree with the poster who had a bad expereince at the Nutcracker. Perhaps they attended a matinée with a lot of chatty children present in the audience. I think the ticket price is fair, and considering that they sell out every year and that many families go every year as mine does now, I think others agree.

Great vaganova style advanced adult class! I love going here whenever I’m in la, and I always leave in much better shape:-) the receptionist is a little slow, so get there early if you want to be on time for class…

There are a lot of places that take their ballet seriously … and teach something and are nice about it as well. This would not be one of them. I pulled my kid from the place years ago after she was left sobbing in the front room all alone, not a glance from the receptionist: complete unawareness. And this wasn’t all that was wrong with the place of course. For kids, completely prissy and pointless baby-​talking and mincing, no real teaching. For older classes, huge numbers of people, no special attention; little learning.
To the patron of their Xmas concert at $ 60 a pop — I am so sorry! It sounds about right with my experience of them that they would give you no refund or satisfaction of any kind. Their performance is indeed a student recital and I agree it is absurd — quite pompous, really — that they do not label it as such. My daughter’s current dance studio has a winter recital that is not billed as anything more than that; I doubt you could even buy tickets if you asked without some connection to the studio. But it is a marvelous performance, at least as entertaining as many professional dance productions I have attended.
That said, I am, it must be remembered, a proud parent. I would stick by this assessment but not go out and sell tickets to the general public; that is the nature of bias: you can’t tell when you’re exhibiting it! It’s really the height of conceit that they should (a) sell recital tickets to the general public for a studio recital, (b) charge exorbitant prices for same, © claim they are presenting a professional-​grade show, when in truth it is actually a rather meagerly-​talented recital-​grade performance, and then (d) refuse to refund money to a member of the general public when all this comes to light! In addition to being a scam of a school, they are fraudulent performance producers. Great.
Anyway, westside ballet is one of the greater puzzles of life on the westside of LA. It’s expensive, unpleasant, poor teaching, miserable parking, crowded — why would anyone ever want to go here? And yet people do; they stampede to the door. Why? There is a fantastic studio right down the street at Pico & Bundy (am I allowed to say the name here?). And I’m sure there are many more at least as good as this place around. Going here is just a group-​think sort of thing. Absolutely no reasonable reason to do so, IMHO.

I started taking ballet when I was three years old and I was instantly hooked. Once I got to high school it became too much and I had to move away from it. 12 years later, I’ve decided to start going to classes again. The moment I walked into this place, it felt like I’d been there for years. There are a variety of classes for adults (including pointe) and I think their prices are pretty reasonable, especially if you buy the larger packages. I also that agree that Aimee teaches a great beginner class, but it’s perfectly suited for «rebeginners» like me who have taken dance before. Rebecca’s class is more advanced, but I’m still talking about the beginning classes so there is truly a class for every level. I also agree that this place takes their ballet seriously,
To the other poster: As I recall, there is only one Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker and it’s usually a soloist in the second act. I have not seen their interpretation of this ballet but I’ve seen their advanced dancers and they are excellent and are in good hands. For most ballet schools (and is such as their name «Westside Academy» implies), the Nutcracker serves as a Christmas recital so you’ll have lots of proud parents in the audience.

I went to Westside Academy’s performance of the Nutcracker. They billed themselves as a première dance company on the Westside. My husband and I were expecting a professional performance, not a children’s recital. The sugar plum fairies were crashing into each other, the parents were either chatting or yelling or whistling while their children were on stage, there was very little professional or impressive about this experience. We wouldn’t have minded if our tickets weren’t $ 60 or even if we understood it was a children’s performance, then we wouldn’t have expected much. We left after the 1^st act, and asked politely to get our money back. After several attempts of being ignored by the director of the show, we have yet to get our money back or even get a return phone call. Instead we got berated by a woman who says that people tell her all the time how their annual performance compares to professional companies in NY and San Francisco. (laughable) I’ve seen The Nutcracker performed in NY and San Francisco, and Pasadena, and they are nowhere near alike let alone comparable.
I like to support local playhouses, schools, and community events, but please, Westside Academy, let people know that the level of talent that your performers have is exactly that of children who have barely learned the material. They are not a première company, they are nowhere near it. And another thing, humble yourselves enough to apologize and return admission to anyone who calls you for what you are, amateurs.
What a waste of a Friday night. Shame on you.

This place has been around for ages. I remember going to class when Yvonne Mounsey was still teaching. For adult beginner classes, make sure to take Aimee’s class. She really gets you back to the basics, but doesn’t let you slack off. It’s a little expensive, but these guys take their ballet seriously.