Dance Academy of Mansfield

This was our first year at the DAOM and will be our last. Our daughter was in the pre-​k group. The staff was nice and she had a lot of fun while there. The instructor seemed in control of the classroom from what I saw on the two observation days. However, restrictive policies make this a bad choice for parents. Classes for that age group are an hour long and go from September until June. If you believe your four-​year-​old might become disinterested after nine months of dance, please consider this factor heavily. If your child misses more than five classes in that time, she will not be allowed to dance in the production. You will not be refunded the $ 180 in production fees.
This year, the academy followed the MISD schedule. This means that for those of us that signed up for a Monday class, we were scheduled to receive 5 less classes than those signed up on other days of the week and there was no cost offset. With the multiple bad weather days, we were actually out of class 8 days and got one makeup class on exception (as the policy is that academy does not schedule any makeups and your child may not attend a different class). I suppose I bear some of the blame in this instance since I simply assumed there would be an opportunity for make-​up classes and did not actually ask. I emailed the director regarding my dissatisfaction with this issue. We were told they would not follow that schedule next year, but no price offset was offered for this year.
They also follow the MISD schedule for bad weather regardless of current conditions. For example, when MISD cancelled school at 6am due to possible ice then at 10am the roads were melted and completely clear, the evening class was still cancelled.
Your production fees do not include tights for the costumes. They do not include alterations, those will come out of your pocket or the pocket of your stage mom. If your child has ripped tights or the wrong tights, she will not be allowed to dance in the production. If your child has too many absences, she will not be allowed to dance in the production. If your child will not be still long enough for you to put on red lipstick, mascara, eyeshadow, foundation, and blush, she will not be allowed to dance in the production. Yes, even your three year old. There are no exceptions to refund the production fees per the policy.
My daughter doesn’t know, nor would she care, about all the restrictive policies of this studio. She had the stamina to go 9 months with little complaint. She got to do worship dance and talk about God while doing tap. But, for me, there was just too much in the way of bad policy for me to enjoy taking her here.