Victoria International Ballet Academy

I enrolled two daughters at the school. After several classes I pulled them out.
Here is why: I expected disciplined classes with knowledgeable professional instructors and a true learning environment. Instead, I found unreasonable favouritism and a bad attitude directed at the kids. Victoria, marketing herself as an experienced ballerina, teacher and a graduate of the prestigious Vaganov Ballet School of the former Soviet Union is no more than a self absorbed authoritarian bully. She has a panache of lavishing attention on her few favourites and disturbingly disregarding the rest. Furthermore, she is mean and condescentding and forgets she is working with young children. An experienced teacher spreads positivity and can bring out the best in everyone.
When I politely questioned her methods and why my children are ALWAYS put in the back row during her classes she discounted my query by saying «your children are not very smart and they can’t keep up». For the record, both girls (grade 5 & 7) are at the top of their class in all subjects at school.
Victoria has been in business for many years now. Being a self described great educator I am left with a void when I try and reconcile her «greatness» with her results. Where are her former favourites and graduates of the Academy? Does anyone know?

The school may be good for older students, not their ONCE UPON A TIME classes.
They have way many students in a class than the teacher can handle. there is only one teacher no assistant.
To add unfortunately the school had a few Bullies in the class who also happened to be the teacher’s favorite due to the same ethnic background so the teacher would not say or do much to stop them; ignoring whats going on was her best practice.
These bully students were a mess in the class, disturbed the entire flow of the class at all times and made other students uncomfortable.
Many families did not return to the school after their initial classes due to the reasons.
We had the incident three times where the twin bully girls hit my daughter and smashed her face and her parents could hardly do a thing or the girls were just of their hands too.
My daughter 2.5 years who was so excited at all times, refuses to go to ballet classes any more and till date mentions to me that the girl hit me.
It was at that time that i decided that I am not returning to the Victoria ballet classes.
When I take my kid to a class I expect the place to be cordial, inviting, peaceful and should a good environment for the kid to learn and grow.

The studio is very large and spacious. There are 3 studios.
I came here for a few adult ballet classes. They are held on Saturdays at 11AM and Wednesdays at 6pm for one hour.
The class starts with about 5 – 10 minutes warm up (stretches on the floor) followed by about 20 – 25 minutes on the barre (plies, tendus, grand battements, fondus, etc). Then there is about 20 – 25 minutes in the center (poses, chaînés, jumps, etc).
The first class I attended was taught by Victoria (artistic director, former ballerina in Russia). Her teaching method was very Russian, much fewer demos. She spoke some Russian to her Russian regulars and I was confused. Her class would definitely be challenging for a beginner dancer.
The rest of the classes I attended were taught by Anastasia. She is very energetic and gives a lot of great cues and demonstrations. What I like about her is she explains everything slowly and she also talks about errors after one side of the barre so that students can fix it on the other side.
The studio also offers after school programs for students in art, music, etc. The little kids are so cute in their pink tutus.

Had a wonderful time at the adult ballet class on Saturday at noon. It was so much fun, even though I had zero coordination.
The instructor’s name was Anastasia and she was so patient especially when she saw I had no idea what was going on (1^st position? 2^nd position?). I had horrendous turnout and she helped explain where to place more pressure on your foot so you don’t strain your knees, or how to stand correctly. What’s 5^th position again? Anastasia also helped demo through many of the movements.
The class started off with stretches on the floor (alright! so similar to yoga), work on the barre (I thought I had quads? guess not!) and the floor (where do I put my arms and how do I do this all at once?). Lots of core and pretty much every little muscle. Loved the clear instructions. I was a complete newbie and they did not discourage me in anyway. The other students in the class were very encouraging as well.
If I have a daughter, I would love to enrol her at the school. I got to watch a class from outside for a minute. The children were all so concentrated in their task. They were prob. only about 5 years old! Must be a good activity for the kids… building their concentration, muscle development and amongst other things! It was so cute to see the little aspiring ballerinas in their little pink tutus! Super adorable!
I would love to come back again for adult ballet!