Chris Collins Dance Studio

CC is a machine. And not in the good way. My daughter has just finished a year of ballet and we will be finding another studio. They had no problems contacting me by phone and email when my credit card expired, but they couldn’t be bothered to email or notify parents when the studio closed due to the forecast of inclement weather? I heard the parents of kids in the ‘company’ complain every single week about how much money different things cost and how they feel like there is price gouging, and complain about just about every aspect. Yet for some reason these parents agree to 3 days/​week of lessons and competitions all over for young kids. I know that is common in sports and a variety of areas for elementary school students, I just can’t believe all the complaining and yet people don’t go elsewhere. Add to this, the recital is a full week after school lets out and if you don’t buy your tickets in advance not only do you pay $ 20 instead of $ 15 for the tickets, but there is the chance that tickets will not be available. Are you KIDDING me. So I’ve paid all year for my daughter, I’ve bought her costume, she has worked hard and I might not be able to get tickets at the door? Nevermind I can’t believe that each child does not get 2 tickets for free. For a hefty fee you could print a message to your child in the program. They charge for everything every chance they get… and not reasonable amounts either. They have so many numbers to perform that there are 3 separate recitals, yet the members of the company are performing in every single one in addition to normal routines. How about excluding the company members from the recital and just having it be once/​week students who are not in the company? Maybe they wouldn’t need 3 recitals. If you want your child in dance 3 days/​week and want them to push themselves, this might be a good fit. I was also put off by the «requirement» that my child wear heavy makeup and apparently that I buy it from the company. I could go on…

I started taking Tap Beginning last year as an adult but quickly got tired of all of the rules and regulations. They need payment every month and want you to do automatic withdraw. On top of that you have to give written notice if you don’t want to take anymore, which sounds a little old school to me. I tried it for six months and just stopped. Chris, the owner teaches the class but seemed bored teaching. We never did a routine just all of the floor exercises. I did not even get a full hour for my money many times. If there are not enough in the class, he just does not teach as long. I quit and went to MSA. They are flexible and have much more engaged teachers.

My daughter took a class here when we first moved to the area. The classes were much slower-​paced than the classes she had taken in Chicago and the students got virtually no corrections all year. There are only three levels for each style, so the levels are very mixed in each class, which I’m sure makes teaching difficult. The technique at the recital was very sloppy (poor-​to-​no turnout, incorrect technique, sloppy turns, bad posture, etc. This studio was not a good experience.

As a student who had been there for a while, I felt that certain teachers made it obvious who their favorites were. I can understand wanting to put the better students front and center for recital because they can execute the teacher’s vision well, but even so, I felt that certain (not all) teachers only cared about those who were way above the standards that other students were at. I was only average, but I truthfully felt like I worked just as hard and paid attention just as well as the «favorites.» Although I admittedly wasn’t that great technically, I feel that if a teacher had given me enough attention to improve, then I would have felt more motivated to do so. However, my self-​esteem dropped because even when I did something right or was in sync with the favorites, still the teacher only focused on those who were better.
I do not understand this logic. If someone needs help in dance, or needs an extra boost, they should get more attention so that they can grow into a better artist. I felt as if some teacher pushed the favorite students to improve, but didn’t care for other students. And it was very obvious whom those certain teachers favored.
ALSO, there should really be more levels for certain dance classes for students not on the competing dance team. Sadly, I was stuck in «Teen Ballet» for years and it was difficult for teachers to try to teach students who were just at so many different levels. Adding different types of ballet classes could eliminate the problem with teachers playing favorites, as well as motivate students to improve because there are other levels to which they can look forward to reaching. Not everyone has money to compete. And not everyone gets asked to be on the company’s competing team.
Another complaint I have is that, at the end of the year, during recitals, all the students, both company and non-​company dancers, must stay on stage during curtain call, while all the company kids get awards. They already get to shine so much during competitions, and I thought it was unfair that non-​company kids would have to stick around to watch them get even more awards. I know that at other studios in the area, company students are not allowed to cheer for other company kids only because of fear that it will make the non-​company students feel bad. Maybe Chris Collins should learn from the studios that are better in overall quality of dance education and customer service.
The number of students registering has dwindled over the years, and that’s most likely because this really isn’t the best studio in the NOVA area. Go somewhere else. I really wish I had.

We’ve had nothing but a good experience with CCDS. Over the years, my daughter has tried 3 other dance schools in the area. Each of them have their strengths & weaknesses, but FOR MY DAUGHTER, CCDS has offered the best balance of classes & quality of instruction for my daughter’s interests.
These are MY impressions.
If you’re just casually interested in having your daughter or son take a few classes, that is probably fine for a couple of the early years at CCDS. Your child can be involved as much or little as you want. However, after a couple of years, they do seem to want you to be more serious about it. They will ask that you enroll your child in more varied classes including technique classes. You can only learn so much by learning steps for a recital. At some point you need to learn technique outside of the framework of a routine. For instance, they offer «Leaps & Turns» and «Cecchetti» (google it) classes.
My daughter, age 11, was asked to be on the competition company this past year. It was a tough decision to let her do it. For us, it is a huge commitment, both time-​wise & financially, with 3 nights of classes each week (2 of those nights with 2 or 3 classes) & one class on Saturday. That’s basically a minimum schedule for being on the company, but my daughter loves it and NEVER complains about going to class. To the contrary, she runs in the door because she can’t wait to get into the studio. We do it because we want her to experience the opportunity to do something at a high level. She has no plans to become a professional dancer, but she loves the art & the process. But, unless you child is on the competition company, your commitment is not likely to be that «strenuous».
I’m not sure what the comment is about Mr. CC yelling or being rude to anyone. I’ve never seen anything of the sort. In fact, I’ve seen the opposite… nothing but concern & happy faces. At a parents’ meeting, he once said something to the extent of «If you’ve ever seen Dance Moms, that is NOT what we are. We are the opposite.» and I’ve found that to be true. Yes, they insist on regular attendance, typical for ANY team activity. It is just basic respect for the members of your dance «team». If one person is missing, it spoils the choreography & requires others to adapt to that empty spot which slows down the learning. If you can’t commit to your child being at most classes or rehearsals, then you MIGHT want to choose a different school with lower standards.
I think CCDS strikes a good balance between having high standards & being aware that people have lives outside of dance. But, you will be required to show up for classes in the correct outfits, or correct make-​up & costume for recitals.
Also, you have responsibilities as a parent to be aware of the requirements for participating in recitals & dress rehearsals. There are deadlines (including payments) for ordering costumes. There are picture days and your child will be required to wear the right makeup, have their hair done a certain way, to have the right tights & shoes, etc. This is typical of all dance schools that we have experienced.
Also, there are schedules for recitals, rehearsals & such. The information is there, you just need to open your eyes & read it. The teachers are not going to pound you with information. Newsletters, websites & Facebook will keep you informed. You, as a parent, have to be involved more than merely dropping your kid at the door & picking them up when class is over. That doesn’t mean you need to be a helicopter parent (or «overbearing» per Halie J’s review), but the studio is not a babysitting service either. Either you want your child to be involved in dance AND you are willing to do what you need to do to support them, or you aren’t. If you don’t want to put in any more effort than signing a check & dropping your kid, then you possibly don’t want to enroll at CCDS. But it’s not a massive effort, it’s just «being involved», the same as any school sport or activity. CCDS is not an insane gung-​ho studio (ala Abbie Lee), but they do have standards to adhere to — for everybody’s benefit.
At the same time, there is a lot of fun happening there too. All of the parents I have met are really nice. The teachers are very nice and the girls (& boys) all seem to love them. They seem to honestly love the kids. I have seen real tears from teachers when their oldest students «graduate» to move on to college & life. It’s like family there. THAT’s the real gauge of the studio for me. When I see hugs & smiles between the kids & the instructors AND my girl is excited about going AND her skills are growing, I know we’ve got a good situation.
The best thing I can probably say is that CCDS has been in business for 35 years with hundreds of students attending & returning every year. You don’t achieve that without being good and fair. There are too many other dance schools around. From OUR experience, CCDS is right there in the top layer.

My daughter loves it and so many other kids seem to as well. Very popular and well-​organized. We couldn’t have made a better choice.

My daughter is in 2^nd grade and this is her first (and likely last) experience with dance. She plays almost every sport and does really well and wanted to give dance a try. Classes are once a week for an hour — dance came before most of her other sports since she needed the routine down for recital time, but of course we missed a class here and there. Missing a class would put my daughter behind slightly, and this upset her because she said she was pointed out in class by the teacher for not knowing things and told she held the class up. Her first teacher left (husband’s job transfer) so there were intermittent teachers until they nailed another teacher down. My daughter was not very pleased with the new teacher. When I went to parent’s day, I found out why.
The teacher was a first year teacher, and she was very disorganized. Kids were running around and talking during parent’s day when she was giving out a lot of important information and she left out a lot of things. This resulted in my daughter not having the «required» makeup for picture day (I figured makeup for pictures would be a personal choice) and her and my husband (who took her that day) were made to feel stupid and left out. She was told if she didn’t have earrings or makeup for dress rehearsal, she wouldn’t participate in the rehearsal or recital. My husband tried to explain that he did not want our daughter to have on makeup for pictures and he was repeatedly told that she «had» to.
I called the owner not to debate whether or not she would have makeup, but rather about the way my husband and daughter were approached and before I could finish my sentence he continuously interrupted me and was rude. It was everything Abby makes Dance Moms out to be on Dance Moms. He even told me how detrimental it was to my daughter that her mother was not there to help her get ready — I was taken back by this because 1) I sent her ready for pictures, and 2) What if she didn’t have a mother?
I was told that I was the 3^rd person to complain about the teacher and also that it was her first year. When you’re paying $ 68/​month along with costume costs AND when you’re treated like an idiot when you don’t know something because dance is not your life like it apparently is for the other kids who participate in 3 or more classes, then you expect them to fully have their stuff together.
Overall issues:
Teacher wasn’t prepared
Owner is extremely rude
Not very helpful to new students
Not accepting of opinions and views outside what’s important to them
If you do go here, be more than involved — be the overbearing parent that you might otherwise hate because that’s what it takes to ensure your child is being taken care of, treated right, and to make sure that you’re informed.