American Dance & Drama Studio

Nice place, family owned and operated. You feel like at home. They offer different classes, drama, dance, acrobatics and others. My kids love it. Keep up with a good job you do. I recommend this place to anyone.

American Dance and Drama is a neighborhood icon! They have been expertly training students for over 41 years. Stop by and see why this Studio is the best in the City! Policies are explained to everyone, and there are no hidden costs. It’s truly a home away from home.

Took my daughter to this school since it was closest to my house. It was a headache from the beginning and should’ve known better.
They only registered new students for September in the middle of the week/​day in August so my husband had to take a day off to register for her. My husband told me the register area is small and school is dated. Got too many students registered, and on the 1^st day of class, they then told us they had a 2^nd class opening…
Never saw any announcement during the school year and was told it should be on our email but never received any email and when double checked, they had the incorrect email address.
Calendar was not correct on website in current calendar year. Everything seemed to be always on separate sheets of paper randomly hand out at different times when they could easily incorporate all in one file and give it the parents at the beginning of 1^st day of class.
Granted it was a beginner ballet/​tap class, teacher was not there at least 30% of the time and by the time they had to do the recital, everything seemed to be crammed at the end. The one star is for the teacher being nice.
Was confused on the «recital ticket package» that was explained to me by the front desk lady (thought it was only me but several other parents also complained about the confusion and one husband pointed out that working thru with this school has became a full time job for his wife, lol…). Front desk lady impatiently told us they had to pay for a lot of security, stage crew… etc for recital, hmmm, we didn’t ask why the we had to pay for it, we simply asked how to purchase the tickets and what are tickets package consist of, smh. It gets better, recital tickets had to be purchase on certain day, again, in the middle of the week in the middle of the day and it’s 1^st come 1^st serve kind of thing and from listening from other parents, I went there ½ hour early. Again, they should’ve told us that all school balances had to be collected on the day of purchasing tickets but again, most parents didn’t know and more parents asked questions. Wrote my name down on the waiting list for que to get the recital tickets and when my turn came up, I went up to the front desk to get the tickets and there were 3 girls with the usual front desk lady and for a lack of better description for them, they were like the 3 Stooges. I, fortunately had my balance paid thru auto payments with credit card on file and only waited ONE hour (not included the extra ½ hour that I came early and standing outside in the sun) thru the whole ordeal. Really, could this not go thru some kind of 3^rd party purchasing agents like everyone else does in this day and age.
Wait, more to go, when the costume was handed out, all was told is to try on and didn’t explain what should come with the package. Again, had to figure out during photo day in which a few of us didn’t know there was an flower pin thing to put for the head and had to hastily figure out how to pin it on. Was told rehearsal recital was at 5 but didn’t start until 6 and a lot of us parents had to rush from work and it’s being delayed. Parents were not told to do on recital day and had to figure out the day on where to bring the kids to before the recital.
Honestly, I don’t think there should be so much trouble on trying to figure out dance class schedule since I also sent my daughter to another school for foreign language for one day during the weekend and they also have recital but everything is explained from the beginning of the school year and it’s also written in a weekly assignment sheets which everything is written clearly so there is no guessing game. Also the lack of professionalism really surprised me when asked questions, the front desk lady always seemed to be annoyed whenever questions are asked… my in law said her daughter’s dance school (Dance Creations by Laurie) further out is so much more professional without so much of the fuss that she saw me going thru every other week.
By the way — even though they opened a new studio next door where my daugther, it was kind of dirty by the time she finished her school year there, seemed like there isn’t much cleaning going on…
By the time I writing this — 3 other parents are saying they had enough and will not be sending their kids here again and neither will I be bringing my kid back to this school again.

When I was younger, I danced here for about 6 years.
A family friend actually recommended Studio E a block down, but my mom had thought this was the dance studio she was referring to and enrolled me in classes.
It was the best time of my life during that time period. I was so excited to go to dance every week. First grade I had started and I dance and I had Cara, eventually a few years later I started dancing with Jeff as well. I had to admit, I hated the costumes, they were all so tacky, but a norm for dance studios to pick those type of costumes.
I ended up leaving after my 6^th year because all my friends I had met and grew up with started to leave. I don’t know if Louis still works there, but she was the nicest, kindest person I had known at that place. My mom was running late once and I was crying so hard, while louis let me sit with her at the reception desk, bought me a water and ensued a conversation for her love of frozen grapes (Which I still freeze my grapes today).
Three years ago, I walked into the studio and opened the door to the first class on the main floor. There was a class going on so they were probably wondering what I was even doing… But Josephine (I think that’s her name) was running the class (Cara’s mom) and I had said, «You guys still have this picture of me from when I was in 2^nd grade! I’m in college now!» She stopped the class and we had a brief conversation before I left for the bus. I thought it was real nostalgic and nice.

My daughter has danced at the studio for 6 years. It has been a downhill slide for years now and we finally decided to leave. The teacher is more concerned with his I-​Pad and I-​Phone than teaching the class. The front staff is rude and make you feel like they are doing you a favor to talk to you. Their bookkeeping of payment is horrendous with us even having an issue where the owner said we owed money but could not tell me for what month it was for. After changing studios for only 3 – 4 weeks now, we can see the difference in how my daughter is now LEARNING. The teachers pay attention to the kids and are not sitting down playing on I-​pads or texting. For the money that they charge the lack of attention by some teachers and rudeness of the staff… STAY AWAY!!!

As a dancer for more than 15 years, I had a hard time find a nice studio to fit in and instructors who actually know what they are doing. The owners are very organized and loyal to their clients. They have many different classes available to adults.
I have been taking Daniela’s Bellydance class for a few years now. She is my inspiration and my «Mother Hen.» She cares about her students and pushes them to be the best bellydancer they can be. He style is so different and flawless; it’s a breath of fresh air. If you want to learn real cabaret bellydance, I recommend her class.
The only suggestion I have is that the studio should keep up with their website and social media pages (if they have one?). The site and the information is outdated.

Awkward as this place has rave reviews, I went in to see about it, ask questions etc., that did not happen. Stood around while a young lady stood behind small counter/​reception texting on her phone with 2 other women present. One women having conversation with a guy (had children waiting for him) the other women standing there in aerobic gear as waiting to chime into their cconversation if needed. I stood waiting to be acknowledged as I know my face is a new face. Expecting «hi, can I help you?» To my surprise, nope! Instead I was looked at and ignored.

My daughter goes for ballet in there and the instructors are good and they keep the class entertained. The people from the front desk sometimes are rude and they give you attitude which I don’t understand if they are there to help you right? When you walk in it looks very small and you will see the little desk but you go downstair they have a huge studio and is very clean! Which I love from this place is that at the end of the session for the last ten minutes they have a bounce castle!

My 7 year old daughter attended camp here in 2012. She absolutely loved the camp! I had orginially signed her up for half day, but because she was so enthusatic about it, we signed up for 5 full days!!! The staff were super friendly, and caring. My daughter did a show at the end of camp, which was super cute! I can’t stress how much interest the staff expressed in each individual child. Because she loved the program, she signed up for a few fall dance class. We will be attending summer camp this year. We just found out they are doing themed weeks! Very Excited, and would def recommend

my daughter is 8 years old she is dancing since she was 2.5 y and we are looving it she has the best time very good and professorial teachers the end of the year
performance is Amazing thank you cara

I have a 5 year old daughter that has never been in dance before. I decided to try out the summer camp at american dance, and if she liked it, i would sign her up during the regular year. She liked the camp very much and most importantly had fun… But the fun ended in a bad way for my daughter. This camp usually does an end of sunmmer show where the children sing songs and dance, and the parents come out to watch. When i showed up on 8÷9÷2012 to see my daughter in the show, she WASNT IN IT!!! When i asked Jo anne why my daughter wasnt in the show, she looked at me like she had no clue who i was and like i didnt just hand $ 575 six weeks ago for 3 half days a week of camp. She didnt have a reason why my daughter was left upstairs coloring with the older kids and not doing the show that she practiced and rehearsed for, and was excited to be in, with her age group. My daughter was crying right in front of this joanne woman and was obviously hurt and upset that all her peers were in the show and she wasnt… Joanne had no emotion what so ever, she didnt even bat an eye to what was happening. I got very annoyed at her unapologetic attitude and i left. It was the last day of camp anyway… So what was done was done. She didnt even offer to put my daughter in the portion of the show that she was standing there watching. When i was on my way out another staff member told me that the show was only for the kids that come in the afternoon… Thats fine, but my daughter was an afternoon child for 2 days out of the week, the other day was morning hours. The staff member then said… Well then i dont know what just happend. GREAT! Regardless, i feel they should have made that clear IF that were the case but it wasnt the case. They just left her out of the show and no one could explain why. I would have been satisfied if they told me she cant dance and looks a mess on stage… But no one had a valid reason behind what happened. So… I wont be registering her for the full year… I dont want my child to be over looked the way she was over looked for the show. And thank god i didnt put that deposit down for the party space for her birthday yet… Because that would have been awkward. Like i said, it was good right up until the last day. I feel like asking for a partial refund because this was DANCE camp… And there was nothing to show for it at the end, except for a very upset and hurt, left out feeling child. Thanks alot. I might even have a little trouble with getting her to want to go to a different dance school because she had a bad experience here.

Love it! My 5 year old daughter takes ballet/​tap/​jazz here the teachers are awesome… they also offer hip-​hop classes and zumba for adults. The classes are well priced and children do 2 shows a year one in december and the other in june. They wear the cutest outfits. my daughter loves it here im sure ur kids will too!

This was my childhood safeway!
I took all kinds of classes, from ballet to drama, to prvt classes etc etc
They are reasonable priced and extremely professional!

I had been taking classes at Dance fever Studios in brooklyn for a month before looking for a new place closer to home (bayside, Queens). I didnt feel like I learned anything there, and that they went a bit too fast for a newbie like me. Hey, its tough for a gringo to get started. Enter, American Dance & Drama.
I have been taking salsa & merengue classes on Tuesday nights at American Dance and Drama now for over 3 months and absolutely LOVE going to class every week. Classes with Veronica Vera are awesome, and I feel like I learn alot without her making me feel too stupid. We review every week, and she has a great feel for when we are picking things up quickly or if she needs to review or «break it down» for us a bit more.
Classes are extremely reasonable ($ 12 per hour, or $ 96 for a 3 month session– about 10 – 12 weeks)…
I cant recommend this studio more highly!