Youth American Dance Academy

Beware of Youth American Dance Academy or YADA in Gilbert! My daughter has been dancing with them for the past 3+ years. We’ve been pretty happy with them until this last week. I received an email from them stating that all families were responsible for selling 10 tickets to the upcoming recital next month and also $ 25 worth of ad space in their program or flowers. If we didn’t sell the 10 tickets we would be charged for the difference. This is on top of a $ 50 recital fee and $ 75 costume fee I took care of when I agreed to have my daughter participate. This has never happened before in previous recitals. I was very bothered by it and felt this was unfair and not right to basically mandate what families had to do. For them to demand such things without knowing families financial situations I felt was wrong. So I complained in a lengthy email and phone call.
Their response was this…
They understood what I was saying BUT that they simply cannot afford to put on the recital unless the families purchase the 10 tickets and ad space. If we are unable to sell/​purchase the tickets than my daughter will not be able to participate in the recital. They would refund my $ 50 recital fee and call me when her costume was ready to pick up. What if I am able to take care of 5 tickets? They said that wouldn’t be fair to the other families. It’s not fair to everyone else that can get the ten tickets.
I’m sorry but Isn’t our family buying some tickets better then none? Wouldn’t that help them out more?
I’ll tell you who this isn’t fair to is our daughter. She’s the one that’s been practicing every week for months and has been so excited to perform.
One month before the recital YADA decides that they can’t afford to put on the recital so they mandate more money from the families. I’m sorry but when did your financial issues become my responsibility? If you guys simply can’t afford it then maybe you shouldn’t be having recitals. Maybe you should figure out how to manage your money better.
This entire thing has been so upsetting and disappointing.
We’ve decided to pull our daughter out of this studio completely and take our business somewhere else. Another studio that is managed better, doesn’t have surprises and place added financial burdens on their families.
We will take our $ 75 costume and do our own recital so we can see what our daughter has been working so hard on.
I will never recommend this studio to anyone ever again.