Momentum Dance Academy

We chose Momentum 4 years ago because the Director at the time had a heart for quality dance education and was dedicated to providing access to all dancers. She made the effort to know and bond with every family and she addressed problems genuinely and quickly. Over the past 2 years Momentum has gone through 4 different Directors. The current Executive Artistic Director seems to focus on the large performances, rather than developing the technique of all the dancers and building relationships with families. Staff does not appear to be overseen, as a result customer service and the classroom environment has been impacted. The newly promoted School Administrative Director (Front Desk) does not create a welcoming environment. It is not uncommon to hear a parent getting belittled by her for asking a simple question. We have also observed the School Administrative Director speaking negatively about dancers, families and teachers while sitting at the front desk. We’ve struggled with our child being challenged appropriately during classes. Two years ago we started supplementing classes at another studio to address the gap in her technical training because Momentum was not meeting her needs. We opted to give the Momentum ballet program another chance this past semester, but our daughter did not get the guidance she receives at her other studio. Our daughter is now ready to go en pointe and we do not believe the current ballet teachers at Momentum can provide the technical training needed to safely guide her through this process. We are choosing to have her study pointe at another local studio where the Owner/Director has professional ballet experience, has her Bachelors in Ballet and a Masters in Physical Science and has taught ballet for over 30 years. Our family cared about the mission of Momentum so we spent countless hours volunteering and donating over the years. We took a step back 5 months ago for many reasons, but primarily because we didn’t believe the current staff could make the necessary changes to provide the type of environment that we loved when we found this studio 4 years ago. We hoped that resigning from our volunteer role would not negatively impact our daughter. Sadly, we feel this was not the case. A teacher sent an email to another performing arts education program that had the potential to negatively impact our daughter’s future as a performer. When we brought this to the attention of the studio leadership their response was to remove our daughter from a lead role at the last minute. They never addressed the inappropriate communication by the teacher. The way this incident was handled by the teacher, Executive Artistic Director and Board of Directors was highly unprofessional. A few months ago our family attended a question and answer session with a performing arts industry professional. The message that has stuck with us was, “Parents, know what you are paying for at your child’s dance studio.” As parents it is our responsibility to ask questions about the teachers and staff that our daughter may spend up to 20 hours a week with. Are they properly trained to teach the classes they are teaching? Does the studio have a curriculum that every teacher follows? How are teachers and staff overseen by the Director? How is the Director overseen by the Board of Directors? Are dancers and their families treated with respect by every staff member? I hope that the leadership of Momentum can return to it’s roots of providing a quality dance education to all kids in a welcoming, safe space. Until then, know what you are paying for.

My child has attended Momentum for 7 years. They started out in Kindergarten doing hip hop once week and gradually added more genres throughout the years. One thing that has been great about Momentum is the opportunity for young children to be exposed to so many classes, from hip hop, to irish, to musical theater, to ballet. The convenience of having all of these options under one roof and right off the freeway sounded perfect for our family needs, it helped solidify my sons love of the arts. Sadly, that’s where they stopped meeting our needs. Over the past 7 years I have witnessed and dealt with my own share of atrocious behavior from the teachers and admin that can no longer be ignored or accepted as normal. Leadership - During our 7 years we have had 4 different Artistic Directors. The current Artistic Director (AD) has yet to proactively address conflict in the studio between staff/teachers and families. The AD has attempted to shut down classes due to scholarship children being the only students enrolled, and said “the studio is literally not making money of the classes with them enrolled”. Enrollment - I have witnessed the front desk person inform families their children could not enroll in specific classes because “advanced students” opted to take those classes (whether drop in or weekly classes) and there is “no way they are at that level, because “the advanced students” has been dancing X amount of years and are pre-professional”. This is despite the fact that the age range listed is for younger students. Dancing Other Places - Momentum is only supportive of your student as long as they are exclusively committed to Momentum. Initially, students are encouraged to try other programs, but this is only so Momentum is able publicly say “we are such a good dance program that our students get accepted to ...”. Multiple times I have witnessed (and personally experienced) students losing roles given by artistic staff, because Momentum “didn’t see a conflict marked on the audition sheet” or “we saw it but assumed once you had the role it wouldn’t be an issue.” I have also personally been told by staff that I already have one foot out of the door (because we dance at another studio) and our family should just leave the studio rather than voice our concerns. Professionalism - Momentum staff seriously lacks professionalism. Teachers routinely no call/no show, show up late for classes, dress rehearsals and performances. Parents have been told via email that they should consider hiring nannies to volunteer with their children backstage during performances if they are not going to volunteer, and I have heard the front desk person say that certain children were replaceable in roles when she had conflict with their families. Most upsetting, for the students, staff can be overheard discussing which person has which part prior to auditions even happening! Momentum had a lot of potential and was once a great studio that felt like an extended family to us. I’m saddened to see that Momentum has turned into a toxic environment, where the teachers are not held responsible for their actions, the Artistic Director is nowhere to be found on a daily basis and the front desk person trash talks everyone from the children to the families to the staff. I would NOT recommend Momentum to any families in search of dance classes whether recreational or pre-professional. **Edited to mention the fact that Momentum promptly deleted my Facebook review of their organization. Rather than truly address my concerns/experiences and figure out how to overcome what I have laid out, they decided to delete my post and have other families (all of a sudden) choose to write 5 star reviews. BEWARE**

This is my daughters first experience in ballet! She loves it and the teachers are all very kind! She looks forward to her time there every week! Glad to be apart!