Adagio Ballet and Dance School

I was so happy to find Adagio Ballet 3 years ago. The teachers were good and the ballet company was still small enough that politics weren’t an issue. My daughter loves ballet and has completely enjoyed «growing up» with Adagio.
Unfortunately that has changed. My daughter was so excited to be recommended to the intensive ballet program this fall– she works hard and practices all the time– and though I’m her parent– she is quite the athletic and impressive little dancer. However, a month into the program the ballet studio says they have made a mistake and want to demote her. My guess– because of other parents who were mad their daughters weren’t promoted were complaining. I was totally aghast and mortified that a ballet studio would CRUSH an 8-​year old girl for politics. Wow. I’m sorry — but this isn’t the Washington Ballet School or even NOVA Ballet. I would never recommend this studio to anybody. To hurt a little girl for politics or whatever is unreal and totally disgusting.

I just noticed the reviews here seem to vary wildly. I had my little one attend their winter session a year or so ago. It is a good place to take your kids after school, it is pretty secure and keeps them occupied. But this is hardly the place to take your kids if they are serious about being dancers. They seemed obsessed with the Nutcracker recital. I don’t think any of the teachers are professional dancers I think all the teachers just teach at Adagio full-​time or they participate in local companies as a hobby or something like that. Not a bad place if you want to keep your kids occupied after school but not the place to go for serious dance instruction.

My kids have taken a number of classes here over the years, both intensive and recreational. Classes are capped at 12 and the teachers are excellent and very nice. My daughter has a close connection with so many of the teachers here. I also have found the office staff to be very helpful and accommodating and supportive. This is a wonderful studio!
I have found that the quality of the technical instruction is far better than any other studio in the area (We tried out a few studios in the area before we found this one). Adagio’s teachers are all highly qualified with collegiate dance training and professional dance experience and it really makes a difference in the quality of instruction. I can’t speak to the quality of the younger classes, because we’ve only been at the studio for a few years, but the older classes are excellent. I feel like my kids have gotten a lot of correction and has improved a great deal as a result.
Most of the teachers have been there since before we started at the studio in 2011, and they all seem very happy working there. The teachers all seem to genuinely like each other (which creates a very positive environment) and the students all support each other (I see very little competitiveness at the studio). The studio has seemed to grow with the student population. They have consistently added new intensive levels, so the classes get progressively more advanced. They also loan you the costumes for all performances and give you free DVDs, so that saves a lot of money. I have a closet full of overpriced costumes from the studio where she used to dance. The office staff are also really supportive and helpful.
They offer fall and spring productions for all students and other performances for the companies and intensives throughout the year. They separate the spring recitals, so all the dancers in intensives and older classes are in the May recital and all the younger dancers are in the younger recital. The older recitals are really organized and really fun to watch (at least the intensives/​older dancers recital is — and I do sit and watch all three, since my kids and their friends are in all three). I think it has gotten more organized, because I do recall in years past each sibling being in a different recital. The person who took over organizing recitals has put more thought into putting all Monday classes into the same recital, organizing the show order to avoid quick changes, etc., which has made the experience much more pleasant. They seem to survey families after each show and seem to take the feedback into account. I’ve found they’re really responsive to feedback and questions.
Another thing I really like is that I get a quarterly assessment for each class that identifies areas mastered, areas working on, recommendations, and notes. They also have monitors in the waiting area so you can watch each of the classes and know exactly what they’re doing. The intensive program is rigorous and is based on a uniform curriculum that they put on iPads so I can see clear progress through the stages. I think the teachers are very reasonable and supportive and I always feel like the teachers genuinely care about the students and their improvement.
Also, the teacher that a couple of the reviewers complained about no longer teaches at Adagio and opened her own competition studio down the street. I haven’t seen that competition or comparison of students from any of the other teachers.
This place is wonderful!

What an unfortunate end to a beautiful start…

Bullet points if you don’t want to read the whole thing:
— Many things have improved at Adagio this year
— Communication is better
— Recitals are better managed
— Teacher turn-​over is very low
— The black box theater is used in a way that makes sense
— The dance instruction is as good as (or better than) it’s always been, but the administrative changes have made the studio a lot easier to be a part of
— There are also things that have improved but could be better still (parking, dressing rooms, website), but I honestly believe management is working diligently to make this studio the best in the area
— THEY ARE FIGURING IT ALL OUT and doing a great job!
STUDIO SPACE
When my daughter was in 2^nd grade, we moved to Arlington and she began taking ballet at Adagio. At that time, Adagio had, I believe, two small studios and a teeny tiny waiting room in an office building with exceptionally bad parking. Over the years (my daughter is in 7^th grade), the studio has expanded and it now has beautiful studios in its own space in a convenient location with very good (though not perfect, of course) parking.
GROWING PAINS
I’m not going to lie to you, the studio has gone through some growing pains. I have been frustrated with many of the issues mentioned by other commenters. At times I explored other options, but always ended up resigning myself to Adagio because the location was so good.
ADMINISTRATION
Fortunately, the studio made great strides last year and seems to be coming into its own this year. Things have really changed for the better. Teacher turn-​over has been a real concern of mine in years past, but they seem to have figured out how to retain good teachers, which makes a big difference. Having an expanded administrative staff has made the communication MUCH better this year. They have figured out how to use email distribution lists and provide a lot of information on their website in an easily understandable format. (The website could use some more work, but it’s definitely getting there.) At the most recent black box show I attended, the room was set up in a way that the audience could actually see what the dancers were doing, we weren’t completely crammed in, and the show was short enough that it didn’t feel like a sauna by the end. (These are all changes from last year.)
THE NUTCRACKER
The winter recitals this year couldn’t have gone more smoothly. The intensive students (intensive classes meet more than once per week, and intensive students generally take multiple classes) performed the Nutcracker. Instead of the usual one-​class-​after-​the-​other recital, this was a SHOW. Some of the dancers played more than one role and most were in more than one dance. It was the first time I felt like all the dancers were working as a team to put on a great show and it really was excellent. My daughter came home with a «performance high,» which she has never had before. The whole experience was extremely motivating for her and I couldn’t be more delighted.
WINTER RECITALS
The following day, the non-​intensive classes held their recitals, which were much shorter than they have been in the past (a good thing!!). The new costumes looked terrific. There was a nice theme running through the program, a good variety of experience levels (even without the intensive classes participating), and the Jazz Company performance showed they were the stars of the studio, which I have to believe made a great impression on the younger dancers showing them what they can aspire to!
RECOMMENDATION
If you had asked for my opinion last year, I would have told you to do some homework on your options, but this year I have no reservations about recommending Adagio. My daughter is there four days per week now and the experience is teaching her a lot about perserverance, teamwork, and discipline. I’m glad she chose dance as her extra-​curricular activity, and I’m glad we chose Adagio.

Our daughter has had an excellent experience at Adagio Ballet and Dance School in Arlington, VA for the past ten years. She has enjoyed everything from her «tiny ballerina» class to her current training in their pre-​professional ballet and jazz programs. In addition to receiving an outstanding dance education, her teachers continuously instill self-​confidence, refine technical abilities, and nurture artistic talent.
We’ve been pleased with the quality of the winter and spring recitals — they have been very successful and creative productions. Also, as a member of the Adagio Ballet Company, our daughter has gained valuable performing experience by participating in festivals and philanthropic events in Northern Virginia.
In addition to Adagio’s organized curriculum, we’ve been continuously impressed with the faculty’s dedication to teaching and inspiring students of all ages with the skills involved in the art of dance!

Adagio grew too fast and has lost its way. My daughters have been attending for 7 years and we are done. Moving to Ballet Nova.
Reasons: Recitals are nightmares — they don’t sort the class lists and ensure that siblings are in the same recital or that kids taking multiple classes are in the same recital. Last year, we were in all 4 recitals. two weekends of dress rehearsals and watching the same performance 4x — horrible for parents, stressful for kids.
The black box performances are awful — can’t see anything, everyone crowded into a small room, would be better if it was class by class but they like to do their winter recitals there and it’s awful.
Most of the teacher’s are good, but a few are unkind and show favorites. I’ve seen one child come out of tap three separate times sobbing because the teacher told her «that X child was a better dancer». Even if true, no reason to compare children negatively to their faces at age 6. Jeez, what next? diet tips?
Adagio went from a great little school with positive messages and good communication and grew too fast. Currently, the lack of supervision of teachers, the lack of organization of recitals makes it an incredibly expensive and frustrating experience so unless you have a high tolerance for disorganization, find somewhere else.

Adagio was better a few years ago and now has gotten too big for its britches. It would be fine if that were the only issue.
Positives include:
— Fantastic and highly trained teachers whom the kids adore; they are the reason the reputation became so good over the years
— Nice front desk administrators
Negatives:
— The studio was expanded in 2011 to accommodate more students but it’s completely over capacity in the hallways and dressing rooms are a pretty miserable experience for parents/​nannies waiting or pick up kids
— The don’t allow any make up classes if a student misses one, and if they cancel classes due to bad weather they don’t offer make-​ups unless there are more than 3 canceled days in a given session.
— Recitals are adorable but an absolute nightmare. They cram WAY to many students and dances into their end of year recital. We had one kid doing jazz in the morning recital and one the afternoon doing ballet and had to stay for 7 hours to watch ~90 performances while our kids only each danced for ~30 seconds in one of the performances each. We also had to do a dress rehearsal earlier in the week that lasted hours. Recitals feature the older students who appear in multiple performances while the younger kids get a less than a minute for all the effort they (and the parents) put in during the year.
— The studio is fairly disorganized in their communications and send multiple emails to their entire list for events/​recitals that don’t necessarily affect each child
— Adagio has a superficial feel now with their mass emails about signing up for spring break camp, summer camps, new adult classes, new thematic classes etc and cramming a zillion people in the building at the same time. I know a business has to keep making money but it seems that they had a good thing going and ruined it — it’s a stressful experience now rather than an enjoyable extracurricular activity for our kids.

Adagio is the best ballet studio in the northern VA area. Even though it is just 9 years old, it has grown and truly surpassed in quality other studios who have been around for 60+ years. Why? Because it continually reinvests in itself to improve and grow. The instructors are of the highest quality and experience, it is friendly (not snooty and arrogant), professional, has great facilities, … I could go on. My daughter has been attending Adagio for over 3 years and has been in ballet for a total of 7 years, and I write this now after searching and trying out other studios closer to our home, but we both agreed to drive the extra distance to stay with Adagio because the quality of the instruction and dedication of the owner to continuous improvement was worth it. They have 2 locations, the main facility in Arlington, and a satellite facility in Fairfax. The Arlington facility has its own blackbox theater, multiple studios with top quality floors, iPad music and video support, and video board for parents to watch classes while relaxing in the beautiful, comfortable facility. The Fairfax facility is just 2 studios, but brings the same instructors and quality.

I found this gem of a studio after trying out a number of studios for my daughter. All of their teachers have BFA degrees or long histories at professional dance companies. The teachers my daughter has take classes with have a really good eye for carriage and technique and the classes for more advanced students are serious and fast-​paced. My daughter learns more in each class here than in several classes at her old studio and the teachers focus on ensuring that the students are really correcting their technique, rather than moving them along to learn a recital routine. The studio is pricier than most studios I’ve seen, but my daughter learns so much more and you get what you pay for. I don’t know enough about the younger kids’ classes to recommed them, but the little ones seem happy. I also like that the performances are more low key and there are no hidden recital fees, costume fees, photo fees, etc. You can bring your own camera for picture day. I really like the studio. Also, everyone is incredibly friendly and helpful. Because the studio is so huge (NINE studios — seven in Arlington and two in Fairfax), they offer a wide range of levels for the subjects, so they aren’t grouping a wide range of skill levels together. The person running the desk told me that in just five years of operation, they already have 1200 students, which is a testament to the quality of the studio. They apparently have really high standards for becoming teachers there and it is reflected in the quality of the instructors. Another thing I really like is that they have strong jazz and tap programs, plus other classes like modern and lyrical, unlike many ballet studios that only provide other styles sporadically if at all. They also have ballet and jazz companies that perform, but are not a competition studio (which I like).

Wow! How refreshing to find a dance school that has adult classes that are well, for adults! Its a large and happy studio and it was nice to see many classes going on for little ones, teens, tweens all the way through adults.
I was worried at first that I would be the odd one out (given that I hadn’t been to a class in 20+ years)…not at all. My teacher was great and kept the pace of the class to the students. I felt really comfortable in the class and will look forward to going back. The adult classes come in packages of 5, 10, and 15 and are priced fairly. They also have drop in classes available.
Leotards, skirts, dance shoes and tutus (when I’m ready ;) are available for purchase, which is quite helpful if you don’t know how to go about a proper fitting.

Rated 5.0 out of 5.0 A Wonderful Dance School
Our daughter has taken dance at Adagio Ballet and Dance School from its founding. We adore the teachers, we adore the program, and we have always been very impressed with the rigor of the instruction and care of the teachers. They believe in fundamentals, they believe in hard work, and they believe in having fun at Adagio — which is why our daughter has stayed with the program all these years. Our daughter also has made close friends at Adagio, and her skills have transferred wonderfully to athletics and more generally to her social life: she is more poised and confident as a result of her training at Adagio. We are very lucky to have this dance school in northern Virginia — I have no hesitation giving Adagio 5 stars!