Margaret Haddad Studio of Classical Ballet

My daughter, after only two years with Mrs. Haddad, has flourished in this program. She is learning classical ballet and the discipline that is required to perform. Mrs. Haddad truly loves ballet and our children — the Spring performance and annual Nutcracker never disappoint. Mrs. Haddad inspires the children to be the best that they can be in dance and is teaching my daughter life lessons at the same time. A rare find in this new age of «entitled» children and over protective parenting!

I have never felt more ripped off in my entire life.
This school had the audacity to sell tickets to their annual Nutcracker performance on LivingSocial for $ 15 per person.
One would be led to believe if a performance is sold across the DC area, for that price *50% off* that it would at the very least be a good performance.
Here is the set up– it’s at a middle school– and they have a BAKE SALE going on outside in the auditorium. Uh hello am I about to endure a children’s production?
I sit down– the auditorium is TINY and the stage is even smaller. Great choice of venue Marg…
20 MINUTES AFTER the performance is supposed to start– it finally does.
Approximately 25 children of ages ranging from 4 – 18 prance across the stage in a mismatch of home made costumes, doing a pathetic, uncoordinated, sloppy attempt at ballet.
The parents in the audience are going crazy, clapping and hooting and hollaring encouragement to their progeny.
Not having any children on stage, and fuming over the $ 45 I spent plus the hour long drive — I am getting progressively more pissed as I am watching what amounts to a lousy dance recital.
If you want your children to learn to do ballet, stay far away from this school– I didn’t see a single performer do anything worth watching. The final 2 Sugar Plum fairy dancers where clearly flown in from NY or something because they were adults, and danced the ballet beautifully. But all it did was prove to me that these kids were completely lousy.
Now– before you start saying I am an awful person for criticizing children– the problem is not with me. It is with this greedy school who sought to get outside money from people not associated with the school. If you are going to sell your performance to the general public– then you had better be sure the quality of the production is high enough for the general public.
Otherwise, fill your coffers with the money of the parents, friends, and relatives of your students.

We had a terrible experience unfortunately. My daughter age 5 had come into the studio from another very well known studio in the area that was less formal and did not transition well. We tried to work with Mrs. Haddad to help my daughter with the transition and we were met with complete inflexibility and incorporation. My daughter’s love of ballet was suddenly affected and thus we asked for a refund of class fees (6 months required to be paid in advance). We allowed her to do the right thing but we were disappointed in her and our request was refused. A warning — do not enroll if you have a child that might not transition well because there will be no accommodations made for your child and you will not get your semester fees returned… a terrible way to run a business!