Broadway Dance Center

Only a 3 because some teachers are rude, unprofessional and disrespectful. They say unnecessary comments that doesn’t do anything to help in your growth as a dancer but is just plain disrespectful. Also other teachers take their anger out on you due to their personal issues. One teacher that really doesn’t need to be teaching is Joy Karley for example. Just thought I put that out there. K Bye.

BDC. So much potential, but such mediocre experiences. This place really feels like a factory — their classes are packed and feel oddly aggressive/​competitive for a drop-​in studio. I’ve never felt comfortable or at-​ease at a class here, which is tough for someone who doesn’t have the time or money to take class multiple times a day. The instructors are clearly all talented, but it’s a bit of a crapshoot as far as what they’re actually teaching when you look at the schedule. The reels that they provide online are generally nothing like what they’re actually teaching, so I’ve definitely come out of classes disappointed by my own expectations.
All of that aside, BDC does fill a need in NYC. They’re centrally located, good for all levels, and huge. There are about five or six classes going on at any given time, so plenty of options for anyone. I’m fully willing to believe that I might have just not found the right class/​instructor/​groove for me yet, so I’m upping a review that borders on 2 or 2.5 stars to a full 3. But, don’t come here expecting the comfort of your home studio.

Checkin is fast and efficient
I took classes with Dorit koppel, who reminded me of an afghan hound.

Mostly awful instructors, across every genre of dance. Instructors literally base the pace of the class on the most advanced students in the class, and everyone else struggles to keep up. Class levels are never consistent. Foundations are rarely taught, even in the basic and beginner classes.
Dorit Koppel teaches ballet and she is an ahole and doesn’t teach. Her students lack proper ballet foundations, something she clearly does not teach. She also was annoyed that I didn’t have my hair pulled back (pulling my hair back pulls my hair out… a lot… thanks for asking.) she also came over and told me that I should «cover up»!! In a ballet class where half of the people were wearing backless low cut leotards! I was wearing a crop top over a sports bra, which makes it very easy to tell when you’re out of alignment. Given that most of the students in the class do not have proper basic alignment, it’s pretty clear she doesn’t care about teaching and would rather call people out on what they’re wearing than spend time actually teaching ballet technique.
For ballet Steps on Broadway is better and more consistent.
For hip hop go to Exile Professional Gym. BDC classes are only useful for audition prep, as instructors only teach choreography. And auditions are free, so for an aspiring pro the time would be better spent at auditions.
It’s annoying that they won’t let you sign up for a class without scanning your BDC card. If you don’t have your card you have to buy a new one, they won’t just look up your name on the computer. I imagine the purpose is to save time, but it would save a lot more time if they just set up an online system for sign ups.

They rob you of your money! It’s a scam!
For the amount of money you spend, you «SHOULD» leave there with a contract from Beyoncé herself! & everything is NON REFUNDABLE!

I actually really like Broadway Dance Center! I will explain why the lack of two stars shortly.
I came here for the first time to take a «dance hall» lesson. Silly me, I should’ve looked up what dance hall was before signing up. The instructor was amazing — like, how she moves her body like that is incredible. It’s a lot of awkward moves but she makes them flow into one another so gracefully (well, if you’ve seen dancehall before, you know it’s not «graceful», but she made it seem that way). The beginning of the class was a bit strange — the first 15 – 20 minutes was the entire class just following her move — no step-​by-​step process, but rather us copying her dancing to the music. It was a bit hard for a first-​timer, but later in the class she got into the explanation of how to do each step. The class wasn’t too big, maybe 10 – 15 people at most, one guy. There wasn’t a lot of one-​on-​one time, and she wasn’t looking to make sure each person was doing it correctly (well, she was but only briefly). BUT — it was extremely fun trying this new dance.
Lack of 1.5 star because… this place is HELLA EXPENSIVE. $ 20 a class? The cheapest I think you can get is $ 17/​class, but that’s if you buy a pass and you need to go at least twice a week for you to get your money’s worth. There is a 10 class «card» that comes out to be $ 18 a class, but you need to use it within two months (which is much more doable). Come on guys, $ 20 a class? Seriously? Can’t you come up with some kind of system, lower classes are $ 10 and advanced $ 20? Or your first 5 are $ 10 and the next are $ 20? New student special? Anything? Anything? Bueller… Bueller…
Lack of .5 stars because of the staff manning the front. One woman I spoke to was VERY nice, but the rest… were all lacking in people skills. I was a new student and a bit lost (as it gets VERY chaotic at the front); you have to go to one desk to sign up and then another to pay for the class. Although they never check to see if you’ve actually paid for the class; I think they pop into your class to count the number of students, so if it doesn’t match up they made stop to ask everyone. If that’s the case, I’m wondering if you can just pay after.
I won’t be going back for dancehall, but I’d love to try a beginner tap, hip-​hop, or some other class. It’s just so expensive, who knows when I’ll be able to become a veteran.

I’ve been talking hip hop classes at Alvin Ailey for about 2 years and thought I might try out BDC. It was disappointing.
— The place is small but layout is confusing. I signed up for class via FitReserve and was confirmed as ‘checked in’ in their
system. But when I got there I had to talk to multiple people to ‘check in’ further. It was confusing and a waste of time.
— I didn’t like my hip hop class with Bev Brown at all… I’ve taken a class with similar style before, so I wasn’t just frustrated because I wasn’t following the class. Her method of teaching include ‘chanting’ (mostly by the assistants), which is very creepy and distracting in my opinion. She talks a lot and doesn’t give you enough time to do the moves/​practice. And we never do TRANSITIONS. How can I learn a routine if I never remember what comes next. I consider this poor instructional skills.
— As one of the other reviewers say, anyone can look into the studio through a huge glass window, which makes it uncomfortable. You don’t learn so well if you’re self conscious.
— Finally, this studio is located in one of the shittiest neighborhoods of Manhattan.

Back in the day I used to practically live at BDC if not live to take classes at BDC :-) I took jazz, theater and ballet and have been around long enough to have experienced the old old Broadway location, the 57^th St one, and now this 45^th St one.
That said, I don’t think I will be going back. I returned last week to try a ballet class after not having come to the studio since around 2010 when the teacher I was following left to teach elsewhere. The irritation started right at the entrance where I see that you are now forced to walk through a gift shop just to enter the building. Then when you walk in, there is what looks like a ‘welcome desk’ but it’s not that at all — when I came in there were just what looked to be several staff people and other dancers hanging all around it talking. No one looked up to help. Luckily then I saw the sign that class registration was on the third floor and to take the elevator ‘behind me’ which was not visible from where the sign was, but you have to walk through a door and then down a hallway to the right. I only figured it out because I had been there back when the studio first opened.
I got to the third floor and since I had not been there in a while, after waiting in line to get to the cashier, he scanned my keytag and someone else’s name came up. He then sent me to the «Information» cashier who then sent me to the «New Student Registration Desk.» After going through the process of filling out a new card, getting a new keytag, etc I went back to the original cashier and everything seemed on track UNTIL I said I was Union — so then had to go back to the «Information» cashier who had check my union card and flag my account with a Union rate approval. THEN I went back to the original cashier and was finally able to sign in for class. Total time this took — 20 minutes.
At this point I was exactly on time for the class to start, so I rushed to the cramped dressing room and got changed. The women’s dressing room has an extremely bad layout, so the main area is one that you have to keep walking through to get to the bathroom or to the back area — not optimal. The bathroom is also less than well laid out and never seems entirely clean.
The ballet class (Dorit Koppel) was great. However, it was way too overcrowded. It was in their Studio 1 which I thought they used to cap at 50 students, but I did a rough count and there were 65 – 70 in this class. The way the bars were set up, I got kicked and hit in the face several times during barre alone.
Overall an extremely disappointing experience. Agree with some of the other reviewers about it just being too much of a scene and that it is annoying that they allow groups of children/​teens into the classes.

Took basic ballet with Liane. She is great! She provides detailed instruction on positions and movements, so this is a good class for a true beginner.
The only reason I would give this 4 stars is that our studio was small and packed, but the center is huge and I believe other studios are larger. I will be back for Liane in any case because she is a great teacher!

One of the men who’s at the front desk (at night) is one of the most rudest people I’ve seen

For now, a three… with hopes of being able to bump up in the future.
From start to finish:
— I get it, but kind of bogus that you have to enter through their store.
— While the third floor registration desk folk are friendly enough, the lack of reception on the first floor was nearly enough to make me turn around and say «…bump this bull!» At the time I arrived, the lobby was inundated with rank smelling dancers, crazy energy, and a dude sitting behind the staff desk, but not even looking for anyone coming in. Hot mess social hour. If I hadn’t had the hutzpah to look around, and find the sign telling me what to do, it would’ve been a wrap before it began.
— Third floor is nice, spacious enough, good waiting area, clean hallways and spaces, a good enough of outlets throughout the floor, and well lit. The locker room was fine. The little cub lockers are way too small for. They have no paper towels anywhere. Only two stalls. But cool that they have two showers, if only one folding chair for use in that area. Water fountain outside Studio 2 was quite welcome.
— Liked the studio spaces. LOVED Jessica Phoenix. Quality instructor. Even as the Big Belly Man of the evening, I felt completely welcomed. Not so much by all the students. But it’s an arts and dancer venue. Not 4H.
Good option, whether you’re looking for just fitness, or training. Excited about exploring more of their classes!

Let me start this review by saying to any real working artists, PLEASE bypass this place altogether! There are so many far better studios around NYC where you can get real work in and seriously prepare your art. This place is a waste of any professional’s precious, limited time and money.
I was in the process of prepping for a callback where I knew the dance style wasn’t the easiest for me. I’m an actress/​singer and most of the time I’m working at a breakneck pace on 2 or 3 sets of rehearsal/​audition material at a time. I don’t have time to waste on games & nonsense. BDC had come highly recommended by a friend who dances only as a hobby. (No coincidence there!) Anyway, I buy a 5 class package online so I can pop into a few classes & brush up on the style. (After all, I’m a serious singer, so I don’t need to kill it. No one is hiring me for my dancing skills. I get hired because I belt my face off and do the heavy vocal lifting in shows.) Anyway as I come in the door, the place is OVERRUN with teens and really young people. I was shocked! Where were the professional performers? Where were the people who were serious artists. It was like high school! Cliques of kiddies were laying all over the floors and I was literally stepping on them to get to the 3^rd floor info desk. When I get to the 3^rd floor there were exasperated parents waiting around. I suppose their kids were in the myriad studios that had classes televised into the waiting area. I wanted to throw up. If the 1^st floor was high school, then the 3^rd floor was an episode of Dance Moms! It was like I’d walked into a nightmare, and not a actual artistic work environment. So I go up to 1 of the 4 pip squeaks behind the counter and get signed up. I ask if «people like me» are in the classes. I meant adults, artists, people who work, etc. I knew they would think I was «old» because I’m over 30. The pip squeaks just blinked.
So I go back to the 1^st floor where my class was scheduled and find a seat between crushed potato chip crumbs, spilled water, and 2 Korean girls gabbing and laughing while pointing at boys in the ballet class that was wrapping up. Were these girls actually going to be in MY class? God, I hope not!
While I sat there, I was really bothered by the huge picture window to the studio my class was in. So many kids were sitting around watching. I assume the bored parents upstairs would be watching too on tv. It’s not the kind of place you want to make mistakes, try something new, work outside your artistic comfort zone. It’s the exact opposite. It was intrusive, and disrespectful. It was like a competition. A parade. A judgement zone. Did anyone around even know how delicate creating art can be? This was embarrassing, and I felt really bad. Really bad and super uncomfortable.
When it was time for my class to start, I waited to see if anyone «like me» was going to go in. Several teenie boppers went in and the teacher started… so I left. It was clear no one around there had EVER booked a show, let alone understood the pressure I was under to get prepared. I refused to subject myself to a complete waste of time & money.
When I went back to the desk, they refused to refund me the money I’d paid. They also refused to let me donate the classes to my friend who recommended the place. So there you have it. All they are really after is the money. They could care less if real artists are there working and growing. They could care less if the atmosphere is respectful of the caliber of work that’s required in professional shows and on Broadway. BDC is part of the machine that unethically monopolizes on the dreams of these kids who are coming to NYC by the thousands. They take their money. And what you get in return is to sit around with a bunch of other undergraduate wannabes and try to look cool. But it doesn’t mean anything. Artists like me — artists who book, and who work — don’t have time to waste. So I went from there to Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn. Boy am I glad I did that! I found where there the artists are, and where people are going in and coming out of rehearsals. I found where the real work is being done. I won’t ever go back to BDC again!

The Good: Amazing teachers & guest teachers. Really great level. Better for advanced dancers.
The Bad: Way too expensive and the prices keep rising. Often way too crowded as well. Tough to see and learn.

This dance studio is huge with plenty of dance studios. I came here to see a dance show, they weren’t prepared when we arrived but the staff kept of updated as to when the room would be ready.
The studios and spacious and clean but the bathrooms that’s another store. They were not clean, tissue was all over the floor and the garbage was overflowing. Thank god it didn’t have a bad smell. I’m sure it wasn’t the fault of the dance that the bathroom was a mess but if you know you holding an event the bathrooms should have been cleaned.
The studio we were in was very hot but I’m sure the amount of people that was in the room played apart in that. I excused my myself the room to get some cool air and decided to get a water from the vending machine but it was out of order. Being that several people dance at this studio a working vending my be best.

Another class that got moved to a studio half the size last minute so half the people couldn’t take the class (dec 28^th)

From all the dance studios in New York this is my favorite. I was into ballet for most of my life and attended BDC since I was a child. I didn’t realize it then but I feel so fortune to have received training from some of the best dance teachers in the whole entire world. Most were former dancers from NYCB or ABT.
–1 star because it does get crowded. The dressing room is always extremely hectic.

My niece visited from TX for a couple of weeks and needed a few sessions. As a parent I had to check out the place. Aside from the questionable neighbor, the place was extremely convenient and well run.
You sign up and then you’re good to take whatever classes you’d like. I don’t know much about dance, but she did and she kept going back for the next week+. That’s my measure.
The convenience and price were great, but the stroll through Time Square traffic is never fun. Head in from the west side and you’ll miss the chaos completely.

The hip hop classes are amazing. I took a beginner class with bev and it was such a workout. I struggled because I had no dance experience before but this class is a must try. Bev was so full of energy and trying to get our inner funk out.
Classes are $ 20 each and the facilities are really nice. You can also catch a glimpse of some of the other classes going on and you will be blown away.

I’ve never had a positive customer service experience at BDC, but this one truly took the cake. First, it had the teacher online as actually teaching and not a sub. When I arrived however it in fact was a sub. This has happened countless times at BDC. Then, after not allowing you to sign up in advance online (I thought we were in the 21^st century), I called to see if there was space in a class. I was told yes but when I got there (on time) I was told that the class was not only full, but there was a wait list. How does this system possibly work for people with jobs, who have better things to do than sit all day waiting for a dance class? After denying my entry they suggested another class that was not at all as it was described. Finally I got my money back (after a 10 minute wait).
Dance class should be a relief from stress and a great workout. The staff and systems at BDC not only make attending class *more* stressful, they’re downright rude and seem to take pride in turning people away instead of accommodating them. I won’t be returning.

I’m an ISVP student and I love BDC! It’s an amazing dance school. The staff is really nice and you feel very «at home»!
My favorite teacher is BEV BROWN! I love her class. She and her assistant FWG is a perfect match! The classes are fun — educating — challenging!
Bev does it all — from reggae to «real ghetto hip hop»!! Very diversity — love love love!
If you want to learn basic hip hop there is basic level and if you want a challenge or have more experience there is advance beginner! It’s the same choreo but different «speed»! I love they way she breaks it down — fun and clear! WORD!!! :)
I’ve been taking 6 classes a week for the last 3 months and without Bev I wouldn’t be the dancer I am today. She’s also my mentor — so I need 2 work extra hard — love it :)
I love that we always freestyle and that she’s «picking» on you so you can be the best dance-​version of yourself! We are going to class to learn — in these classes you will 4 sure! AND IT’S A BLAST!!!
Take class — take Bev’s class — see ya’ll :)
Tuesday 6 – 7:30/7:30−9
Thursday 6 – 7:30/7:30−9
Saturday 4:30−6/6−7:30