Dancing! Arizona

The studio, formerly called «Art of Dance», is too small for serious ballroom dancing but is OK for small group lessons and privates. Most of the time the group lessons have few people because there is very high turnover of dance students. People soon learn that the lessons aren’t a good value compared to other studios in the Phoenix area so they eventually leave. Perhaps the low participation is a mixed blessing because the studio wouldn’t be able to accomodate large classes.
John McAttee, the owner and instructor, is a competant dance instructor but he is overly pedantic and often teaches quirky styles that aren’t usable in local dance venues. He can be somewhat insulting to students and sometimes has a tough time articulating what he wants students to do. His abrasive personality is a turn off for many people so they often tire of him and go somewhere else for dance lessons.
Adult ballet are the best lessons at that studio, but if the class has more than about 5 students be ready to balance yourself on flimsy homemade pvc pipes that are rigged as temporary barres.
Avoid the dance parties because you might be the only one that shows up. Sometimes I was the only one there and yet John still charged me $ 5! So, you should expect to pay whether there is a party or not. The fact is there are several places in town that have excellent dance parties so why bother with this one? Read my other reviews to see where some good ballroom parties are.
It costs $ 10 for a 45 minute group lesson for people who walk in. Part of the lesson will be used to present a sales job to convince customers to buy into long term contracts. They aren’t called «contracts» however — you buy groups of lessons on cards. As motivation the cards are «discounted» so that lessons cost about $ 4.50. Even at $ 4.50 the lessons are significantly more expensive than most studios in town if you consider how much you pay per hour of lesson. Buying cards is a scam, not a «discount»!
You will be told that these lesson cards are the lowest prices in town but that’s simply not true. Many of the studios in the Phoenix area offer a 90 minute group lesson and a 2 hour dance party for $ 7 — and all of these studios allow you to pay at the door instead of being required to buy into long term lesson deals, so there are no long term commitments. Many dance studios in the Valley have higher quality instruction and more advanced students to dance with.
If you decide you want to cancel lessons you will quickly find out that you cannot get a refund for the lessons you haven’t used on the cards. Be sure to read the refund policy which says there are no refunds.
There are many reasons you might want to quit classes besides the abrasive personality of the instructor. Class schedules change often because most classes fail to attract enough people. He often cancels classes on the calendar and then announces new classes to convince newcomers to buy more dance cards. Customers can get burned when they buy cards for a specific lesson on a specific day only to find out that it has been cancelled. These people are out the money because the studio won’t refund it.
Buying lesson cards is a risky investment because it’s unlikely this business will last long — and the no refund policy is eventually going to get the studio in trouble as students sue for fraud. Selling dance lessons this way is a ripoff that ruins the reputations the dance industry. One of the reasons other studios are more popular is because they no longer require long term contracts.
«Dancing! Arizona» isn’t used just as a dance studio. Other weird activities take place there such as spiritual readings, séances, same sex political discussions, movie screenings, and piano lessons.
For more information go to ripoffreport report #836 117