My google search didn’t turn up anything, but I’m looking for information about the local dance studios. I have two young girls and I’d love to get them into dance once we move up there. Can anyone give me any info or links?
There is a dance studio on Frazer Street, Something dance academy and there is one across from the Green Clinic. I will try and get info tomorrow. Email and address maybe phone.
Prince Rupert Dance Academy
predc.com/info/dir_detail_li … %20Schools
ca.geocities.com/daprdancer/dapr.html
Spectrum City Dance
predc.com/info/dir_detail_li … %20Schools
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I was looking more for websites for the actual studios as opposed to addresses or phone numbers.
And/or peoples opinons of the studios etc.
peoples opinions… well depends who you ask… if you ask someone who was taught at the dance academy they would prefer it…
and if you ask someone who went to spectrum that would be their favorite…
ive never taken dance. but the dance academy of prince rupert is smaller… less people
ive seen preformances put on by both.
they both have top notch teachers. as far as i know anyways
thats about all i can give you haha hope it helps a bit
My daughter has never attended PR Dance Academy - but has taken several classes at Spectrum City Dance. I have been very happy with the professional instruction and enthusiasm at Spectrum. Someone else will have to speak to the PR Dance Academy.
Thanks guys! I’m loving the feedback.
My daughter went to the Dance Academy for about 4 years until we moved away. We went with them as they were smaller and the students did not seem to have the attitude of being too special.
Now I know people will get upset with that comment but at the time there were some students that had attitude, there may have only been a few but it does not take too many. We just wanted her to enjoy dancing and not be in it to be a professional dancer. To let you know she is still dancing and has been at it for 12 years - she is only 16.
Good luck with the move. Do you already have jobs to go to? What part of town are you moving to?
My daughter went to the Dance Academy for three years and is now taking dance at Spectrum City. I find Spectrums approach to teaching somewhat discriminatory. If you’re not taking at least 2 classes and don’t want to go to competitions your not getting much out of it. My daughter is in a class made up of students who will go to competition and others who will not and just want to learn it for fun. The teacher pays a lot of attention to the competition students and very little to the others, because they don’t need to be perfect.
I also didn’t like having my daughter’s class canceled so a workshop could be held for which I could pay extra if she wanted to attend. There are no so called ‘make up classes’ to make up for canceled classes or those missed due to holidays. So if your class is on a Monday your wasting a lot of money.
Another thing that I don’t agree with is having a three week X-mas break when there is only a two week school holiday. You still have to pay for the break.
Dance Academy on the other hand makes sure you’ll get what you’ve paid for and doesn’t have extended breaks.
Should my daughter want to continue with dance next year I will put her back into the Dance Academy.
I danced for almost my entire career with Spectrum, although I did do musical theatre in my early years with PR Dance Academy (before Spectrum got their program going).
My opinion? I think both teachers are fantastic in different ways.
Ella Ferland (who runs Spectrum) is extremely good at developing technically sound dancers. She continually tries to improve herself as a teacher by attending as many teacher training courses as she can, and it shows in the calibre of the performances at Spectrum. She is very good at pushing her students to be the best they can be, without trying to push them to be something they’re not. She’s especially good at training male dancers, making sure they don’t get put into effeminate roles, etc.
Teresa Mackereth (who runs PR Dance Academy) is great at making dance fun. She is just fantastic when it comes to developing performers in her dancers. I also get the impression, from having taken the odd class, and talked to a lot of her dancers, that they have a lot of fun in class. My experience with her school is that you’ll get solid technical training but with a real emphasis on the performance side, and having fun.
So it depends on what you/your kids want out of dance. Do they want to just have fun and perform? Or do they want to compete and be the best that they can be? Both schools have produced some amazing dancers (Bernice Liu, Marylin Lama, Kelly Grainger, Giselle Liu) so you’re not going to go wrong either way.
Hope that helped.
My daugther had the same situation happened when she did musical theatre. However, I have to say that this was the only time I was a little disappointed with Spectrum through all the years she took classes there. My son took classes at the Dance Academy when he was in kindergarten. I find that both schools are really good. I think Ramallah’s comments and advice are probably right on target.
My son went to PR Dance Academy for 3 years (early years) and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. The ONLY thing I couldn’t stand was trying to find somewhere to park to drop my child off and fighting the crowd inside that tiny doorway. Spectrum is a very new facility while PR Dance Academy is very old. Because of the parking/lack of entrance-way and a scheduling conflict I decided to enroll my young daughter in Spectrum. Parking is not an issue and there is plenty of room to get in and out as well as wait for your child while they dance. The teachers at both places are excellent and you will not be disappointed with the instruction at either place. Both places put on a great year end show also.
It’s nice to be getting some more input!
I read somewhere that someone was going to come and teach gymnastics at one of the dance studios. Does anyone know which studio it is? Any opinions on it?
Digging this up from the graveyard…
So, I’ve been phoning the two schools to see what times, etc would work best, and though I haven’t quite got it all figured out, I was SHOCKED to find out that the class for my 3 year old is about TWICE the price at Spectrum compared to Prince Rupert Dance! I’m thinking that maybe I talked to someone who didn’t totally know what they were talking about, 'cause if it really IS twice the price, then that’s insane!
Spectrum is really darn expensive.
What are the prices like at PR Dance Academy?
From what I gathered so far… (I will find out for SURE on registration day on Wed) but for my 3yo, it’s $200+ at DAPR for the year, and $500+ at Spectrum. There must be a mistake somewhere though.
I would not count on there being a mistake. Just wait til your child is older and wants to compete… that is when it all adds up! You have to take so many classes, if you want to take this you have to take that. Costume fees, entry fees it is crazy. I have been at it for over 11 years now!
Hmm…that’s quite the difference.
My daughter was in Spectrum for tap class Mar-Jun this year and I paid $150
for the three months. One class a week…thought that was pretty pricey.
Plus, like boston mentioned, other stuff added up as well.
My daughter was in the 4 year old class last year (45min/week) at Spectrum and it was approx $350 plus the outfit, ballet shoes and costume deposit.