Anyone on here have experience with them. I went to the recital yesterday and was pretty impressed. Thinking of signing my dd up for next year. Any opinions on their programs?

It's known as one of the best programs in the country. I was at their recital too, we went to see friends in it. We were surprised at how many other kids we recognized on stage. About a quarter of the kids we saw dancing have agents. LOL

Broadway Dance Center has an excellent reputation. In addition to dancers, we know several actors who go there including out-of-towners who take their drop-in classes whenever they're in town.

Good to hear! There were a few that I couldn't take my eyes off when they were on stage. They had that "it" factor you always hear about. I can imagine that many of the kids do have agents.

When my daughter was younger she would pop in for classes. On occassion they have guest teachers who actually would work on the B'way choreography which would help for auditions!

My dd takes dance at BDC. You probably saw her the other day, lol. She really enjoys it and the teachers are all excellent!

BDC is great for musical theater, tap, and jazz. Steps on Broadway, or the School at Steps for younger ones is better for more of a ballet focus. JMHO! Great teachers at both.

it is a leader in dance, but the (drop in) classes are always crowded, especially theatre dance classes. out of towners come in by busloads and cram into the classes.

i had a gift card from there, so i was able to test out a few classes.

i took a few classes from Lanie Munro. she definitely has her regulars, but the class always had well over 40 people in it each time. there was no way she could work with anyone individually. and it was crowded, hard to move and be big and sharp as needed for theatre.

i also took a tap class. there were two children in the class, i'd say around age 10. this class had only about 12 people in it. i will never forget how these two children were just happy as anything and completely showing off in the hallway waiting to go in, showing off their "skills", being typical musical theatre braggy kids.

BDC has a rule that if the class is too hard, you can leave before the first 10 minutes, go to the desk, and be reissued a credit to try another class. personally, i jumped ship. i hadn't tapped in a while, and the class was just too advanced. so i was sitting in the hallway taking my tap shoes off, when one of the kids (the boy, who was the bigger showboater of the two kids) came out with tears just rolling down his face to his mom. he didn't go back in either.

there are other schools that are less crowded, ocmom listed a few.

Can you tell me more about how a "drop in" class is run - esp. for kids?
I know that this is a very general question - we're coming from the school of dance where they are working toward a performance, so there is a progression to the steps. As far as real dance skills, the focus is way to narrow. But, without a "product" in the end, how/what do they teach?

it means that you dont have to register in advance, come whenever you want, pay as yougo.

at BDC, make some time for your first visit. you do fill out some brief paperwork, and get your photo taken (they have the BDC club card, which is required for taking classes).

otherwise, whenever you are in town, or feel like taking a class, look at the schedule, show up a bit early, pay for the one class individually, and take the class.

it's called "drop in" because smaller regional studios make you sign up for a semester or a year, so you may pay something like $100-500 for a class that you pay for all sessions up front. many studios, if you miss a class, you miss a class, some let you take a make0up class. but drop in, you don't sign up for a semester or a year or anything, you just come whenever you can.

this is popular in NY because there are just tons of auditions, and with theatre, they can take all day (they have to sing you, dance you, and read you, that can be quite the process), and then you could book a show out of town for 3 months... so they don't make you pay for anything upfront like that.

and another big difference, there aren't usually "recitals" except for in special programs. so i doubt the original poster saw students from the regular classes, it was probably a special program.

i'm sure kids drop ins are run the same way. and if kids are advanced enough, why not take an "adult" class?

oh my BDC experience-

seems all classes begin with a warm-up. the teachers usually have a set warm-up that they do every time. so you'll see that the regulars are keeping up and know what to do already.

then there is floor work.

then the class i was in, there was a combination. in my class, it was a combo that she was building upon, so some of the students already knew some of it, many were learning it for the first time.

There are a FEW classes at BDC that allow children to drop in and those have an age minimum of 10 or 12. You can call and ask which drop in classes are "kid-friendly" and they will let you know. I believe the only classes kids are allowed in are advanced beginner and below.

The children's program at BDC is a typical school year program that ends in a recital.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jactressk:

and another big difference, there aren't usually "recitals" except for in special programs. so i doubt the original poster saw students from the regular classes, it was probably a special program.

QUOTE]

The Children's Program at BDC is basically run like any other children's program most people would be familiar with. I'm assuming the adult program is what you experienced and is a little different. The Children's Program at BDC is totally separate from that and runs Sept-June. They do allow children to take some of the drop-in classes that are offered for adults, but there aren't any drop-in classes just for kids.

right , i mentioned that "special programs" (ie a kid only program) could be different, but she asked about drop in classes and i'm only aware of adult drop in classes at BDC and therefore described that experience.

i just know that the tap class i didn't really take had a few seemingly experienced kids in it who came out crying. i want to say it was advanced beginner tap, but i can't remember. then again, the receptionist told me the warm up for that class is harder than the class. but it was difficult for me, probably because i hadn't taken tap in a couple of years, too many leg injuries, so...

to the original mom-

i haven't been in the new studio, but in the old studio, many of the classes had windows so you could watch from the outside. if they have that in the new building, you could always stop in and just watch from the outside, see if any of the classes might be good drop in classes for your child to join, but i agree that there is quite likely an age requirement, or an experience requirement to take adult classes, so check that out first.

The summer is usually different than the rest of the year because of the huge amount of out of town dance groups coming in. The "open classes" are for adults of any level, but some advanced kids over the age of either 10 or 12 can take these and pay by the class. It's a great taste of a professional class for those kids who are not from here. Most kids programs require a registration. This is because children need the discipline of regular classes and regular teachers. That being said, I beleive the School at Steps is offering "open classes" for kids for the first time this summer. This is in conjunction with their children's program, not the adults. BDC may have something similar now, too, but I'm not sure of how much any child would get out of this.
How old is your dd?