Alberta Ballet School - Calgary

Wish they hadnt sold us their school recital tickets with our season tickets. Big waste of time and money for us. Super unimpressed and annoyed that we pretty much sat through some rich kids graduation and had to pay for it!!!! If i could give 0 stars i would

Okay, this is not the ballet. It is the offices, and the studio where they practice and rehearse. It's awesome if you have a kid in the Alberta Ballet School but not a place you'd have a reason to go otherwise.

I searched this school on Google and heard that it was the best ballet school in Alberta. I sent my daughter there to take the pre-school class, but after two semesters' training, I was very very much disappointed. They charge the highest tuition fee than any other schools. My assumption was that the high fee means high quality. But the result proved that I was totally wrong. Two semesters, every Saturday morning for 45 minutes, what did they teach? Only a few very basic positions. That's it! They teach the kids very few basic positions and when I participated in the open class I found most of the kids didn't even know how to do a correct position and the teachers didn't correct them or helped them do a right position. At the beginning, I thought the kids would get better. But even in the last class of the 2nd semester, I found nothing has improved. Most kids still didn't do a correct position and I didn't see any improvement. They are almost the same as the beginning of the program. What did they learn? I would say, "almost nothing"! We spent a lot of money and our spare time trying to train our kids to learn the best ballet techniques, but this pre-school program just let the kids play without improving. They play almost the same games in every class throughout the whole two semesters, and kids didn't learn anything or make any improvement. If you observe their first class, you will find everything is almost same in the last class which is half year later. In addition, the school kept taking new students throughout the year. They didn't care about the level of new takes (because they didn't even improve any current students). I feel they are just cash grabber and very unprofessional. I believe I am not the only parent who has the same feeling. Most of the parents were disappointing. I don't know their higher level classes - may have a better quality, but if you want to send your kids to the pre-school, I would recommend you think about it again. My own experience, it is not worth your money and your kid’s time. It is totally time wasting with the pre-school program at The School of Alberta Ballet.

Great facility and great teachers. We switched to this school from one in the neighbourhood. Quality of instruction was night and day. Neighborhood school was like a "play" dance school. The Alberta Ballet is real ballet instruction and reasonably priced.

I was so excited when I heard they expend to Edmonton. My daughter used to dance with them in Calgary before my husband work transfer. Made an appointment with the school director/teacher/officer (I think her name is Margaret Dalwood) in Edmonton. I arrived 10mins prior of their scheduled time. She said she doesn't have time. What? What is making appointment for? She was rude, unhelpful, not pleasant at all. No information given. I wouldn't feel comfortable to leave my 8 years old with her. When I share my experience with my friends, I learnt that School of Alberta Ballet actually uses teachers from ESB. Why would I put my kid with them for the higher price, poor studio conditions and rude experience. Shame on Alberta Ballet School that allowing this happen in Edmonton.

Our son is new to the school this year. We have seen how much he has gained as a dancer, student and community member over the past 6 months. His enjoyment of dance has been renewed. His academic and artistic teachers have been so encouraging and supportive. He has become so motivated and disciplined which has spilled over into his personal life. Any concerns we've had are resolved quickly. Our experience is limited but we feel totally blessed that he has been given this amazing opportunity. No matter where he goes or what he does in life, he will always benefit from this time with SAB. Thank you so much!

I was at this school in their open division first for several years, until I was accepted into the professional division from age 12-13 for two years. I did not have a great experience personally. What I didn’t understand back then was that the school operates in a very contrived nature, and the majority of teachers I had showed a lot of favouritism. From the students perspective this created a lot of tension between the girls that I’m sure they were unaware of. I wasn’t a favourite. I was tall (which meant it was harder for me to build muscle) and suffering from major depression (mostly because of this school’s treatment towards me). I would come in late sometimes (from insomnia) and Mr. Kilgour would just glare at me as I walked in with a scowl, not saying hi or anything at all. Having more experience now, I don’t take blame anymore as they were adults and should’ve seen the pretty obvious signs I wasn’t doing well and checked up on me (and when you’re paying 10,000 tuition for the program, this is the least they could do). Instead they would ignore me for months in class acting like I wasn’t there, or once I went on vacation and told a teacher I’d be gone for a week; when I came back she zoned me out in front of all my classmates saying I didn’t tell her (meanwhile after she left I had friends tell me they witnessed me telling her). I could go on and on, but the last one was the way they let me go. They had my friend and I into a meeting at the same time. They told her she got to stay, and that I was let go and the program wasn’t for me. This is a very inappropriate way to handle things. I came out the school diagnosed with severe OCD, and anxiety that took years to recover from. Maybe I was weak, but I maintain that this is not how you treat young people regardless of how elite your program is. I’ve done other competitive arts and everyone one but Alberta ballet looked out for the mental health of their students. I will say there are teachers I loved: Mr. Manukyan, and Mrs. Proust, I think they genuinely cared. I sincerely hope they’ve changed the program since I’ve left, because they teach very great technique which is why I opted for 3 stars.

I started dance classes here when I was 4 years old. I was in x3 productions of the Nutcracker (the one everyone pays to see). It was fantastic training which I have carried with me my entire life. This school can propel you to a career in ballet if that is your goal. Highly recommend! Fantastic adult classes as well!