Katie's Dance Studio

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Oct 2013

RE: Ballet Class for 7-year-old boy?

Try Katie's Dance Studio in El Cerrito. There are several ballet classes during the week, taught by a young man, Kevin, who's excellent with the kids. There are several boys taking ballet, but I'm not sure which classes they're in. Call Katie for more information: 524-1310. Dance Mom

Re: Berkeley Hip Hop Class for 7 year old (Sept 2007)
I have two daughters who attend Katie's Dance studio on San Pablo in El Cerrito. They are in tap, jazz, acrobatics and hip hop classes. They love it! The classes are offered at various times. They are just now beginning the new semester, so now is a good time to contact them. (510)524-1310 www.katiesdancestudio.com Keisha

Re: Berkeley Hip Hop Class for 7 year old (Sept 2007)
Katie's Dance Studio in El Cerrito (on San Pablo, across from the Guitar Center) has hip hop. It's a fun, but serious studio. My daughters (5 & 7) took tap and jazz all this past year and loved it. heidi

Re: Ballet lessons for 5-year-old (Feb. 2004)
I would like to second what Kim said in her posting about starting young dancers with tap rather than ballet, and add that my 3.5 year old daughter loves her tap class at Katie's Dance Studio in El Cerrito. The little ones work on dance, tap and tumbling skills and not on working toward performances. The music is lively and familiar (right now they are using tracks from the Sound of Music and the Lion King). Tap seems to have practically no injury risk and is something good for your body rather hard on it. liz

Tap at Katie's Dance Studio for 4-year-old boy?

June 2003

Has anybody had recent experience with Katie's Dance Studio in El Cerrito? I checked the recommendations and the last one was in 2001. I am looking at their tap classes for my very enthusiastic 4 year-old son. If anyone has other recommendations for tap classes at this age I would appreciate it as well. Thanks! Margaret

My two daughters (6 & 8) have been dancing at Katie's since they were 3. I think a boy would fair much better at Katie's than the girls do. It is a very competitive environment, even for the little ones. One teacher, Kelsey, divides kids as young as 5 & 6 by ability, and puts the best ones in the front of every dance. Although I can see this as a motivational strategy with older kids, it just isn't healthy for the little ones. As you can imagine this is very hurtful to a young ego, and really makes no sense since no one expects a class of first and second graders to be anything but cute entertainment anyway. My daughter usually ended up in the front row, but the anxiety leading up to the placement decision was certainly not worth it for a simple dance routine. (We decided that our younger daughter is just too fragile to handle that kind of pressure and we avoided this teacher for her.) Katie's is mainly a place that caters to kids who really want to concentrate on dance as their main activity. Kids are encouraged to take multiple classes each week (some are there 6- 7 days a week!).

I would summarize that Katie's is a terrific dance studio for kids (and parents) who want to make it their lives, but not so good for those occassional dancers who want to also have other activities. Currently we are in the middle of recital time, which means FIVE very long recitals (over two weekends), with two 6 hour dress rehearsals leading up to them. Again, great if you are really into dancing, but just plain excessive if you want to have a life.

Oh, the reason I say that the boys would fair better is because there are so few boys, that they are very valued and are always given the best treatment to encourage them to continue at the studio.

Carol

I have a close friend who's been going to Katie's for more than 15 years now. She loves it and has taken a variety of classes, including jazz dance and tap. She now takes her 4-year-old son, too. As the previous post said, Katie's studio is all about performing. My friend buys a very expensive performance outfit for every show (if not several outfits). This seems to be true for every age bracket.

I went to one show and told my friend that I loved her but would never attend another show. The adult numbers were fine but the very young children's numbers made me nuts. There were 3-5 year olds doing hip circles--and the audience cheered like crazy. Yuck. It felt completely inappropriate to me. I want my child to enjoy moving his body in comfortable, joyful, age-appropriate ways. I'm looking into Luna Kids Dance. (any other suggestions welcome) Jennie

Re: Tap for 6-year-old (2001)
For ongoing tap and jazz, she has studieds since she was 5-years-old at Katie's Dance Studio on San Pablo Avenue (across from the Guitar Center) in El Cerrito. They have many good tap and jazz classes, great teachers, and the kids have fun. They often do shows at school fairs and at The Solano Stroll. My daughter does professional shows for Katie and competes twice a year at Dance Masters(completely optional). Number for the studio is 524-1310. Marilou

Re: hip hop/jazz/modern dance classes for 13-year-old (2001)
Try Katie's Dance Studio on San Pablo in El Cerrito. Holly