Tippy Toes School of Dance

I have been going to Tippy Toes for 12 years. It is overall pretty fun. The teachers always choose favorites-- the skinny little girls, but that's to be expected in dance. It is a family-owned studio and just has a nice vibe. I have had some great teachers in the past, and even had Valeire Rocky (famous dancer) as a teacher for a few years. The dances are always fun. Unfortunately, the costumes are so so so expensive. All in all, it has been a great experience for me, and I am glad I found my passion at a very young age. I also do IYBC (Indianapolis Youth Ballet Company), and it is great! We learn professional level dances, at younger ages. I have been doing pointe at Tippy Toes for three years now, with miss Pamela Arnold every year. I genuinely enjoy everything I get to do here, and practice here has given me experience that not a lot of people can say they have gotten. If you are considering sending your child to Tippy Toes, please do, as your child will have a great time.

My daughters absolutely love this dance studio. They always get so excited at the end of the season when they can be on stage and form. I'm always amazed at how well they do. The staff is very well organized and we are pleased.

Okay so here is the skinny on this business, it is great for kids and teens wanting to learn how to practice, perform, and learn what ballet is through a great teacher named Karen.Our 3 year old has been doing it since September and we have seen not only directional improvement through listening and hand/eye coordination, but we have also seen a drastic improvement in the home as well with listening, learning, and patience that is taught there as well.

I have had both of my children in classes at Tippy Toes. They both had a great time! Tippy Toes keeps learning to dance fun! The recitals are so good! We love the medals and prizes after the recital. We can't wait to dance again next school year!

We highly and we mean "highly" recommend Tippy Toes. My 3 year old granddaughter is in love! She is a very energetic, animated dancer and loves her teacher, Ms. Karen, very much. Ms. Karen is very patient and uses a variety of techniques to teach these young dancers basic ballet and tap. I enjoy attending all of my granddaughter's dance classes. It's the highlight of my week!

Classy dance school. Beautiful annual recital. AWESOME teachers. Reasonable price. We have been coming to Tippy Toes for years now and my daughter still enjoys every class:)

Tippy Toes is a nice little school. There are some things they do very well. Some of their advanced girls are decent in terms of ballet and excellent in terms of tap and showmanship.It's a friendly school, and one of the biggest in the south suburbs. There is a second location in Greenwood; they share teachers and their kids perform together in the yearly program, which has at least 4 packed performances. The size of the school may have a lot to do with its low cost, which is one of the lowest in the area.Basic classes include ballet and tap. It's not really clear what levels are there, because they don't really emphasize that. It's mostly a recreational school whose goal is to create kids who love dance and have dance awareness, but are not necessarily headed for professional careers.Most levels have a 50 minute class, which always starts exactly on time--although class business is conducted during class time, which can be a little frustrating if the child is really wanting to dance but spends the first 20 minutes trying on costumes or tallying fundraising money. At this school, like most not attached to a professional company, kids have to buy their own costumes; but the school runs very good fundraisers to offset this. In my daughter's time there, her costumes were totally paid for by fundraising.Class atmosphere varies a little by teacher and class, but overall it's positive and fun. However, because the goal is fun, sometimes kids do not take corrections seriously and continue to do something incorrectly or only make a small amount of progress all year. It may be different in the more advanced classes or the strictly ballet technique classes, where kids are a bit more focused on improvement. Even so, the classes do not get out of control, as they could easily do. This includes the toddler and preschooler classes, which are very creative and fun.The shape of the school year: For the first couple of months, classes learn specific ballet and tap terms and moves. In that time, the staff is planning the spring recital. Once the recital has been planned but before it is finalized, the classes begin learning some combinations/steps that they might be using in their recital pieces. Each class has one tap and one ballet number.The spring recital is usually announced sometime in October, which is also usually the month for the fundraiser. They take 1-2 class periods to announce the recital, and have a scrapbook put together that shows each number and each costume, so the kids can see how the show will go. Not much dancing is done on announcement day.From that point forward, after a ballet warmup where a few basic simple combinations are taught for the year once they get to an advanced beginner level, the rest of the class period is taken up learning the recital numbers, from October or November on. Sometimes the teacher will choose to work on only one number, so that class period might be all tap that week.DVD's are available at a charge so that the kids can better learn their choreography at home. For most kids that only take one class a week, they progress by learning the steps/combinations in their recital piece.Some kids do not progress very quickly, but some do. When my daughter made the switch to the area's pre-professional ballet school (at least two others have also made the jump), her new school didn't find anything dangerous to correct (some things taught wrongly can cause injury). This means Tippy Toes is teaching the basics correctly, albeit slowly, and in a fun way. Only a few kids are in competitions, and it is not a fact that is broadcast in the school. These kids often take private lessons. Some of the kids who can't get enough dancing also help with younger classes as a demonstrator of the proper ways to do what the instructor is showing.Tippy Toes also is affiliated with Indiana Youth Ballet, which allows kids not on a professional track to continue to dance and perform at a higher level. Kids who dance with IYB are in more advanced classes. However, even though my daughter was skipping through levels quickly, we weren't told about these classes, nor is it on their website.Individuals do Summer Intensives for the kids who are dance-crazy; the school does not meet over the summer.All in all, it's a good choice if you want to give your child appreciation for the basics of the dance styles of modern times: ballet and tap.

Classes are fun for beginners. My granddaughters love their classes and their teachers. The recitals are enjoyable every year.

Unfortunately I already don't have a good impression of the school as they never pick up the phone no matter the day of week or time of day. Emails are slow to be returned as well. It took well over a week before I was able to gather enough information to try to get my daughter to a class. For our first class we drove from over 30 mins away and could not find the dance school so we called as we were near it, called three times and no one ever picked up the phone. Very unimpressed with the lack of communication.