Charlotte Blume School of Dance

Charlotte Blume School of Dance offers excellent classical ballet, tap, and contemporary dance training. From here, I went on to perform with a principal dancer from The Joffrey Ballet in regional ballet company performances. Charlotte Blume School of Dance dancers have joined as soloists with Ballet America (where I performed as a soloist in The Nutcracker and Midsummer's Night's Dream) and The Carolina Ballet and as principal dancers with The North Carolina State Ballet. Guest artists who dance with Charlotte Blume School of Dance come from Joffrey Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and The Carolina Ballet. Charlotte Blume School of Dance dancers have been accepted to The North Carolina School for the Arts, Debbie Allen Dance Academy, and The Houston Ballet Academy. With the school, I danced in The Spring Festival of Dance, summer performance workshops, tap performances, excerpts from Sleeping Beauty and other ballets, and in by audition full versions of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Regardless of your child's dance goals , you want your child to receive quality, professional training. This school is extremely subjective when it comes to student placement/advancement. There appears to be no clear syllabus or following any particular style of ballet. The teachers differ vastly from one another as to what is correct form, which leads to confusion with students. Communication at the school is poor, one is often hearing things through other parents,even the office staff is in the dark as to what is going on. There is no posted/printed schedule, there are no defined levels (i.e. level 1, level B) just times that one shows up. Ms, Blume, in her 80's, is frequently crabby, aloof, difficult to talk to unless you are offering compliments or praise. If you have concerns or want to discuss your child's progress, forget it. Granted, dancing is said to be its own reward, however, hard work is not always rewarded with advancement, placement is socially based, i.e. age, height, or passage of time, not ability/ talent/motivation. There is a reason other dance studios in town have waiting lists. Dancing is supposed to make someone happy, the students look somber and joyless, not much positivity . The dilapidated building on Morganton is in serious disrepair and shows an obvious lack of pride in its upkeep, uses space heaters in the winter.

Ms. Mitchell and Wei Ni and the true gems at this dance studio, they are the only reasons we still keep sending our child to Charlotte Blume. Both are very approachable , personable, and give you honest feedback about your child's progress. They are different in teaching styles, but encouraging , they want to make your child the best dancer they can become, both have made dance a lifelong career, their passion for dance shows. My daughter has a love of ballet because of these instructors. The only negatives I have encountered have been with the businesses namesake, she is the exact opposite of the above , formidable, difficult, and often indifferent.