Conservatory Of Dance & Music

My daughter started dance at a much later age than most kids and withnot being a dancer myself, my task of finding a dance school that would help her develop quickly, in an inviting and caring environment, was a daunting task for me. After contacting several dance schools, I felt that CDM would be the best fit for me and my daughter. Cheryl, the school director, offered sound advice and gave us a starting point that allowed my daughter to explore her talent. This will be our 5th year with CDM and I can truly say that our overall experience has been positive. Over the years, I have always found the staff and instructors to be approachable, fair and open. Apart from the dance training, which allowed my daughter to apply and be accepted into the Claude Watson School of the Arts (along with many of her dance mates), she has also developed close friendships. I feel that the mission at CDM is not just to help buildstrong, confident dancers but to also build strong confident young men and women. I would not hesitate in recommend them.

We just completed our second dance season at CDM. My daughter is looking forward to her second summer of attending dance camp and also continuing lessons throughout the summer.This year she has taken ballet with Ms. Olsen and acro and jazz with Ms. Devyn. They both hold a special place in her heart. They have been positive role models and their passion for dance and teaching others shines through. Even though the dance recital was only a few days ago she is already missing class.CDM has been instrumental in her (and our family’s) life throughout the pandemic. Showing up to class each week has given her something to look forward to and work towards.At CDM she has learned so much more than dance skills. Athleticism, dedication, hard work, commitment, perseverance, and confidence. She felt prepared for the recital and had no fear going on stage despite only being able to run the routine a few times in person. She was so proud of herself after the recital that the next day she performed her dance on Zoom for her classmates at school.She had the privilege of completing an Acrobatic Arts exam this spring. Despite her being the only child practicing for her exam level, both Ms. Rachel and Ms. Cheryl, took time to help her prepare during extra practice sessions. She felt ready for her exam and had the confidence to take the exam alone with the examiner on Zoom. With Ms. Rachel’s, Ms. Cheryl’s, and Ms. Devyn’s, time, help and patience, she was able to achieve an “excellent” on her exam.Our daughter plans to continue her dance career with CDM for many years to come.

This situation with COVID19 really helped me to see which of my daughter’s extra curricular activities genuinely put through an effort to support my daughter and frankly, still make online classes a worthwhile venture (both in terms of time and money). CDM dance was able to pivot quickly and effectively to the new realities of virtual learning. Miss Taryn started each class by talking to the kids for a few minutes to find out how they were doing. The dance company further offered free bonus instagram classes, and gave weekly challenges/assignments. Best of all, there was no pressure or judgement even if we couldn’t get our kids to do the challenges with everything else we were trying to juggle. Finally, CDM was able to splice together a wonderful year end concert for all the kids to enjoy. CDM is the real deal with dedicated and encouraging teachers and I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone.

This was our first year at CDM for my 4 year old. She enrolled in the Jazz Acro program. I can see how she has gain physical strength and also personal confidance and pride in her abilities. The teachers Ms. Roxy and Ms. Renuka were caring and encouraging to help her out of her shy demeanour. The school is onto of email communication for upcoming news and deadlines. And when the pandemic happened CDM was quick to set up online learning and provided detailed instructions. It has been a great experience for us and we will continue to enroll our child here.

This dance company is extremely unorganized and Roxanne Williams, the studio manager is one of the rudest and most disrespectful people I have ever encountered. Not only does she not let you have any discussions with her, she demands that she is always right and the parents are to blame for the company's mistake towards scheduling. I would not recommend this dance company to anyone. There are many other great and amazing dance studios, but this is not one of them. Not only are they unorganized, they provide their students with ever changing schedules, making it hard for students to adapt.This is my first time bringing my daughter to this school and it will definitely be my last. I would definitely do more research and listen to other google reviews before entering the school program.DO NOT RECOMMEND.

My daughter has gone to CDM for 5 years and will continue as she enters high school. She started in the recreational program and has been in the part-time competitive for 3 years. The dance instruction is high quality and we very much value the diversity of the studio in terms of ownership, teachers, and students. CDM is a big part of the reason my daughter was accepted into the Claude Watson Arts program at Earl Haig. CDM is like a boutique studio, on the smaller side and able to give personalized attention to dancers. They also teach the students to focus on the art and technique of dance rather than only winning medals (though they do ok in that too). There are ALOT of email communications for competitive families and some can be confusing due to the wording in the email, but at least they do a good job at keeping families informed.

My daughter has been dancing with CDM for 5 years. During this time, she has worked with many of their teachers and has loved them all. The teachers at CDM are kind and caring individuals who encourage the children to be their best selves, to follow their dreams and to support each other. My daughter has always felt loved and supported by her CDM teachers and has often said that CDM is her happy place. During the pandemic, CDM transitioned smoothly to online classes. The teachers showed concern for the students overall well being during these unprecedented times and did a great job delivering dance classes via Zoom, which, as a teacher who had to deliver online learning, I know is not easy to do. Keep up the great work CDM team!!!

My daughter has been dancing at CDM for 3 years and she has thoroughly enjoyed her experience. She loves her teachers and in the last few years I've seen her grow as a dancer. CDM is always a place that she looks forward to going!

My daughter has been dancing for 3 years with the Comp team. It’s a positive environment and teachers are nice to the students. Parent group is also good! Some positives are that they are relatively strong in all areas of dance whereas some studios don’t offer all styles. Ballet is strong. They adapted to COVID very quickly and my daughter was so happy to continue her training online.

The staff at CDM did a fantastic job redesigning their dance classes to be delivered on line during COVID-19, both through weekly live dance classes, and through weekly mini-assignments and photo challenges. Their communication was strong through email updates and using google classroom. And in the end, the dancers got to have their online recital after all! It is clear the staff and owners at CDM are passionate about what they do!