Marat Daukayev School-Ballet

MDSB is an absolutely top notch ballet school with a tremendously supportive and enthusiastic community. Marat, Pamela and their dedicated teachers and staff offer the rare opportunity for children of all ages to experience the rigors of ballet in an incredibly nurturing environment. Every year the school presents a professional quality Nutcracker production featuring students of all levels. Watching our young children (and many others) become inspired to grow and excel by the encouragement and doting attention of the teachers and older students during rehearsals for the Nutcracker has been one of the highlights of parenthood for us. Our kids have developed close bonds with other students of all ages and I've heard from parents of older kids that the lasting relationships formed at this ballet school have helped their kids to weather the inevitable social challenges of junior high and high school. The Daukayevs also offer a 6-week intensive summer ballet camp for students 6 and up. The students train like a professional company (with breaks for ballet stories and sewing for the younger kids) and present three studio performances over the course of the session. The camp gives kids an opportunity to apply themselves in a fun environment and immediately see the benefits of their work by showing their new skills in a public showcase for the community. We can't say enough about what a great experience the school is for our kids (and for us)! more

This will be our fourth year for the Nutcracker this December! When I first attended I fully expected the typical ballet recital atmosphere like I remember when I took ballet and then 25 years later when my young daughter studied but this was something so spectacular that my Mother and I sat there for three hours mesmerized by the profesional performances we saw even from the very youngest students! This is ballet! Through the years, I began to look for students from previous years to see how they had matured and excelled and boy were we ever impressed. Ofcourse, Marat and his teachers are not just people who studied ballet once. They are the top of their field and famous for their art. If I had a young child now to put in ballet school, male or female, this is where they would go. more

I have been a student at this wonderful ballet school for over 5 years. I can say without reservation that they have been the most incredible 5 years of my, albeit young, life. Pros: Wonderful community, caring and supportive teachers, excellent training, opportunity for all students to particpate in performances (like the Nutrcracker) Cons: Can't think of any! more

This people are so caught up with themselves they forgat all about Customer service, their way of treating people is horrible, I feel bad for Marat the director himself, maybe he is the nicest person in the world but unfortunatelly his staff is not, maybe Marat needs to get a little bit more involved, see what is going on in his academy, and pay attention to how his staff are treating the paying customers, after all we are paying to come and take class there, not the other way around. This is not the School of American ballet, or pacific Norhtwest ballet where people from all over the world are lining up to come and train here. so back off with the Prima dona attitude. Yes its a good ballet school etc, but so are West side ballet in Santa Monica, Pasadena Dance Theatre in Pasadena, Le Studio in pasadena as well, to my surprice this lasts schools I have mentioned are great not only do they offer great trainning but they treat people great. Well even if the Marat school offers great trainning who wants to put up with their attitude?,and unfortunatelly or fortunatelly this is not new york or london, here it's the ballet schools the ones that need to compete for students,not the students competing to get into the schools, wake up guys welcome to Los Angeles, maybe nobody told you this when you moved to LA. But here in LA things are different, specially when it comes to dance, as you have probably already seen it. Pros: good trainning if you can put up with attitude Cons: bad customer service, rude etc. Don't know how to treat people more