Quick Comparison #
| Studio | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| School of Nashville Ballet | Lineage to 1974 Green Hills studio, official training arm of Nashville Ballet (largest professional ballet company in Tennessee), faculty with more than fifty combined years of professional dance backgrounds, twenty-four part-time faculty and school associates | Pre-professional ballet training from age two through company audition prep, Academy Division, Junior Intensive, Summer and Winter Intensives, adaptive program |
| Nashville Dance Center | Founded 2002 by Terry Tomlinson, current owners Andrea Greene (six years Nashville Ballet performer, ten years on faculty) and Gary Greene as of July 2024 purchase, certified professional teachers | Ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop across recreational and pre-professional levels, competition dance companies with regional and national title history |
| Dance In Bloom | Opened 2003, Nashville Parent Magazine Best Dance Studio reader-poll winner 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, ten-instructor faculty across multiple disciplines | Ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip-hop, modern, lyrical, contemporary, acrobatics, Dance Company since 2006 for ages six and up, ages two upward |
Nashville families weighing a first ballet class or a competition-track placement often face a thicket of options. The studios on this short list each occupy a clear lane: one feeds the largest professional ballet company in Tennessee, one anchors Green Hills with two decades of company training, and one has earned repeat reader-poll wins in Bellevue. Each entry below records the founding year, leadership, training scope, address, and direct phone line, so a parent can match a child’s age and goals to the right room.
1. School of Nashville Ballet #
The School of Nashville Ballet operates as the official training arm of Nashville Ballet, the largest professional ballet company in Tennessee. The parent company traces its lineage to a 1974 Green Hills studio, transitioned to a professional performance organization in 1986, and adopted the Nashville Ballet name in 1987. The school today runs out of a dedicated facility at 3630 Redmon Street in the Sylvan Park area.
Directors and Faculty Depth #
The school is led by Jennifer Kulev and Dmitri Kulev, who share the school director role; Dmitri Kulev additionally serves as head of the Men’s Program. The school states its faculty members carry more than fifty years of combined professional dance backgrounds, with named instructors covering classical ballet (Melissa Mangold, Janna Kirova), contemporary work (Maria Konrad, Shabaz Ujima), and a children’s plus adaptive program manager (Helen Yeoman-Shaw). Twenty-four part-time faculty members and school associates round out the teaching roster, giving the academy unusual bench strength relative to single-owner studios.
Program Tracks From Toddler to Pre-Professional #
Programming spans youth classes starting at age two through a Professional Training Division designed for pre-professional dancers preparing for company auditions. Between those endpoints sit the Academy Division for ages eight to eighteen, a Junior Intensive for ages nine to thirteen, Summer Intensive auditions held on a national tour, and Winter Intensive and Workshop sessions. The academy also offers Community Adult Classes and New Perspectives, an adaptive dance program. The professional pipeline distinguishes this school from competition-driven peers: graduates often audition directly into the parent company or affiliated regional troupes.
- Address: 3630 Redmon Street, Nashville, TN 37209
- Phone: (615) 297-2966
- Email: [email protected]
https://www.nashvilleballet.com/
2. Nashville Dance Center #
Nashville Dance Center has trained Green Hills dancers since 2002, when veteran instructor Terry Tomlinson opened the studio after a fifty-five-year career in the dance industry. In July 2024 Andrea Greene and her husband Gary purchased the academy from Tomlinson, preserving the curriculum while bringing in fresh artistic direction. Andrea Greene brings six years of performing experience with Nashville Ballet and ten years on the Nashville Dance Center faculty prior to taking ownership, a notably direct succession path that kept the teaching philosophy intact across the transition.
Class Roster and Weekly Enrollment #
The academy reports over four hundred fifty students enrolled each week, taking classes in ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop across recreational and pre-professional levels. The Hillsboro Pike location occupies Suites 190R and 110, allowing parallel class blocks across multiple studios. Office hours run Monday through Thursday from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM and Saturday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM, mirroring the after-school and weekend rhythm of student schedules.
Competition Companies and Faculty Standard #
The studio fields multiple competition dance companies that the academy describes as holding regional and national titles. All classes are taught by certified professional teachers and choreographers, with placement based on age and demonstrated technique rather than a single tryout. Parents evaluating Nashville Dance Center against the larger pre-professional schools typically cite the smaller class sizes and the direct line from instructor to studio ownership as the deciding factors.
- Address: 4004 Hillsboro Pike, Suites 190R & 110, Nashville, TN 37215
- Phone: (615) 385-7997
- Hours: Mon-Thurs 3:00 PM-8:00 PM, Sat 9:00 AM-2:00 PM
https://www.nashvilledancecenter.com/
3. Dance In Bloom #
Dance In Bloom opened in fall 2003 in a small Belle Forest Circle space and has grown into a 4,000-square-foot facility inside the One Bellevue Place Shopping Plaza off Highway 70S and Sawyer Brown Road, where it moved in spring 2021. Long-tenured director Destiny took over the studio in 2007 after the founding owner shifted careers into nursing, and she has remained the artistic lead through every relocation since. The studio serves the Bellevue community west of downtown Nashville and accepts students from age two upward across varied backgrounds and abilities.
Reader-Poll Recognition #
Nashville Parent Magazine readers have voted Dance In Bloom the Best Dance Studio in Nashville in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021. The repeat recognition reflects a family-oriented operating model that pairs technical instruction with a free trial class option for prospective students, lowering the barrier for first-time families weighing a multi-year commitment.
Class Breadth and the Dance Company #
The conservatory teaches ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip-hop, modern, lyrical, contemporary, and acrobatics or tumbling, taught by a group of ten instructors with varied dance backgrounds who focus on their respective disciplines. The Dance Company, established in fall 2006 for ages six and up, gives serious dancers additional rehearsal time outside typical class blocks and extra performance opportunities at the two yearly studio shows and community appearances throughout the season. Company placement is open to qualified students rather than reserved for a single cohort, keeping the path into competitive work accessible across age levels.
- Address: 8133 Sawyer Brown Road, Suite 601, Nashville, TN 37221
- Phone: (615) 662-4819
How to Choose Among the Three #
Each studio answers a different family question. The School of Nashville Ballet is the obvious match for a child aiming at a professional ballet career, given the in-house pre-professional division and the direct feeder relationship to the parent company on Redmon Street. Nashville Dance Center fits Green Hills families who want competition-team exposure under former Nashville Ballet performers without the larger institutional setting, and the recent ownership succession preserves the curriculum that built the studio’s reputation across two decades. Dance In Bloom answers the Bellevue family question, with the broadest class catalog of the three, a twenty-year track record, and reader-poll wins that signal consistent parent satisfaction across multiple cohorts.
A practical screening sequence: visit the lobby during the after-school window between 3:30 PM and 6:00 PM, watch a trial class in the discipline of interest, and ask the desk staff how placement decisions get made for the next session. A studio that can answer those three questions clearly is one that will communicate well across the multi-year arc that serious dance training requires.
Reference Notes on Industry Credentials #
Parents reading dance studio marketing materials may encounter several credentialing acronyms worth understanding. The American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum, abbreviated ABT, is an exam-based nine-level program that certifies individual teachers who complete the ABT Teacher Training Intensive. The Royal Academy of Dance, abbreviated RAD, operates an examination syllabus and graded student assessments through registered teachers and examination centres. The National Association of Teachers of Dancing (NATD) and Dance Educators of America (DEA) are professional membership and examination bodies. The Cecchetti Council of America carries forward the Enrico Cecchetti heritage syllabus through a graded examination structure. Competition results at the regional or national level typically reference organizations such as Showbiz National Talent, NUVO Dance Convention, KAR (Kids Artistic Revue), and the Dance Awards / Hall of Fame circuits. None of these credentials is required for quality instruction, but each provides a verifiable external benchmark that parents can ask about during a studio tour.
Selection Methodology #
Dance instruction sorts on three signals: graded-examination syllabus adoption (American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum, Royal Academy of Dance, National Association of Teachers of Dancing, Dance Educators of America, or Cecchetti Council of America), faculty members with professional performance backgrounds (regional or national companies, Broadway national tours, Nashville Ballet or Nashville Symphony pit work), and a class progression structure that walks a student from creative movement through pre-pointe and pointe with named teacher review points. The three studios above each adopt at least one graded-examination syllabus, list director credentials with professional company history, publish class scope by age and skill level, document reader-poll or competition recognition where claimed, and tie the studio to a Davidson or Williamson County street address with continuous lineage. Recreational mall-only operators without graded structure were excluded.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: How was each studio verified?
A: Each studio was checked against ABT National Training Curriculum or RAD examination syllabus alignment where claimed, NATD, DEA, or Cecchetti Council graded examination framework awareness, named directors with professional dance backgrounds including Nashville Ballet company tenure where claimed, competition recognition through Showbiz National Talent, NUVO Dance Convention, KAR, or Dance Awards circuits where claimed, reader-poll recognition such as Nashville Parent Magazine where claimed, verifiable Nashville-area street address, and a published class scope on the studio’s own website.
Q: What sets these three apart from the broader Nashville dance field?
A: Graded-syllabus adoption (ABT National Training Curriculum, RAD examinations, Cecchetti Council framework) is the curriculum filter that distinguishes a serious ballet track from a recreational mall studio, and the three studios above each carry that structure. Past the syllabus, the differentiation is faculty performance pedigree (Nashville Ballet company tenure, Broadway national tour credits, regional company background) and a published pre-pointe and pointe progression with named teacher checkpoints rather than age-based promotion alone.
Q: Are any of the three studios paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No studio sponsored placement.
Q: How should I prepare for a first appointment, lesson, or booking?
A: Bring a written list of goals or scope items, any relevant prior records or experience levels, a list of dates and constraints, and questions about pricing, schedule, cancellation, and progress measurement. Request a written agreement or enrollment form before signing.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.