Hanover School of Ballet

"I second what Ms Amanda Bortner states about their so called family-first claims. I know the director's youngest sister Lisa very well. She has been devastated twice in her life by her parents & sister disowning her. First she was disowned because she is a part of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2013, Lisa reached out as she became very ill with Multiple Sclerosis. They accepted her back for a couple of years. One day in 2017 I visited her. She was on oxygen 24/7, had a recently placed feeding tube amongst her other neurological conditions. She had been unable to get out of bed since 2014 unless her she had a doctor's appointment. In that scenario her 24 hour caregivers had to go to great lengths to transport her. When I got there this particular day she was crying uncontrollably. We were so concerned because of her immense breathing difficulties. Her MS didn't allow her to speak well. She scribbled on paper her parents & sister blocked her again. She had no idea why. The email they sent her said they were busy, not ignoring her. She never got over it, blaming herself for being a horrible person when in reality the exact opposite is true. She always said they claim to have one child (they have 4) & 3 grandchildren (they have 8) & zero great grandkids (they have at least 10). The fact that Mr & Mrs Blume & Deborah Blume-Byers can just throw their actual blood family away so easily is appalling. Think before you join this school. Think about your family. Think about how hard it would be to throw your children or siblings away - blocking their phone numbers, emails, all of their communication attempts. Think about your children or siblings being very sick & disowning them as if they are trash. Not such an easy thought, is it? Well it is for the people that run this school. Think of the values your children would learn from people like this. They may be all smiles in public but behind closed doors, something wicked exists. Lisa & the rest of their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren are better off without their toxicity. If only Lisa would understand..."

"I wanted to make sure this was seen. This company claims to be a family first company and they are far from that. Family friendly wouldn't down a blood family member just because her mom got remarried and just wanted a dad which she could not get from her own biological father. My birth name is Amanda Blume and once my last name changed they just disowned me even still to this day when I try to contact them they block my number and all I ever wanted to know was why did I deserve that when all I wanted was a dad."