McDonald Dance Academy

Going on 20 years, McDonald Dance offers lessons in pre-​ballet (ages 3 – 7), ballet (ages 7-​adult), jazz and hip-​hop, modern dance and musical theater. The newest offering is a yoga/​Pilates class for adults. My daughter has taken lessons here for 4 years, and all her instructors have impressed me with their professionalism and ability to work with younger kids. (I like them all, but here’s my tip: go with Pat Doyle if you can. She is simply wonderful; my daughter took her storybook theater class last summer and loved her!).
The facility has four spacious dance studios with sprung-​wood floors. Weekends are always the craziest times; the narrow hallways are forever congested. The changing room is chaotic and too small to contain all the students; I try to avoid it. In the past year, McDonald Dance opened a small dancewear boutique, which is handy if you need leotards, tights, hair accessories and the like.
The tuition for a 17-​week semester (once a week classes) ranges from $ 130-​$ 235. The end of the year culminates in a school-​wide recital performance, at Barrington High School, in May. There are a number of dance camps and classes offered for summer.