Tapestry Dance Company

Love Tapestry! The teachers are fantastic and well qualified for teaching kids and adults alike. Such a fun place.

Finest tap dancing in the country!

As a parent, I appreciate the –let’s face it– lack of snobbery of this studio. The goals here are centered around dance and the students, and truly working hard to create this art.
Thank you for being such a wonderful organization.

My wife loves this place. They seem to do really well, considering its been around longer than I have been alive!
Staff: I would say the staff does well, but I don’t know if I have ever really seen a staff member. There are a couple of volunteers that help with the front desk. What I dislike the most is that they lock the doors after like 8:30pm so no one can get in, just get out. When I pick up my wife at this time, its kind of annoying.
Instruction: My wife always comes out whooped up on and she loves it. Between you and me, she hates working with anyone ever, except when its dance, and even then she is VERY PICKY! So, her feeling comfortable here in this space is HUGE. Its a huge help as well.
Events: They have summer camps, lectures and all kinds of stuff going on here all the time.

I’ve been taking dance lessons from Tapestry as an adult on and off for 24 of their last 25 years. They don’t make dance teachers any more phenomenal than Acia Gray. Austin is lucky to have such a superb tap dancer, teacher and visionary. The company, the kids and the adults who dance here love what they are doing, are top-​flight talents or benefit from working with those talents.

I was delighted to attend Tapestry’s From Soul to Sole performance at the Long Center this week. They were comfortable and knowledgeable about their craft. I would without question, or pause send my children for lessons, or send a business colleague for a show. Tapestry, you have a new fan :)

I heart Tapestry. I’ve taken classes there, and recently signed my daughter up for ballet. Alas, she did not stick with it, but the teacher and staff were super understanding, and much more interested in preserving her interest and love of dance than retaining our money temporarily. That’s integrity.
What I love about Tapestry is it’s all about the dance. Not body shape, age, attitude, or anything else. Just the love of dance and the love of learning. My daughter is already asking to go back, so we’ll try again in the fall. In the meantime, I think I’m going to sign up for modern!

I take Renata Sanford’s adult beg/​int class on Friday evening, and she’s a wonderful teacher. She takes the time to explain individual corrections and to adjust your body position so that you can really sense what it should feel like (not always easy on your own). She has great training, a wonderful sense of humor and is warm and welcoming. The method is Cecchetti, and I’ve never done that before, so it’s very different. Renata emphasizes the performance art aspect of dancing, even at this level, and it really changes the way a simple exercise looks and feels. I highly recommend this class.

Great studio! Love the lyrical classes. Nice deals and online scheduling system. Good times for classes (evening).

Are you an adult and need a day-​time class in ballet and/​or tap? Did you take lessons when you were a kid and want to pick up that thread again? Or, did you want to take lessons when you were a kid but didn’t have the opportunity? Please try Tapestry Dance Company. Tapestry has a staff of outstanding professional dancers who are wonderful teachers. Students, including me, have asked them to offer more classes during the day for adults. Please check out Tapestry’s web site.

I started taking Beginner Adult Tap at Tapestry Dance Company this past August 2012. The class is called Tap 101 and is for anybody who has never taken tap, took tap as a child or even for the advanced student to refine his or her skills. I have found that the teachers are all very knowledgeable, have charm, grace, and a sense of humor. The staff are extremely friendly and know their students by face and name. When I arrive they know me and log me into my class. Awesome! Since August I have learned quite a bit as well as starting to pick up rhythms.
I also have taken an Adult Contemporary Ballet class. Loved it! We worked on strengthening as well as stretching our muscles. Who needs a gym or a personal trainer if you take Ballet and Tap! Same benefits and you get to DANCE!
I’m learning to bring out my inner child and she is growing, glowing, and playing! Thank you Tapestry Dance Company for showing this girl how to have FUN!

This dance studio has something for everyone! The staff is friendly and helpful, the teachers are dedicated and talented and teach «real» dance even to young children, and there are convenient waiting areas for parents to hang out. You can be a rank beginner and feel comfortable there, or you can be a very experienced dancer and still find the right level of class for yourself. The prices are reasonable, and there is always good energy in the air because people are engaged in something that makes them feel good! And their company shows are phenomenal!

So I think I can dance…
When I was a young buck and studied dance in New York, and then moved to Texas, I thought, «I may never again have the quality of instructor, studio, or experience that New York afforded me.» I was right for about 15 years. Learning how to tap dance under some pretty important people of the Broadway community left me with some coveted instruction and great memories. I have been starved for this sort of quality ever since.
Upon entering any dance studio, your experience can go a lot of different ways. Here are some of them that Tapestry steers clear from:
1. Calling itself a dance studio, but really it’s a romper room where kids learn to shuffle step and walk on tippy toes. They often get a sticker after class.
2. Posing as a dance company, but really it’s a place where dancers teach classes in between paid gigs, which they’d rather be doing, thereby leaving students with uneven instruction in terms of theory or common purpose. They often make their money with their annual Nutcracker fund raiser, which is usually a snooze fest.
3. Working as a theatre and school all in one, but the dance spaces are often overbooked, and the whole operation disorganized, and possibly underfunded or under staffed.
When you really want to study — from no matter what level you begin (for me, I am a making a return to the art form), it’s generally pretty hard to find a dance studio, which is also a company, that teaches a consistent method across all levels, and all teachers echo this method.
How is it that this jewel is among us in Austin, I must ask.
In a few weeks, I have re-​learned lots of old steps, learned at what level I can fully function, where I can be challenged, that I can weave in and out of different classes but remain consistent in style, and I can do it for a good price.
Tapestry really affords every level of dancer — pee wee to someone like me (middle aged has-​beens with delusions of youth), late bloomers to accomplished performers a very good space to get educated or re-​educated.
I am loving my new foray into the art form and that I can leave challenged but still thinking that «I still got it.»
Yes, I think I can dance.