Fred Astaire Dance Studio

Loved it!
I wanted to take ballroom dance classes, but didn’t know if I would be good at them. I always like to do something to be able to showcase or to compete in it. I found this studio online and liked that it was franchise, so decided to give them a call. I was in LA by the ocean so reception wasn’t the best, but I got to speak to a very nice lady, Taylor. She scheduled my lesson for Wednesday at 8pm. Unfortunately, due to some confusion I wasn’t able to come on Wednesday, but spoke to Melanie and she rescheduled me for today.
I got to the neighborhood about 45 minutes early. Since I was coming from Chicago and had no idea where it is, I wanted to make sure that I won’t be late. The neighborhood is nice and the dance studio is located near Marianos in a large shopping plaza so it’s impossible to miss it. They also have restaurants and Marshalls in the plaza so the location is perfect.
I walked into the studio and was welcomed by Melanie and Chris. The studio is beautiful and the staff is very nice. I had a private intro lesson and was a little worried that I would be by myself in the whole studio, but was glad that other people were taking their privates too. It felt like a very friendly atmosphere. My dance instructor Iegor was great. He explained very well and was enthusiastic. He is also an amazing dancer and it was so pleasant learning ballroom dances with him. He explained to me different packaging options ad wasn’t pushy on having me decide right away if I was going to join.
After the lesson I signed for their private lessons for the next few weeks. Another girl at the desk, Vita helped me find dance shoes which were perfect and very comfortable. I felt like I’ve know the people at the studio my whole life and I left with an incredible feeling. I was very impressed and can’t wait to get back next week!
I want to say special thank you to Taylor for scheduling, Melanie and Chris for being first friendly faces I saw, Vita for helping me with shoes and of course shout out to my fun instructor Iegor. Thank you!

Currently taking private lessons 1x a week with Vicka and Sara focusing on mostly Latin dances such as bachata, salsa, cha cha, etc. Everyone here is quite talented and affable. I am in medical school so my schedule can get real hectic on short notice but the staff is always willing to accommodate. My instructors are patient and great at teaching where it’s to the point I can go out socially with a lady to enjoy the night (what every bachelor learns dancing for right =D). It’s an enjoyable hobby of mine. There are various options and packages that actually, with the price, add up fairly IMO when you consider what’s available. Along with my private classes i get the option to come into any of the group sessions M-​F as well as the Friday mixer that allows students learning all types of dance to come together, enjoy a free open bar, and mingle. While my schedule does not permit me to take advantage of these pleasant additions, I have to compliment the studio for incorporating them into the package for the students. Also, occasionally the studio will hold performances where the students can perform infront of the others with their instructor a routine. Lots of fun. Glad I found this place and absolutely happy with my decision to enroll.

I’m currently taking lessons here with my fiancée. We LOVE our instructor and the place as a whole. Everyone is so friendly, and while we were intimidated to go in the first time, they quickly made us feel welcome and at ease. I definitely didn’t feel pressured (like the previous reviewer), but then again, we went in knowing we wanted to take more lessons.
Overall we love this place! Great instructors, nice facility, and we are having a lot of fun.

My fiancé and I decided to take a dance lesson before our wedding, which is in about 5 weeks. We chose this particular Fred Astaire because we were given a coupon for a free lesson and wanted to see what it was like before committing ourselves to multiple lessons.
The lesson itself was fun and enjoyable enough. Our instructor seemed nice and enthusiastic. We thought the «private lesson» would be more private, though. We were on a large dance floor with many other dancing couples who were also receiving what I assume were private lessons. It was a little loud and chaotic, but we were still able to learn the basic steps that were taught. If I were rating the dance lesson part alone, I’d probably give 3 stars.
However, it only gets 1 from me due to the experience as a whole, which had a terrible ending. Once our 30 minute lesson was up and we had learned basic steps to the rumba, waltz, fox trot and hustle, we met with our instructor in a room to discuss package options if we were interested. She presented the most expensive option first (naturally), and ended up offering us 3 different packages. The smallest package was a good deal, but we weren’t convinced we wanted to do it due to our busy schedules for the next 5 weeks.
We told our instructor we wanted to talk it over and check our schedules, but she continued to badger us and told us we had to make a decision right then and there. We told her we couldn’t do that, but she told us we had to. We responded by telling her we would call back tomorrow (which we honestly intended to do) after we discussed it some more. She didn’t believe us and even told us she knew we wouldn’t call back. Well, lady, not with that attitude and all your bullying!
We finally just left, very disappointed, discouraged and pissed off. My fiancé and I are now exploring other studios to possibly take another lesson or two at. If it was even an option to take just one or two more lessons, and to not have to make a decision right away, we may have gone back. But that didn’t happen, so we we’ll never see them again.
I went to the Chicago location of Fred Astaire (Michigan Ave.) the day before and had a MUCH better experience. So, I can’t fault the company, just the BG location.