Nice place, the teachers are great! I went to a Zumba class, very energetic and tons of fun! The…read moreprices are okay. Depending on the time of day, parking varies...it can be great, but you also might end up walking a little ways. The studio is a decent size...it's not as big as I expected, but you aren't cramped! Overall, a pretty decent place. I've only taken the one class there, so I don't know how the other classes are.

The staff is friendly. For a kid's activity the price is very reasonable for a one hour once per…read moreweek class. The hip hop teacher is good. The recital is held at the Hemmen's in Elgin which is a nice venue. I think it is fine if your child wants to take a recreational class but I would not recommend this school if your child is serious about dancing and is looking for a school with quality instruction. There is a big difference between learning a dance and learning HOW to dance. At the recital there were several religious songs the girls danced to. It seemed out of place for a spring dance recital and better left for Sunday school. Something to keep in mind if you are not religious.

Potts & Pans aka, Arts, Culture & Music has run a Groupon out of Woodstock for half price…read moresomething, but never listed what that something is, instruction hours, a product, what? They have also listed musical equipment for sale on craigslist but never return a phone call to the number here, and if you try and email them off their websites they never respond. http://cultureartsmusic.org/ Potts & Pans, Arts, Culture and Music sounds like a great idea for Woodstock. Maybe a little more exposure will get them going. Being young doesn't HAVE to mean flaky. Here's a craiglist ad they NEVER respond to. No There There. Beware. chicago.craigslist.org/n...

I can not stress enough how fantastic and professional this band was. We hired them for our wedding…read moreand they did an excellent job. My family is from Trinidad and Tobago. The home of steelpan. My uncle has his own steelpan band and thought they were great. Matt Potts was able to work with my budget. His team LEARNED the songs I gave them. (That was such a treat). He played newer soca songs at my wedding where my Trini family flew into the states for this. They all were amazed and surprised with the quality. It has been the talk of the town since! They come in on an awesome school bus and wrote our names on it. Those little details are what make Potts and Pans Steelband so special. I can not recommend them enough. Stop your search and call Matt to figure out how you can book him and his team.

We had the Peter Hennes Orchestra play at our wedding on November 1st, 2014 in Chicago at the…read moreBridgeport Art Center. I grew up in Barrington and my mom had seen them at charity events and thought they were good, so we did some further research. They have a few videos on YouTube that sold us, it seemed as though they had a good range of different singers and everything sounded great. We could not have asked for a better band. I have gotten SO many compliments about the band since the wedding. They had everyone out on the dance floor the entire time and I was so sad when they had to stop playing at midnight! They gave us a list of songs, and asked us for a "do play" and "do not play" list, and as far as I know, they did not play the songs on my "no play" list. They used their judgment to keep people out on the dance floor. They even let my husband, who is a huge karaoke connoisseur, sing "Don't Stop Believing" with them at the end of the night. The crowd was chanting "one more song, one more song" at the end of the night because they were so much fun! Their sound was fantastic and the singers were amazing. I met Peter towards the end of the night and he was very polite and professional. Words cannot describe how good they were and how much I would recommend these guys for anyone's wedding!

To The Peter Hennes Orchestra,…read more You guys were unbelievable! We have never had so much fun at a wedding before in our lives! You and your band truly knew how to put on a show. Every single guest was up, dancing, singing and having a great time, thanks to you! Your musicians were amazing and singers were energetic and fun. So many of our guests have commented on how amazing our band was! It is hard to know what a band truly sounds like without seeing them in person, so you can understand our slight hesitation, however, we were blown away with you and your band. We also wanted to thank you for making our ceremony a true fairy tale. The combination of piano and guitar was elegant, classy and beautiful. We would recommend you to any bride or groom looking to have the night of their lives! Thank you for making our wedding unforgettable! Sincerely, Kim and Andrew Merz

This is our 2nd year that we've attended Earth Day festivities at Maine Park. Normally it is held…read moreoutdoors on the expansive lawn of Maine Park's soccer fields from 11 AM-3 PM. Due to the clouds and occasional drizzle, the event took place in the field house instead. With the exception of tree climbing and nature walks through the nearby prairie and swamp, everything else was in the gym, the hallways, and individual classrooms in the building. I actually think it was better this way. In the gym, there were 2 inflatable bouncing things and a stage with a cover band playing classic rock staples from the Eagles, Wings, or other oldies favorites. Tables set up in the hallways demonstrated things you can do to help the environment, or provided information on identifying emerald ash borers, invasive species, and offered activities for kids. Morton Arboretum and Brookfield Zoo both had exhibits. In the different classrooms, there were stations set up for kids activities like decorating your own reusable grocery bag, planting seeds, digging for (Gummy) worms in the dirt, recyclable plastic bottle bucket game, or a board game played on the floor where the players are the game pieces hopping from square to square. One cool activity involved making your own recycled paper from a puree mix of shredded paper, colorant and glitter. My son made a sheet to bring home and dry. Touching it in a dry and finished state was really amazing to him. Perhaps the coolest thing to see there was a classroom with 3 bird handlers showing off live birds of prey. We got to see a large screech owl, a red-tailed hawk and a peregrine falcon! There was also a little owl sitting on the table that almost looked like a toy, but my kids were stunned when it turned its head and blinked its eyes at them. The little owl appeared nervous and kept watching the large hawk perched on the falconer's shoulder. As if that wasn't enough, in nearby Centennial Park, they had a recycling truck set up to accept all small electronics, old computer stuff, and even used car batteries - no fee! I got rid of my old computer finally and an expired battery to my sump pump. Cook County S.W.A.P. (Work Alternative Program) guys helped unload people's cars and load the truck. By mid-afternoon, the amount of stuff collected was incredible. My kids were excited about the whole Earth Day experience and will look forward to doing it again next year.

University of Illinois extension presented this new conference at Elgin Community College this…read moreyear. I learned about it and bought a ticket for something new to do on a Saturday. Ultimately I left with a lot more knowledge than I had and thought the ticket price was well worth the cost. It began with the main presentation by the horticulturist for Lurie Garden (in Millennium Park). She covered the topic of gardening for the seasons, with thoughts in mind of how your plants look in winter months as well as warm months, something not many take into consideration. Consideration was also given to seasonal management, how, when and what to cut back. Overall the level of detail was good, the presentation was educational without being excessively technical and I left with some good ideas for new plants for my garden. The main presentation was followed by three smaller sessions which attendees could choose from when buying their tickets. For the first, I chose Sustainable Landscaping presented by the Home Program manager of the Conservation Foundation. I again left with a big list of plants I want to investigate to add to my yard. For the second I chose Improving soil health for tree growth and longevity given by a Green Industry coordinator from Morton Arboretum. This presentation was heavily science-based and some of it admittedly went over my head but I got the gist of it and still left with some great ideas and knowledge of soil compaction issues and how to alleviate them (in particular, this one taught me a lot I was clueless about before). The third session I chose was about invasive pests, specifically the spotted lanternfly, which causes a lot of crop damage. Also very educational and now I can identify and help control this population. There was a lunch break with food provided and shorter breaks between the presentations. Overall I highly recommend this conference if you want to learn more about gardening topics and how to manage and improve your yard in general.

Ok, so this was my second year to this event, and it's the second year of this event. So , given…read morethat, they've made a few crucial improvements, the availability of food vendors for one. Last year the lines were insane, this year they had a lot more well prepared vendors, so the lines went quick. If your into vintage bikes, rat rods, vintage hot rods, gassers, psychobilly,rockabilly, honky tonk, beer, BBQ etc, then this is your kinda event! Don't be afraid to come donning your chops and high cuffed crisp Levi's, and a sky high pomp,cuz you'll fit right in... This event oozes cool, and pomade. They have stunt shows and contests, vendors with tons of cool shit, from clothes for greasers to gals,to triple Stromberg intakes to white walled pie crust slicks, a pin up show and talent contest, and lots of great entertainment. Now, most if not all of these cars are drivers. And, you can walk right up to 'em. No ropes, no barricades, nothin'. And, before I forget to mention, the $10 entrance fees go to The Helping Hannah's Heart charity to help families with children suffering from congenital heart defects. This show goes on rain or shine and camping is allowed if you'd like to stay the weekend. Now the only reason I didn't go 5 stars is because of the food vendors prices. It's a little up there and pop costs more than beer, which would normally be a good thing, except the beer is PBR and a coke or a Dr pepper tastes sooo much better than that crap, lol. I'll be back next year, hopefully with my hot rod. Hope to see you there too!'

Leanr to Dance has all the items you need for dance classes, or for music recitals or whatever. The…read moreprices are low and the servce is great.

Paul Mabin and his band was recommended to us by a friend of Marcy owner of Here Comes the Party…read more(though we did not use her, but heard she is great!!). I took a chance, called Paul and immediately did not feel like interviewing other bands. We met, talked about what my visions were (and I had none--so Paul helped shed some light =). and the rest was history. Paul (and his band) performed at our May '11 wedding reception at the Peninsula hotel and they were just incredible!! Friends/families still compliments us on how great the band was which made our reception even more amazing. For our first dance, Paul did his rendition of Ray LaMontagne's You're the Best Thing, and it was just, really, the best thing ever!! The band sounded incredible and his voice is just unbelievable. (and now that I'm re-watching my wedding video--I couldn't be happier with my decision!) He was able to "read" the crowd and kept our dance floor packed--as experienced by the another reviewer. The band did everything from Sinatra classics to Journey, to Bruno Mars for my friends who love top40s! Per my request, Paul also announced and sang Happy Birthday to a handful of friends and family who had their birthday that weekend! And he also MC'd the rest of our reception and he was just charming! Stop looking, this is your band!!!

This is my first Yelp review, and frankly, I was compelled to join just so that I could spread the…read moreword about how fantastic The Paul Mabin Band is. After considering several bands in the Chicago area, I finally went with Paul because one of my best friends heard him play at another wedding and swore I wouldn't be sorry. I wasn't. The Paul Mabin Band made our wedding such a blast. From the second they started playing, the dance floor was packed. No fewer than ten people made it a point to tell me that The Paul Mabin Band was the best wedding band they had ever seen. They are awesome at oldies and motown, but are also great at contemporary music. And, Paul is just a great guy. The band graciously learned a new song when my Father/Daughter song was not on the playlist. I HIGHLY recommend them. Book them now because the word is spreading. Every single person at our wedding plans to book them when they get married!