We can't heap enough praise on DanceSport. It's too bad there are only five stars; if we could, we'd give it 10. My fiancé and I started taking private lessons with Luca last year (in preparation for our wedding this summer). It has been a pleasure working with (and learning from) him. He makes dancing fun - even for those of us who haven't ever done it before. We've loved it so much that we plan to continue taking lessons with Luca after our wedding (and learning some new styles). As you can tell, we highly recommend Luca, Terry and DanceSport. read more

Danielle's beginner salsa footwork class was terrific! She emphasized what's important to be able to keep building our technique and we spent most of the class practicing. Some people came with a group of friends; some were couples and come of us came alone. For each round of practice, we switched partners about every minute. I had fun and I'm planning to continue. read more

Do not discount because of previous reviews, that would be unfortunate. Initially we were coming for the hand dance class, but due to low enrollment we attended swing dance instead. Terry is a very nice guy and very patient. I brought my 7 year old daughter who was hesitant to start. He was very friendly, not pushy, and my daughter warmed up quickly. I am especially disappointed after meeting Terry to read the harsh reviews. Dancing should be light-hearted, present/in the moment fun, shouldn't it? If they were expecting rigidity and perfection, the "disorganized" website should've been their indication to move on. My suggestion would be to follow your intuition, then you will not have to be disappointed. Even though I think I have pretty decent rhythm - I stumbled. But Terry will break down a step to ridiculous and practice it with you to make sure you've got it. Hopefully, he will have a large enough group to do hand dancing, until then I would be willing to trek the 30+ miles again to come to a class. read more

DanceSport Dupont - Just finished class in they fellowship hall. - Dance Studios Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

My fiancé bought an online deal and we tried to redeem it by scheduling a class with Terry. He emailed me back asking for details that I had already offered in my original email. He then followed up with a phone call while we were out of town. I asked him if he could just answer my questions via email but I never heard back again. We didn't like the disorganization and the way that our queries were handled, so we decided to let our coupon expire instead of incurring more headache. The website is atrocious and disorganized so don't waste your time. I know deals for DanceSport pop up occasionally, but I would stay away from them. read more

If you give Terry a magic wand, he will turn every boy and girl, old and young, big an small into a dancer! That was my impression after my first private session with Terry in January 2018 and it has not changed. His love for dancing of all styles, ballroom, Latin, swing, country, you name it, is unmistakable!! Terry can break down the most awesome, complicated move into manageable small steps and find a way to help total stranger to dance like me remember them. I have seen Terry coaching students in private and group session, and at social dance, and the one quality that shines is his patience! Tell him your goal, keep asking questions, and he won't allow you to fail! The mixed reviews is a surprising read.. Terry and the DanceSpot DuPont Circle studio seem to me less keen on simply pitching sales than making connection with potential dancers. Nailing the breathtaking first dance at weddings for most of their students is primary goal but it can only be the important debut that inspires ongoing dance enjoyment from the hardcore dance enthusiast's perspective. I can sympathize with the busy first timer trying to fix an appointment via email, especially for those of us accustomed to near instant replies on IM. I am glad I didn't let the instant appointment thing prevail. If Terry can make me, who can barely see with the best pair of glasses on and can hardly coordinate torso and multiple limb movements, want to own the dance floor like a pro, he can make anybody hit that dance floor like a star. read more

DanceSport Dupont - Dance Studios Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

I bought a Living Social deal to take a few private pre-wedding dance lessons and every attempt to schedule was thwarted by Terry's disorganization. He ignored all of the information in my emails and asked a lot of already answered questions and then tried to dissuade me from only taking 2 classes, saying there's no way we'd be able to accomplish anything in time for the wedding. I wasn't trying to memorize a freaking "Dancing with the Stars" routine just a nice first dance sway for my fiance and I to practice. After that conversation, I'd get these random morning messages along the lines of "I have time to teach you today at 1pm" crazy last minute shenanigans. I asked if there was a way to schedule an appointment in advance and he disappeared. Instead of harassing someone to give me what I paid for, we allowed the LS deal to expire and free styled the first dance at our wedding. Still fun. read more

Terry helped me and my fiancé choreograph and learn a simple dance for our wedding last summer. Neither of us were eager participants but he made it fun and simple! (I mean really simple - he sometimes had to eliminate half the parts of a move so we would get it.) He also helped me and my dad prep a father daughter dance in two short, last minute sessions. It was a quirky experience to take dance lessons in the church! In many ways it helped us feel more comfortable - it was kind of disarming. I did see some other people practicing much more elaborate dances, so I'm sure if you have time he could craft something wonderful for you. But if you're like us and just trying to avoid falling on your face during your first dance, they can help with that, too! read more

DanceSport Dupont - Putting the lessons to good use! - Dance Studios Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

My fiancé and I decided to take dance lessons a few months back as a fun hobby. At first we had Terry, a world renowned dance coach. He was a great influence and instructor. However, he is definitely geared towards more advanced professionals. He recommended another teacher under his instruction, named Luca. Luca makes dancing extremely fun and is so patient and understanding when it comes to beginners. We decided at this point that we needed a first dance for our wedding. At first, he had us dancing to the Viennese Waltz but he soon realized that it was just too advanced for us. He choreographed a dance for us that were so perfect and beautiful, that everyone at our wedding loved it! The best part about this studio was that they allowed the students to use their facilities to practice. Luca would always chime in during our practice runs to be sure our footwork was correct. The teachers are caring, helpful, and passionate about dancing. This studio is very reasonably priced and it's not pretentious at all. I highly recommend this studio if you want to learn how to dance and have fun while doing it. We loved it so much here that we decided to continue weekly group lessons once a week. Thank you Dance Sport for giving us this amazing hobby to share and love together. read more

Neither my husband nor I had any dance experience coming into our lessons with Terry, but we wanted to learn a simple dance for our wedding. Being a gay couple, we weren't sure where to even begin. From the start, Terry was a delight - he helped us come up a choreography and was very patient in teaching us all of the right steps. At the wedding, people were really impressed with our moves and we got some great photos that we'll always cherish! read more

A great price and Terry is flexible around all schedules. The wedding workshop is a must do before purchasing the 6 for the price of 5 deal. The wedding workshop shows you what the classes and environment will be like. While it can be distracting (there are other dance lessons/classes going on in the room), Terry is very attentive and makes the best use of your time. He often has the lessons go over, which means if you arrive on time you may have to wait a couple minutes for the prior lesson to end but Terry honors that and will make sure your lesson goes long too. We had guests tell us it was the best first dance they had ever seen! read more

My fiance and I just came back from our first lesson. We don't dance so we were starting from zero and working with Terry was just such a pleasure. We now have some moves to practice and we are excited about the dancing. Also, he very sweetly gifted us two small houseplant cuttings on our way out. It was a Dance-at-Your-Wedding workshop, but we were the only people there so it turned into basically a $24 private lesson. It's in a church basement, but it's a perfectly nice and useable space. The vibe is definitely more grassroots community center than super-polished commercial studio. It was PERFECT for us. As we were leaving a group was arriving to practice their dance performance for Pride and I think Terry was participating in that. Other reviews here had the valid critique that they didn't get a call back. We didn't get one either. I just sent an email RSVP and didn't hear back, but we went anyway and we were so glad that we did. I totally recommend this. read more

I bought a Capitol Deal for four dance lessons. My fiance and I used it for wedding dance lessons. We both did not know any type of dancing, especially with his two left feet :) Terry was very helpful. He listened to our song, and he taught and showed us how we can move to it. He taught us how to enter onto the dance floor, exit, and several basic steps that we may be able to do. He was a very positive instructor and very patient, therefore, we enjoyed learning from him and taking his class. The class is in the basement of a church. Kind of looks like you are entering into a dungeon, but it was a spacious area for dancing. Overall, we enjoyed it and will definitely come back for more! read more

Great instructor, very helpful in breaking down the steps and explaining the moves.

Unlike most of the other reviewers, I did not have a deal / groupon for this place. I contacted Terry (willing to pay full price!) to have him help me and my fiance work on some dance moves for our wedding. Terry responded to my email the next day asking me to let him know my availabilty and suggesting we get started right away so there was ample practice time before the wedding. I responded immediately providing my availability and also asked about pricing -- I wanted to know how much a wedding dance was going to set us back. I never heard back! What a way to run a business -- especially when it seems he only gets clients from deal sites. Glad I didn't actually work with him. read more

I bought a LivingSocial deal for Four Dance Classes.... Every attempt to schedule was difficult. You are required to email in order to set up a time, but all the emails back from Terry were super confusing and he did not answer my direct question of whether or not I was confirmed. Finally, after months of trying to schedule, I received an email with my confirmation. When my boyfriend and I arrived at the confirmed location (church basement in Dupont) Terry was not there. Someone else was on site giving a private lesson and said Terry would be back soon and that he went to get food (side note: who goes to get food when you are suppose to be instructing a class??). The class I picked was suppose to be a group class, but apparently no one else signed up for that day. I emailed Terry that we were there and after waiting the full 45 minutes (class was 5:15-6p), we left. I never heard back from Terry via email so I called LivingSocial to follow up. They reached Terry and he said I was never scheduled for a class. It worked out okay, because LivingSocial refunded my money to deals bucks but if you are considering purchasing a Groupons or LivingSocials for this place I would steer clear. Not professional and certainly not worth your time dealing with his shenanigans. read more

I didn't even take a class here because the customer service was so disrespectful. I emailed an inquiry about taking a class with my fiancé to prepare for our wedding. In the email I mentioned: "We have 2 expired Living Social deals which we will use towards the lesson, and we will make up the difference in price." Instead of a respectful, professional response, I received the following email (4 days later): Hi, that time slot is avail, however as indicated on all of the ads as well on the voucher in several places, only one voucher can be purchased and used per individual or couple. If it wasn't expired, LS may have refunded one of them, however you can contact them directly. I could also check with the teacher who is open then and see if he will honor one form each of you in different appointments. He is the one who is giving up income during that prime time ,sat afternoon time slot, so would be the one to make the final call. Let me know if that would even be of interest to u before I even check with him. Take care, ~ Terry I had misunderstood the fine print and would have happily only used one expired voucher towards the class. However, the email was so disrespectful, I will instead happily take my business elsewhere. read more

I was visiting from out of town and wanted a dancing fix, so I decided to drop by on a Thursday night. I was a little nervous about going to a set of what seemed to be advertised as four 45 minute beginner-friendly drop-in lessons, because as someone who does a fair amount of casual social dancing, I was seeking more than a basic intro to dancing to the beat and connecting with a partner. I am so glad I decided to show up! Terry has a strong focus on technique, which I often wish I could get more of in my casual social dance contexts. I was the only person who showed up for the first lesson, and I essentially got a 45 minute private lesson on West Coast Swing technique. This was followed by a 45 minute rumba class, which two other couples showed up for. The class moved a little slowly for me as someone who dances rumba socially (I wanted more technique pointers more quickly), but I ultimately got a lot of new technique information out of it, at least some of which I hope to remember and apply in social dance contexts. The latter part of the evening was a less useful learning experience for me, as Terry spent a fair amount of time working one-on-one with a couple on more advanced tango material, and I did not have sufficient tango experience to participate. This was somewhat disappointing, as I had expected additional beginner-friendly lessons based on the posted description of the evening. (Listening in on the lesson was somewhat useful, as Terry provided some tips to the couple for doing a contra check, which is something I've had trouble doing well when dancing waltz. It would have been more useful, however, if I had had the opportunities to try out what he was describing.) At the end of the evening there was about a half hour of learning/dancing a line dance, which was somewhat interesting, but it happened rather quickly without much explanation or technique instruction, and thus wasn't as satisfying as the earlier part of the evening. Overall, the experience was well worth the $12 I paid. The evening was more technique-heavy than basically any other dance lesson I've been to, which I really appreciated! I look forward to coming back again the next time I am in town. read more

I had several lessons with Terry: his attention to details is what distinguishes him from many other teachers who just want you to stitch together some steps. I wanted to look good on the dance floor, and his tips were exactly what I needed! I look forward to many more lessons with him read more

I, like many others, purchased a LivingSocial deal for private dance lessons before my wedding. I emailed Terry to schedule this, but one week and many rude emails from him later, I have decided to request a refund from LivingSocial. He is extremely unprofessional and did not listen to what I was asking. I will take my money elsewhere, and would recommend that you do the same. read more

Terry and Lucas work together as a perfect team. Techniques by Terry, execute by Lucas equal PERFECT! The studio is a nice wide size, could use a little more update and decorations. However, it's quite alright for taking lesson. Again, Terry and Lucas are excellent coaches. I look forward to my weekly lesson, always. read more

At first, I was hesitant to schedule at DanceSport due to the poor reviews. We actually tried another dance studio outside of the District but it was so inconvenient I thought I'd give this place a shot and I'm so glad that we did!! Terry was a fantastic dance coach! My (now) husband and I took 6 classes with him with basically no prior knowledge of dancing and he created a beautiful routine that really made our first dance at our wedding unique and memorable. Terry is very talented and very generous with his time. He frequently stayed late with us. I would highly recommend DanceSport to anyone. As to the bad reviews, it is a shame that those individuals who never actually received service rated him based on email communication. Personally, Terry was very responsive to my calls and texts. But think he prefers texting! read more

I also bought a Capitol Deal but could never get Terry to call me back to schedule my classes. Both me and the folks from the Capitol Deal tried to contact him multiple times to no avail. I told a dancer friend of mine and she told me she had gone before and it was not good anyways. Can't believe living social is doing a deal now, I thought they did better screening of their companies. read more

I honestly can't speak to the dance lessons-- this review is limited to my customer service experience. I received a livingsocial voucher as a gift because I was really looking forward to taking some dance lessons. Unfortunately I became really busy with work and was not able to attend the lessons right away. When my voucher was about to expire, I called the studio asking to schedule my lessons. The "fine print" in the voucher did NOT require me to schedule all the lessons before the expiration date-- it simply said to contact the studio via email to redeem the voucher. I called the studio and emailed them asking to redeem my voucher and schedule my lessons. The person who called me back (I think it was Terry) said he would give me 2 weeks to take my 4 lessons. When I politely asked if I could have a bit more time, he said that I had already had the voucher for months. I then explained that I unfortunately had gotten really busy with work, so it wasn't for frivolous reasons that I had failed to attend the lessons earlier. He then got an attitude and said sarcastically to me "yeah, it's not like you had the voucher in your pocket or anything." I was not rude at any point-- all I wanted was an opportunity to try out their lessons. I'm very disappointed that I was treated this way and now won't be taking the lessons I had really been looking forward to. I will not support a business that treats its customers this way. read more

My fiancé and I took dance lessons for our wedding in September 2016 with Luca. He was a great teacher, and our dance went perfectly! If you live in the District, DanceSport is much more convenient than some of the more established places for wedding dance lessons, the teaching was great, and we had a lot of fun doing it! I highly recommend this place to anyone looking to make their first wedding dance extra-special. read more

I bought an Amazon Local deal for a salsa lesson with Terry. He promptly returned my email and we met two days later. He was cordial, professional and encouraging. As it was a private lesson, Terry and I danced together for a few minutes which was not actually as weird as you might imagine, a testament to his professional attitude. I highly recommend the experience and I will be returning, albeit with my girlfriend as my dance partner. read more