It was my pleasure working with you Desiree, thank you is not enough for the hard work you give on my daughter's dance number on her 18th birthday. The amazing performance of her court was all because of you. Also for the help you gave me preparing and organizing on her big day. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your hard work. Highly recommended. read more

I could not recommend Desiree enough to couples who want to choreograph a first dance for their wedding. In fact, I've already sent 2 couples her way! Desiree was recommended to us by friends who got married a few years ago. We were hesitant to book dance classes with her just because of the drive. We live in the peninsula and she's based in the East Bay. We are SO glad that we decided to book with Desiree. She is worth the 40 minute drive across the bridge! She helped two very amateur dancers perfect their first dance. From the first time meeting her, she's always been patient, open to feedback and friendly. She is great with breaking down hard moves into digestible pieces. She listened to us when we told her we weren't feeling a move and replaced it with something that felt more natural to us. Our wedding guests were wow'ed by the first dance. We felt so comfortable and had so much fun dancing! read more

We took a first dance class with Desiree and she was amazing! She was a great instructor and helped us edit the music, put together a dance that was doable for the both of us, and made it easy for us to learn! All the guests really enjoyed our first dance, thank you Desiree! read more

We booked Desiree 8 months before our wedding, and she worked her magic to get us ready for our big day! She choreographed a beautiful 4-minute routine for us, blending nightclub two-step, salsa, and swing, and somehow made us look like we actually knew what we were doing! From the very first lesson, working with Desiree was such a pleasure. She made every session fun and broke down the basics in a way that felt totally doable, even for two people with little to no dance experience. We felt confident and comfortable on the dance floor. We left every session not only feeling more prepared but also with new skills we never thought we'd learn! She even taught us hand/arm styling and gave us backup plans in case we forgot a step (or if the music decided not to cooperate). When the big moment came, our dance ended up being one of our favorite parts of the entire day. We danced like there was no tomorrow and truly enjoyed performing in front of our guests. It was such a special and unforgettable experience. If you're looking for an instructor who will help you feel confident, look amazing, and actually have fun learning to dance, book Desiree! You won't regret it! read more

We just had our wedding and having our first dance choreographed by Desiree made it very magical. It was a challenging yet, fun, relaxed dance, that reflects a bit of us, and the bit of fun we wanted to bring to the day. Desiree was very patient with us, as we both came in without any dancing experience, and she turned us into dancing enthusiasts. She met us where we were in our experience-level in addition to incorporating some of the moves we wanted to do, within the piece. She was also incredibly flexible with scheduling, which we really appreciated during the busy lead-up to the wedding. We were able to meet her both in Oakland and Walnut Creek, which made things so much easier. We looked forward to our dance lessons with Desiree and we highly recommend her for any one looking to choreograph a memorable first dance, in addition to simply getting dancing lessons! read more

My wife and I could not have asked for a better experience than what we got with Desiree. Going with Desiree was among our best decisions for our wedding. About 10 weeks before our wedding we looked around for dance classes to learn how to dance for our first song. We looked at typical studios nearby, and we didn't enjoy the canned experience. When looking up other places, I came across Desiree's listing and saw that she charged for the first lesson. While a little tongue in cheek, I reasoned it was to weed out people and proceeded to make the booking, figuring nothing else was to our liking and this was worth a shot. Again, this was among the best decisions we made for our wedding. We met Desiree and she listened to our experiences and taught us some basic dance moves. However Desiree did this in a fashion unlike what we had experienced with others before. This was tailored, comfortable, and clear. After our class ended, my then fiance and I booked her for the rest of the weeks leading up to the wedding. Over the course of the next 8 or so weeks, Desiree took us through our own custom dance tailored to the song Better Together by Jack Johnson. We learned 45 second segments at a time, with the goal of doing a dance to the full song. While we did squeeze one extra lesson in to accomplish this, it was entirely worth it. Desiree taught us, two beginner dancers, a full 3.30 minute dance for our wedding. At our wedding, we performed the song immediately after our grand entrance, and it was amazing. We had one minor error towards the start, where my wife and I got caught in a turn, but it didn't derail us. The rest of the dance went perfectly. Anyone who is looking for a choreographed dance for their wedding should go to Desiree. Sincerely one of the best decisions we made for our wedding and would make that decision again in a heartbeat. read more

Desiree May Productions - Us practicing with Desiree a week before our wedding. - Dance Studios Near Me - Oakland, California

What an amazing experience getting our wedding dance choreographed and taught by Desiree! She was extremely professional but friendly and fun to work with -- it felt like we were all friends practicing to dance by the end. My partner was very nervous in the beginning... he has rhythm but no prior dance experience. Desiree was able to very quickly assess our dance level and give us a dance that was challenging but appropriate. Honestly, I'm stoked about the final result. There is a lot of footwork, movement around the room, multiple lifts, and great use of music (and it was a challenging song to waltz to). We had 6 45-min classes total, including the introductory lesson (assessing our level + learning a few basic steps) and 1 class dedicated to 'clean up' (adjusting our hands, feet, etc so that we are picture perfect). We ended up with a routine ~2:45mins. It was just such a special experience having these private lessons and ending up with something completely unique and custom to us for our wedding. Every Saturday felt like a 'date night' where we always had this thing to look forward to... and something we could do together during the weekdays when we needed to practice. ...There's just something about having to dance and look into each other's eyes that makes it feel so much more connected! read more

My husband and I had such a wonderful time working with Desiree for our first dance! She helped us with creating a custom dance according to what we were comfortable with and what we envisioned. She also helped us edit our song and prepare us for our big day. We loved getting to perform the dance she choreographed for our guests, and they absolutely LOVED it. Thank you again so much! read more

Desiree is the absolute BEST!! My husband and I had an amazing time working with her on our first dance, and it turned out even more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. She is patient, kind, and SO talented!! It was a pleasure to work with her. I would definitely re-use/recommend her to friends and family in the future. read more

My wife and I had an amazing experience learning how to dance from Desiree! We had no previous dancing experience and only 6 weeks to learn before our wedding. Desiree was extremely patient and helped us learn two dance routines in time for our big day! She was also very understanding if we were ever late for a lesson. We highly highly recommend lessons from Desiree! read more

We had the BEST time working with Desiree to prepare for the first dance at our wedding! My husband booked lessons with Desiree as a surprise for me before our wedding (I love dancing, and but he's often more reluctant!)--we are so glad to have found her! We really enjoyed learning the night club two step for our first dance, and our wedding guests were thrilled with the routine that Desiree taught us. We got comments from a half-dozen or more wedding guests that it was the "best first dance" they'd seen! Desiree helped us work through what style of dance we wanted to learn, helped choreograph an entire routine, and even helped us edit our first song choice so that it was a good length (~3 minutes). She does a fantastic job of making the lessons engaging and fun, so we always looked forward to them! She's a great teacher, super friendly, and incredibly helpful! Absolutely would recommend booking her for your next dance lesson!! read more

A choreographed first dance is such a fun way to surprise your guests - we knew we wanted to do this but as two people with zero rhythm (okay, maybe it's just me) we knew we needed help. We found Desiree on yelp and we're so immensely grateful that we did! We already had a song picked out so our first lesson consisted of us learning two dance types that matched the song to see which one we preferred. Desiree let us pick our difficulty level and make tweaks as needed. For example, we were getting to the point where we felt our song was too long (3:30 is surprisingly long!) so she made an edited version for us that was 2:45. She also takes into account things like how many sides of the dance floor have guests! She will record you at the end of each session so you can practice between lessons too! The final lesson is a cleanup where you just focus on arms and fill in any gaps. I really appreciated how kind and fun Desiree was to work with. The dance she choreographed was so beautiful and it was so fun to perform in front of our family and friends. Don't even hesitate to contact her - you won't regret it! read more

Desiree May Productions - Dance Studios Near Me - Oakland, California

Desiree is an amazing dance instructor. She's patient, encouraging, and finished a first dance dance routine for my fiance and I in 4 lessons. She gave very helpful tips throughout each lesson, and made sure that we were going at a comfortable pace before moving on to the next set of routine. We are so grateful for having Desiree as our dance instructor, and we're so excited to show off the routine at the wedding! read more

If you're looking for a friendly, fun, and patient dance instructor.... DESIREE IS YOUR PERSON! My husband and I went to Desiree to learn a first dance for our wedding. We were feeling really nervous since we both didn't have any dance experience and we wanted our dance to be really fun for the audience. We booked an intro lesson with Desiree and felt comfortable and ready to learn! Desiree helped us pick a first dance song, included lifts and dips into our choreography, and made adjustments when needed. Desiree was also really good at reading us and made our dance fit our personality. We were looking for a more fun and causal (but entertaining for the audience) dance, yet still do-able for our beginner skill level. Pricing was very fair and reasonable. My husband and I agree that these dance lessons with Desiree was the BEST investment and value for our wedding! We booked the Standard Wedding Dance lesson package. After our wedding we still both agree it was one of our best wedding expenditures! I will be recommending Desiree to everyone and anyone who is looking for some dance lessons! read more

Desiree is such an amazing and sweet dance instructor!!! She showed us the steps for our first dance and made it very easy for us to follow along. So glad she was able to squeeze us in when it was so close to our wedding day! Definitely 100% recommend Desiree to anyone that's ready to have some fun and learn some great moves! read more

Desiree May Productions - Dance Studios Near Me - Oakland, California

Desiree played an essential role in eliminating our wedding day jitters. Both my fiancé and I were nervous about our first dance, and Desiree crafted a dance we're not only comfortable with but very excited to perform for our guests! Our wedding day hasn't happened yet, but we really can't thank Desiree enough for helping us prepare. We're so happy with the dance she customized for our song, and the memories of us going to these dance lessons together (and practicing in our free time, leading up to the big day) will be memories we'll have for a lifetime. Thank you Desiree! read more

Desiree was such a pleasure to work with! We're a lesbian couple and Desiree made us feel super comfortable when coming up with a choreographed first dance routine for our wedding. We had 6 lessons in total which was plenty of time for us to get the routine down and have Desiree help clean it up. She was super patient, friendly, approachable, worked quickly, and just an all around great instructor. She made sure we felt good about our dance and confident going into our wedding. read more

We are so glad we asked Desiree to choreograph and prepare us for our wedding! Desiree choregraphed two dances for us: the First Dance, and the Father Daughter dance for my wife. Neither my wife, myself, nor my Father in Law had any experience in choregraphed dancing. But Desiree was able to instruct us with excellent patience and we were absolutely pleased with the results! All of our guests loved our dances and we had so much fun being taught by Desiree. It really made our wedding day that much more special. read more

My experience: Quality: 5/5 Professionalism: 5/5 Would recommend? Definitely. Details: We worked with Desiree for our wedding first dance - and both my partner and I have zero experience! Desiree is a great dancer and teacher! She choreographs effortlessly and is good at adjusting the difficulty as needed by our comfort and energy levels (too tired to learn more, pushing for more etc). You can tell she is passionate about teaching dance and genuinely cares for making your wedding dance look great. She gave great tips for potential mistakes and strategies on practicing as well. 100% recommend! read more

Desiree was such a pleasure to work with! We found Desiree on Yelp after finding out the person we originally wanted to commit to was no longer available and it honestly could not have worked out for the better! Desiree choreographed our waltz + hip-hop dance (~3.5 mins) over the course of 6 45-minute lessons (1 of those lessons was an evaluation for her to test our ability to handle certain difficulty levels and direction). DESIREE THE INSTRUCTOR: She was extremely patient and flexible with our schedules and not once pushed for any extra lessons we didn't need. Her technique made it really easy for us to grasp certain movements that we found difficult to learn. It made us feel good that she took the time to repeat anything we weren't sure of. After we had gotten the steps down, she made sure we took time to focus on hand movements/gestures and facial expressions (another really important part of any dance performance). DESIREE + YOU: It's important to note that learning a dance is a two-way street: you need to put in the time to practice and memorize your choreography, too. Your money and Desiree's time will go to waste if you don't commit to practicing. Desiree got us to feel comfortable in breaking out of our boxes to do something challenging and fun for our wedding -- it was worth every penny invested in these lessons. My husband and I got to bond over trying something new and we enjoyed every moment of it. I hope we never forget the choreography! We will be sending anyone interested in dance lessons her way. DESIREE'S MASTERPIECE: You can find our choreographed dance here: Angle 1 (https://youtu.be/N1ODzIxOl88) Angle 2 (https://youtu.be/oXn2FFTHvQ4) read more

I had never danced in my life and have a grace of a clay golem so the prospect of choreographed first dance was not something I was looking forward to. So I was very fortunate to have Desiree as our dance instructor! Desiree was engaging and patient with a first time dancer like me. She listened to what we wanted, asked for our feedback, and used her expertise to come up with a choreograph that looked great and felt like it was something of our own. Despite my general disdain for dancing (again, being a golem), I can honestly say I'm looking forward to showing off our dance to our friends and loved ones at our wedding. read more

Desiree was recommended by my cousin, who had a fabulous experience with Desiree and told me I definitely needed to book with her. My fiancé and I were having trouble coming to an agreement on what our song should be; so during our first lesson, we presented Desiree with our four final selections and began narrowing it down by the types of dance associated with each song, along with our comfort level. We were able to quickly narrow it down to our final choice within a mere ten minutes. She made it so easy! Desiree was incredibly patient despite us repeatedly making the same mistakes throughout each lesson. She never expressed any negative judgment or frustration when we didn't put her suggestions into practice. We're truly creatures of habit who have a hard time breaking away from bad habits. She would tailor her explanation each time so that it would be easily understandable. Her calm disposition often helped relieve a lot of the stress and pressure associated with dancing (for those of us who are incredibly unseasoned.) Nonetheless, when we rewatch our videos (we had recorded each lesson on our respective phones), we see the tremendous improvement thanks to Desiree's guidance. We were honestly the most self-conscious, unconfident dancers and now we're actually looking forward to our performance. I highly, HIGHLY recommend Desiree for any type of dance lesson you're considering. read more

My husband and I really wanted to make our first dance a memorable one, and we're so grateful to have found Desiree. We have zero dance experience, but Desiree helped us find our rhythm! During your first meeting, she gauges your level of comfort and asks you lots of questions in order to get a feel for what kind of dance style you're looking for, and from there, she tailors the perfect dance for you. You have the freedom to choose how many lessons you want to take. We chose to take 4 lessons with her to really perfect our steps. Desiree was so fun to work with! Her bubbly personality helped us step out of our shells, and we had such a great time during each meeting. She made us feel comfortable, she explained everything clearly, and made the whole experience worthwhile. We couldn't have asked for a better teacher! We were super happy with how our first dance turned out, and our guests loved the surprise. I would definitely recommend Desiree to couples looking for a choreographer! She's amazing at what she does, and I can't thank her enough! read more

THANK YOU DESIREE! Me and my husband were going back and forth with whether or not to take dance lessons for our first dance. We are so glad we did! Desiree was able to fit us in for 4 lessons, 2 weeks before the wedding. She was patient, kind, and just the best dance teacher to have. She was able to choreograph a dance to our dance level (which was ZERO and we are both super shy). It was definitely one of our most memorable moments and a nice surprise to our guest :) Truth be told (and Desiree doesn't know this), my grandfather had passed away 2 weeks before the wedding and I was really hesitant to have something else on my plate but Desiree made the experience enjoyable and I think my grandpa would have loved the dance. Thank you, Desiree! read more

Desiree was a fantastic dance instructor! My (now) husband and I are totally beginners when it comes to choreographed dancing, and the lessons seemed very intimidating at the start. By the end of our full four lessons with Desiree, though, we felt very confident in the dance that Desiree choreographed for us. Of course, we had to practice the dance moves on our own time between classes, but overall she did a wonderful job keeping the difficulty at an appropriate level for us, while also mixing in some "relatively easy, but flashy" moves that ended up drawing the applause we were looking for from our wedding guests. We're really happy we went the route of formal instruction for our choreographed wedding dance, and we would definitely do it all again with Desiree! read more

Desiree is an absolute joy to work with! She is super creative and impressive with how she is able to choreograph just by listening to what we were looking for and the music we wanted to use. I would highly recommend her to anyone that is just beginning as we were that couple and she gave us the confidence to have fun and let loose. Nicole and I thank you so much and so happy we got to work with you Desiree. We're looking forward to more fun times and more dance lessons in the future read more

We loved working with Desiree to choreograph and practice our wedding dance! She is a great coach, the perfect combination of warm and encouraging and no-nonsense, and we learned a ton and made rapid progress. My fiancee is a much more trained and skilled dancer than I am, and neither of us has done much partner dancing, but Desiree made our time together both productive and fun! read more

Desiree is amazing! So happy we found her on Yelp because without her help I dont know how our first dance would of turned out. She is very creative in curating a dance for us based on the music choice we wanted. My fiance and I had no idea where to begin yet what song to choose, but with Desiree's advice and experience we were able to get the dance down by our last session with her. She is very informative, patient, and helpful. I am so glad we booked with Desiree and would definitely use her services again for future. read more

From start to finish, Desiree was wonderful to work with and is a true asset to the dance community. We initially selected her because her website is informative and transparent and she was relatively easy to get in contact with. I hired her for back-to-back first dance and father daughter lessons (for a total of 9 lessons). I have a background in dance, but my now-husband and father were completely new (and nervous!), and she accommodated us with ease. The guys were comfortable with her after just one lesson and couldn't wait for the next one to come around! I was amazed at how she could go from lesson to lesson and immediately compartmentalize the different choreography -- and if anything didn't fit or feel right, she would help us to come up with something better on the spot. I'm glad we started our lessons when we did (about two months before the wedding day), as it gave us time to fit an additional lesson and we still had a few weeks to continue practicing. Highly recommend Desiree for wedding lessons and beyond!! read more

We took lessons with Desiree for our First Dance and we thoroughly enjoyed working with her. She is easy to work with, patient, listens to what you want, and choreographed something that fits your vision and skill level. People were very impressed at our First Dance and we couldn't thank Desiree enough for that. I would recommend her any day. Also, for those of you who are debating if you would like to take dance lessons for wedding-related dances, I would highly recommend taking them unless you are ok with hug-and-sway. I like to look prepared and I am too stage-shy for guests to stare at me for 2 minutes doing nothing. Having a professional plan out your dance also made me less stressed about the dance. These dance lessons also became a fun activity for us to do during the chaos of wedding planning. I would recommend it. To make best use of everyone's time, you would still want to practice outside of the lessons. read more

10/10 would recommend Desiree May Productions! My husband and I came to Desiree in hopes of doing a choreographed first dance. We started with no experience and Desiree was always so patient and accommodating. She is super talented - she made up the moves on the spot by listening to the song and incorporated everything we wanted into the dance (like lifts and dips). She will also adjust the dance along the way depending on how comfortable we were with the moves. It was seriously the most fun part of wedding planning. We saw the lessons as date nights and trying something new and fun (it's also definitely a relationship tester! haha). Even better, everyone at our wedding was so impressed with our first dance - we received so many compliments from our family and friends!! Thank you so much Desiree! read more

Desiree is an amazing instructor! My partner and I started with zero dance experience so we opted for seven lessons in total, each one practicing ~30 seconds for our choreographed wedding dance (total song time ~3 mins). As beginners, she made us feel comfortable throughout the entire process and adjusted the lessons/choreography to what we were capable of doing (which isn't much! haha). She provided instruction and tips that were easy to understand, all the while showing care & compassion for what many would deem as a stressful time. We highly recommend Desiree!! read more

We hired Desiree to provide dance instruction for my daughter's quince court. She was incredibly patient with scheduling 7 over-scheduled teenagers, managed dramatically different levels of dance talent, and kept their focus and attention during every rehearsal, which is no small feat. Instead of being stressful, she made every practice fun and inspired them to move out of their comfort zones (again, no small feat!) The final product was amazing, but what was most important was that she made the process enjoyable, special, and something they will always remember. I would strongly recommend working with her -- she's fantastic! read more

Desiree helped us find a unique choreography for our big day. It was real fun working with her - her passion for dancing is contagious! She taught us moves that matched our skills and listened to our feedback. Our first dance went smooth and wow'ed our guests - what more could you expect :-) read more

I had close to zero dancing experience or abilities and she got me in a place to be confident about our dance she choreographed our first dance for our wedding reception and we were greeted by cheers. It. Was. Awesome! Desiree has a positive, warm, and strengths based approach. Dancing is something I felt really self conscious about and she worked with that in expert fashion. My wife and I now have a beautiful memory that we can look back on and say, "wow, we did so good!" Thank you Desiree! We hope to keep dancing and to make it out to some of the group classes you mentioned thinking about starting. I highly recommend Desiree, if you want to impress your wedding guests. read more

Don't think twice about it, you need Desiree May to coordinate your first dance at your wedding - or any dance for that matter. Believe the reviews, she's incredible. She listens to you and understands what you want to get out of your dance. She checks in constantly to make sure that her pace is in line with your skill level and style. She is flexible in her scheduling and will go out of her way to make her schedule fit yours. Above all, she is so sweet and such a wonderful person. All of our guests at the wedding commented on how they didn't know we had "moves." We don't, but Desiree May allowed us to fake it for 2 minutes and 30 seconds and that's all we needed. We even used one of the dips Desiree taught us to sneak in a surprise dip for our first kiss! THANK YOU SO MUCH, DESIREE, for such an unforgettable first dance! read more

My fiance and I decided we wanted to do dance lessons for our wedding a month before our big day and we found Desiree through Yelp! and YES - she is as great as all the reviews say she is. We had no prior ballroom dancing experience and she made us feel really comfortable. We did 5 lessons and it was the perfect amount - 4 lessons to get the dance correct and last lesson for the final touches and tailoring it to face the audience at the right time. Desiree also helped us edit our song to 2 minutes, which we really appreciated. Our wedding was 2 days ago and our dance went smoothly! We are now considering doing dancing as a hobby together as a couple. Highly recommend Desiree for your dance needs. She is amazing and truly knows what she's doing. She will make sure you look extra good on the dance floor. THANK YOU Desiree! read more

Desiree was amazing! She was so patient and kind. It was very fun practicing our first dance with her. We still miss practicing our dance with her! Thank you Desiree for a memory that will last a life time. We will send you a video when we get it! Thank you, Donna & Duc read more

Desiree choreographed our first dance for our wedding and it was such a fun experience. My husband and I have minimal dance background, but she was able to teach us moves and techniques that made us look like we new what we were doing :) She was so lovely to work with and we really looked forward to our lessons with her. Our family and friends gave us so many compliments after our dance - even though we may have blacked out with excitement and forgot some moves along the way. We had such a blast and cannot recommend Desiree enough! read more

My husband and I are both the beginners for dancing, so we were very nervous for our first dance. Desiree is very patient, also has many ideas creating the movements that it's not very hard for us to handle. Most importantly, her class is really fun and we enjoyed it! Highly recommended read more

Desiree May Productions - Dance Studios Near Me - Oakland, California