With just two lessons, Michelle helped us look and feel amazing for our wedding first dance. We learned a ton in a short amount of time because she is truly excellent at teaching others how to dance. She was open to our ideas and helped us tie everything together cohesively. She focused on teaching us the basics so that we could have a strong foundation and fill in any gaps ourselves. We felt amazing during our first dance and are so grateful we found Michelle! read more

Mike and I were looking for a dance teacher for dance lessons for our wedding dance and Michelle was actually recommended to us by another choreographer. Michelle used to teach for the Cheryl Burke studios and now teaches around the different studios around the SF Mission/Dogpatch area. We wanted to do a choreographed "Dancing with the Stars" style dance and Michelle was nothing short of amazing as a dance teacher. She choreographed the entire routine for us and was totally patient and encouraging throughout the whole process. She was very flexible in accommodating our schedule and Michelle really cares. We took 7 private lessons with Michelle and the prices ranged from $70-85 depending on the studio that we met at. Michelle never tried to sell us any additional lessons and she never made us stressed out about not learning fast enough. She worked with our skill level to help coordinate a perfect performance for the wedding. I loved working with Michelle and taking dance lessons was probably one of the highlights of the pre-wedding planning. Dancing with the hubs was definitely fun and it's all because of Michelle. read more

Michelle is wonderful. My wife and I hired her to help us with our first dance and not only was she patient, great at teaching, and practical (i.e. knew how much time we had to learn, our dancing level etc.), she did a ton of work outside of the dance lesson to make it perfect. She helped edit our song down, thought through moves, and made us a music sheet to help us practice. We got a ton of compliments on our first dance! I would highly recommend Michelle again, and might event take a few dance lessons without the wedding pressure with her! read more

Michelle is a joy to work with. We worked with her one month before the wedding, and would highly recommend her to anyone. We weren't sure what style, what song, or anything when we first went to her - just knew we wanted to do something fun and sweet. She quickly helped us identify a style with a song that we loved and walked us through what we need to focus on without overwhelming us. We had three sessions in total, and Michelle was incredibly flexible, professional, and a great teacher. She choreographed an easy-enough-to-remember piece, that was still fun and full of flair. I spent hours researching on yelp to find a teacher who would be able to work quickly with us and make sure we could dance to impress. Honestly, you don't need to look further than Michelle. read more

With just 6 weeks to go before our wedding, we decided to find a dance instructor to help us with our opening dance. Michelle was wonderful to work with, helping us with narrowing down our long list of potential songs into a beautiful two song medley, a very slow one to start and then something more upbeat next. Over the course of three sessions we worked on a simple but fun routine and Michelle was so positive and fun to work with through the entire thing, and even edited the mp3 in her own time and sent those to us to practice with during the week. And at the end of our last session we walked away feeling much more confident about our opening dance. If you're looking for help with putting together a dance routine, I can't recommend Michelle enough. read more

Michelle is a true gem! She was sensitive, very intuitive, and knew quickly how to garner my partner and I into a dancing team. Michelle is patient, clear in instruction and still makes you feel you have all the time in the world to master your dance steps, be creative, and then some! She is a great communicator. We only had 3 weeks to our wedding day and what can I say, everyone was impressed on the big day. I never would have thought I'd do a waltz on my wedding day but I have video and photos to prove I did it without two left feet. Thank you, Michelle, for making our first dance a dreamy reality. :) read more

About a year ago I sought dance lessons for my then five-year-old in our wonderful child-centric Potrero Hill neighborhood - we stumbled on Michelle Parodi's Creative Dance class. Michelle creatively inspires the little dancers through classic dance moves and positions using imagery rather than drills. Children stand with "mermaid feet" or make butterflies with their bodies, tap ponds of water with their toes and leap over little water fairies. No more boring plie, releve "no pain no gain." These children develop core strength, balance, grace and discipline, all this while they think they are in a world of magic and nature. Michelle challenges the children - in a way that makes them glow and beam with joy and excitement. They seem to feel beautiful and special. My daughter even practices in the shower now. Not your typical dance class. We followed Michelle from Cheryl Burke (which ran out of money and closed) to Block party (same outcome) and back to the Metronome location. We will continue to follow her. S & AL, Potrero Hill gals. read more

A few months ago, my fiance and I were looking for an instructor for our first dance at our wedding. We found Michelle on yelp and after doing a bit of research decided to go for our first lesson. She was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. She made us feel very comfortable and over the course of 5 lessons, put together a great piece for us. Our piece was a combination of two songs, so it wasn't the easiest of tasks but she came up with great choreography for each section and a great transition - you could tell she cared a lot about how the dance turned out by how excited she got every time she had a new idea. Thanks Michelle. read more

Michelle was a wonderful dance instructor! We had just 4 weeks until our wedding and she tailored our first dance to first us perfectly. She was patient and kind and worked with us closely every step of the way. The dance turned out great and it was honestly one of my favorite moments of our entire wedding! read more

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We booked Michelle about 6 weeks before our wedding. At that point we had picked a song, but wanted help learning some dance moves that would make our first dance memorable. We booked three sessions with her and at our first session Michelle came prepared, had already listened to our song and had some ideas about what would work well to the beat. She's incredibly professional to work with, a great dance teacher and clearly has helped choreograph many dances before. In the end, we had so much fun dancing at our wedding and it was a big hit. We cannot recommend Michelle enough and were so lucky to find her! read more

She was patient, energetic, and full of great ideas for us. She started with the basics, and then built up from there at a pace that was just right for us. Despite having a busy schedule, she was incredibly flexible and accommodating with dates and times, which was very helpful since my husband sometimes has to travel unexpectedly. Not only did we have a blast during our first dance (Michelle taught us to just breathe and smile, which was amazing advice!), but we have been able to use the elements we learned at other weddings and parties as well. We loved Michelle so much we are now signing up for any dance workshops that she teaches in the area! We recently did a swing class with her at The Tavern at Lark Creek, which was a fantastic evening of dancing and dinner. If you are looking for an instructor to help choreograph your first dance, we highly recommend Michelle! It was a great bonding activity among the many stressful wedding to-dos and we ended up getting so much more out of the experience than we could have guessed. I would also recommend Michelle to anyone looking for lessons for their kids - her kind and patient temperament combined with her big smile would make any kid fall in love with dancing. read more

Michelle teaches our five-year-old daughter a weekly dance class at the Metronome Dance Collective in Potrero Hill. Our daughter loves this class. She has blossomed from being shy and tentative when she started to dancing around our home, practicing her moves--all under Michelle's cheerful, resourceful, patient tutelage. We recently asked Michelle to do something she hadn't done: Create a birthday party for our daughter and about 14 friends. She consulted over several weeks with our daughter about which elements from class they should re-create for the party: which songs, which dances, which activities. Michelle created an event that was approachable for little girls (and one boy) who hadn't ever been to a dance class while still challenging and engaging those who had. We were so delighted that she helped us make a special and unique birthday celebration for our little girl. She teaches children in a way that is serious and purposeful about dance while being understanding of the limitations of their little bodies and limited attention spans. We wholeheartedly recommend asking Michelle to create a similar experience for you--either at Metronome or another venue. read more

Michelle was so wonderful to work with. My husband and I worked with her for 4 sessions before our wedding. She was very welcoming and non-judgmental from the beginning. She really listened to what we wanted to get our of our first dance and made it perfect! Michelle is an awesome teacher! She is able to assess talent level and make suggestions to help you improve very quickly. We were really shocked at the progress we made in just a few lessons. On top of that, she made the lessons really fun! We would definitely recommend her to anyone looking for lessons! read more

Michelle is a great instructor. We worked with Michelle over five sessions the month before our wedding. Neither of us had any formal dance experience and really started with the basics. In the end we had a great dance that fit our style and song very well. We wanted something that had a few structured choreographed parts as well as some laid back freestyle parts. Michelle did a fantastic job teaching us moves and making sure we were happy with the look and feel of the dance. She was patient, kind, and very easy to work with. Not only did we have a fun and beautiful first dance, but we now have some formal dance skills will last beyond the one dance. Taking dance lessons the month before our wedding was also a very nice way to slow down and spend time together and connect during a busy time. We would definitely recommend Michelle to anyone looking for dance lessons. read more

My son Charlie and I had two last minute private lessons with Michelle to prepare us for our mother son dance at his wedding. We had 2 one hour lessons and in that short time were able to put together a simple, choreographed, fun dance. We really appreciated that she gave us very simple ideas and helped us keep to the beat. We actually look pretty good! Most of all she was very professional, got right down to business, focused on our strengths and also helped us really enjoy the dancing itself. She was a wonderful teacher and we both wish we had started sooner because we enjoyed our lessons so much. read more

Michelle was an amazing teacher! My fiance and I wanted to learn a choreography for our wedding first dance and Michelle was so helpful from beginning to end. Neither my fiance nor I had every done ballroom dancing, so this was all new but it turned out to be easy enough. Michelle built a simple choreography with a few details and touches here and there to make it show our styles and personalities. She was really great at reading our skill level, our style and from there proposing a beautiful set of steps that fit us as a couple - we had already picked a song. We had a lot of fun! We did about 6 lessons with here within 2 months and a half and the day of the wedding the dance came in very naturally. We did great! and we enjoyed it so much even with 300 people watching. On top her high standard of professionalism, Michelle has a lovely positive and welcoming vibe. We highly recommend her. read more