Maryse is fantastic. She teaches a lot of classes for children and adults. She is friendly and has…read morea large dance floor. I take adult tap lessons there and have a great time. It's extremely affordable. I would definitely recommend checking it out. I know they have different teachers doing, ballet, tap, contemporary, jazz & ethnic dances.

The teacher here is really nice. The place is very family oriented and the atmosphere is wonderful…read more Maryse is the teacher and she is very versed in multiple genres of dance including tap, jazz, ballet and pointe. The studio is located in the back yard of a house but it is quite spacious and has plenty of room to dance.

I love Mary's classes and performing with her and the rest of the troupe! I've been taking 1-2…read moreclasses per week for 1.5 years. My cardio health has improved, as has my dance technique and sense of community. Mary puts a lot of love into teaching us the detailed choreography, designing costumes for events and parades, and getting us ready to perform. She has more energy than any of us. The dance studio is beautiful and love that they have events several times a year. The owners of Hidden City Ballroom are great too. I'm fortunate to have found such a wonderful community. Come join us!

Hi, I've been a student of Mary Dollar's, director of Samba Do Corocao, for almost three years…read more She is one of the best teachers I have ever encountered in my 30+ years of taking dance classes. She is also a fantastic choreographer and costume designe. We are performing in the 4th of July parade in Orinda this year and just finished Carnaval 2025. Come out and see us or join us in class at the Hidden City Ballroom in Pt. Richmond to experience Brazilian Samba at its finest!

This was my second home. I met Auntie Mahea in 1993 while taking her dance classes then she invited…read moreme to dance with her halau, Ka Ua Tuahine full time. I've danced for Mahea for 7 years. She is a brilliant teacher, a lover of music, dance, cultural history of Hawai'i and Tahiti. She is respectful, tactful, patient, kind, sincere and wonderful. She is the owner of the center for international dance. She made me fall in love dancing hula kahiko and hula auana. She taught me how to dance gracefully and be gracious. She hosts the most intricate and fun workshops on how to braid a haku lei, decorate costumes, and even, hosted a few workshops for meditation. She may come off very stern but she only expects the best from her dancers. She may seem trivial at times but she is a perfectionist. I love her like she was a part of my family. I've competed with the halau at Tahiti Fete San Jose, performed at numerous Ho'ike Pau Hana shows. If I didn't move out of the East Bay, I would still be dancing for her.

When will you ever been able to travel to two islands within a Saturday morning? NEVER!!!…read more Dancing has always been apart of me. But joining this halau really opened my heart and changed my life completely. I try to get all my friends to join. So far I've gotten two...yes! My baby sister LOVES the keiki class and has recruited two more buddies to join herself. When something is this good, you really can't keep it to yourself. I suggest all people thinking of trying it out, to come to open house.

We hired Kimo Baird's Spirit of Polynesia dance troupe to perform on a back yard stage for my…read moredaughter's college graduation party. We are very happy with the performances and professionalism of this dance troupe. Although they had to travel 30 miles to our house, they arrived on time and ready to perform. After a brief set up for PA and instruments, the show kicked off with two musicians and 5 women dancers. Kimo engaged our audience of adults (21-81) as he took us on a dance tour of Tahiti, New Zealand and Hawaii, featuring typical songs, dances and costumes. Kimo explained a little of each dance's history and tradition. The musicians were skilled and talented. The dancers were lovely and pleasant, and worked to bring our audience into the act. Kimo honored our college grads by bringing them on stage to join the fun. After the performance, the dancers worked the audience and posed for photos. Two days later and we are still getting compliments about this exceptional dance troupe.

Shahrzad is an incredibly talented and beautiful artist. My husband and I reached out to her and…read moreasked if she could help us with our first dance for our wedding. We had chosen a unique Persian song and wanted a dance that combined American and Persian dance elements. I had asked a few other dance instructors who seemed unsure how to proceed but Shahrzad listened to the song once and instantly invited us for private lessons. During the first lesson, Shahrzad showed us the dance she had created and I fell in love with it. She had taken our vision and made it even better. We could tell she had taken time to listen to the lyrics and create a sweet and romantic story that followed along with the lyrics. As for the actual dance instruction, Shahrzad was very patient and kind. When she asked us what our level of dance experience is, my husband mentioned he has two left feet and I told her I dance socially but don't know any special steps. Shahrzad was able to adjust certain moves to match our skills and tailored the dance so that we would feel comfortable performing it in front of our wedding guests. Each lesson with her was pleasant and she was also flexible with our work schedules. Shahrzad is also an honest person and after a few lessons, she told us she felt we didn't need any more lessons. She offered to video tape our dance for us and provided verbal feedback so that when we went home, we could watch it and practice. On our wedding day, the first dance was the highlight of the evening for everyone. Neither my husband nor I have ever had so many people come up to us and compliment us on our dancing! Every person who commented on the dance said it was the best first dance they had ever seen. It was romantic, flirty, and engaging since it told a story. And most importantly, my husband and I had so much fun practicing it and performing it! Even today, a few weeks after the wedding, our families still project the dance onto the TV during gatherings and watch it. I highly recommend Shahrzad for dance instruction and am looking forward to hopefully attending some of her dance workshops in the future.

I've been dancing and studying under Shahrzad Dance Academy (SDA) for 6 months now after having…read moretaken classes with other studios in the Central Asian and Persian dance styles for 2 years. Shahrzad Khorsandi focuses on teaching the technique and incorporating grace, esthetic beauty through movement, and self expression! Which for me has been the perfect balance. I love and highly recommend her classes!!!

I had the pleasure of attending a performance of this fantastic big band at Yoshi's in Jack London…read morelast night. What a treat! They played classic jazz standards, several Christmas songs and the Ellington-Strayhorn "Nutcracker". Apparently they have been playing around the Bay Area since the 1960's. Catch them in February at the new Freight & Salvage in Berkeley.

This is one of the best Balinese gamelan orchestras outside of Bali and definitely worth checking…read moreout! Whether you've been to Bali or not, you'll enjoy the hypnotic music and amazing, provocative dancing. Utterly mesmerizing! They have frequent concerts throughout the Bay Area and offer classes too. You can find out more by visiting their website www.gsj.org. I'm excited to say the group will soon be Temescal based!

Amazing performing arts and education group! I was first brought in the door after watching one of…read moretheir concert. The resonant bronze keys with mesmerizing melodies transported me to another mental state and classical Balinese dance with its alluring otherworldly movement, which was presented by in-residence guest artists, intrigued me further. This group has been around for over 35 years and has toured across the US and Bali. With 5 performing ensembles, an amazing residency program that lets members study with master Balinese artists all year long, and a commitment to education and play for kids and grown-ups, Gamelan Sekar Jaya is one of the most unique arts groups around with a wonderful, welcoming community with some of the brightest, creative, and open-minded people you'll come across. Whether you stumble into gamelan or whether you seek it out, GSJ has the best gamelan education you could get outside of Bali and the staff is amazing. Balinese music and dance-theater is rich in its technicality, mythology, spiritual import, and variety. And it's just plain fun and beautiful! So that's why you'll see a number of non-Indonesians are striking these sets of bronze keys--because music and art have the power to create unusual connections and transcend boundaries. Gamelan Sekar Jaya's commitment to community, sincere study, education, artistic development, and affordability is truly unique. It is the perfect example of how arts uplift people and bring out their best! Another fun observation: You can get an inkling pretty quickly about who will enjoy puzzling and grooving through complicated patterns while learning this amazing music. There's nothing more awesome than the rich soundscape of a rehearsal session spent cycling through a multi-textured melody. Coders, Synthetic Chemists, musicians, dance-drama enthusiasts, anyone curious about gamelan or Bali, or anyone who likes to play, should come check GSJ out!

I've been spending most of my Sundays in Oakland, being quite lazy and reveling in new found…read morefreedoms, that of being the coffee-book-good company stature. So, when my inspiration asked me if I was interested in joining him for a Suzuki class, my curiosity piqued. See, I studied classical piano for 20+ years and my training started with the Suzuki method, a technique which prepared the student to acquire and hone fingering technique and skills to a proper level so that the basics of pedagogy would not be tainted by the time they had reached an intermediate/advanced level. These were utilized especially when grappling with the complex pieces of Liszt and Ravel. Obviously, my ears perked forward when I heard of this new technique being applied to theater arts. Wrong was I. Suzuki method taught by the charismatic Jeffrey Bihr, is a combination of several traditional classical Japanese basics utilized in dance and acting. I took classical Japanese dance, so these new movements were the exact opposite of the usual fluid and graceful movements I was use to. After an hour of warm up which constituted a lot of stretching, forming of outer energies, and channeling the creative concentration, we moved forward to the actual Suzuki training. This is no exception to the term hard and grueling practice. The movements are abrupt, concise, and centered in order to provide the body with a blunt firm level of energy, yet all the while exploding at the necessary moments to reflect what one must do in order to captivate/communicate to the audience. The feet, legs, and thighs are the masts of all movement, all the while strengthening the inner core of the body to expound movements through the upper body. Some examples of the exercises, are walking on tip-toe, but at a much faster pace, with the body leaning forward. I've seen this style in traditional Kabuki, where the actors are running smoothly yet determinedly across the stage with their hands poised on the handle of their swords. These movements, are set to pace to traditional Japanese folk music. Another new series of movements just learned, was shifting statue poses at any given moment prompted by Jeffrey's commands, all the while slowly lowering oneself to a squat position, holding, and then to standing position again. This was probably the most complex for me because not only did I have to concentrate physically on my bodily reactions as well as set my mental state at a consistent level of collaboration. Since I am not an actor nor am I experienced with theater, I thought these practices would not be for me: WRONG was I, again! The combination of physical and mental concentrations are grueling as my shirt was soaked after the hour of Suzuki training. Since the start of my first three classes, I have found it easier to focus, to concentrate, and to block out certain receptors when applying myself at work, painting on canvas, or when writing. I also feel, that this new practice of concentration and channeling of energies, will prove most efficient, when I am at the keyboard again. Wonderful set of artistic techniques taught by the respectful and artistic Jeffrey Bihr. Classes on Sunday run from 9:00 am - 11:00 am for $15. A steal! In addition to the Suzuki classes, Jeffrey also teaches other classes, that are on his website: Shakespeare Lab, Scene study/Character Lab, and Private Audition and Acting Coaching, just to name a few.

I have been holding weekly classes on mornings and evenings at Jeffrey Bihr Studio, as well as…read moremonthly workshops on the weekends, for the last year and a half. Each time I arrive at the space it feels warm and welcoming and my students echo that when they come and go from my events. It is a shoes-off studio, which is necessary and appreciated for my exercise classes when students are up and down from the floor. The studio is well-equipped, well lit, well heated when it's cold outside and pleasant with the doors and windows open when the weather is warm. The neighborhood is quiet and there is plenty of street parking within 1 block. Scheduling time with Leah, who manages the space, is easy and she replies quickly when things need responding to. I have been happy using JB Studio to hold my classes and recommend it for other bookings whenever I can.