The teacher, Elaine, has moved her studio to Columbia City. It's a tiny space shared with a gift…read moreshop. I am an elementary level dancer and I found Elaine to be a wonderful teacher for me. She worked me hard but with sensitivity to my strengths and weaknesses. Under her instruction I found myself able to do steps and combinations I hadn't been able to nail down with other teachers in larger studios. The tiny class size means loads of individual attention. Cost is $18 for a 90 minute class or $17 if you take multiple classes.

After struggling to find detailed, professional information on what this place offers and whether…read moreit was even open, I am now a believer. In this day and age, we're used to the MindBody app, online scheduling, updated Facebook pages and Google Maps entries, and Instagrams, but you're not going to get any of this with Belltown Ballet. You're getting an elderly woman named Elaine who runs this thing herself, seems to be doing it for fun, and doesn't have the patience for technological updates. This is a great, fun, tough workout. I have been interested in trying beginner ballet as an adult, and this was a perfect introduction for me. Elaine is such a lovely person, and she makes ballet enjoyable and accessible to all types of people. There were about 10 people in the class I tried, a good mix of men and women of all levels. The atmosphere was relaxed and somewhat social in between exercises, with a lot of laughter throughout. I have been to other all-levels or even beginner dance and workout classes, and I often find myself frustrated by the lack of instruction and attention to people who had no clue what they were doing. Not so at BBC ballet; everyone felt seen. The classes are all levels, and there are students who have been dancing for decades, as well as true beginners like myself. The more you learn, the more you understand the proper technique and what you have to work on, so every student finds it challenging. Here is the logistical info as of August 8, 2022, as they don't seem to update their website or social media: BBC Studio AKA Belltown Ballet is doing live, in-person classes. (There are also online and hybrid classes, but I haven't tried them and won't comment on them here.) Live classes are Monday and Wednesday, 6-7:30 p.m. They take place at the Seattle Armory in Seattle Center, 4th Floor, north end, Puget Sound Theater spaces. Classes are $16 for drop ins, and you don't need to register or anything, just show up. There is plenty of space, so come, bring friends, etc.

I love Baila District! Such a wide variety of classes and very caring management. If you're looking…read morefor partner dance, jazz funk, house or just meeting new people it's a great place.

Awesome teachers, and very friendly and supportive community and owners! Teachers are…read moredetail-oriented and make sure that you build the strong foundational skillset needed to advance and become a confident social dancer and/or performer. Great place to learn and make new fun friends! I'm particularly grateful for my experience over the past year on Alice & Ankur's sensual bachata social dancing training team. It helps so much to combine excellent instruction with consistent partners that you build trust and friendships with. For partner dancing, honest feedback and collaborative troubleshooting are essential. The team camaraderie is awesome, and there is lots of enthusiasm for optional activities outside of class, including weekend practices, potlucks/parties, and "field trips" to other cities. I've also loved my sensual bachata classes with Margarita and Johnny, and Alexa and Cathan! The studio regularly brings top teachers from around the world. For example, this weekend Korke & Judith, the creators of the Bachata Sensual style, came from Spain to teach. And I'm looking forward to Alonso & Noelia (2x Spain national champs) coming to teach in 2 weeks!

OK, so I decided to surprise my partner with salsa lessons before our commitment ceremony. She…read morewanted to do a first dance and I always wanted to learn how to lead, so... Thankfully, Balorico came up when I searched for lessons in the West Seattle area. Vanessa (the instructor) really put me at ease from the start (I can be shy and a little neurotic). She is incredibly good at breaking down the steps/movements in ways that are appropriate to your style of learning. She is very good at knowing when one should be challenged further and when to pull back. She pays very close attention to detail and hey, she even laughs at my lame jokes-my partner and I are full of those. How she gets thru a lesson with the two of us I will never know, but we always have a great time and somehow she managed to make us look pretty damn good. It's really cool to see how much pride she takes in what we learn. There is genuine excitement when she sees that we are putting things together. I really can't say enough. We got a lot of compliments on our dance and that was really cool, but even cooler still is the fact that I can't wait to learn more.

I bought Salsa lessons with Balorico for my wife as a birthday present. We had recently taken a…read morethree week trip to Cuba and fallen in love with Salsa music and dancing and were eager to learn how to dance Salsa ourselves. After doing some research about classes offered in the South Seattle area I landed on Balorico and booked a beginners package with Vanessa Villalobos. At first I really liked Vanessa and was optimistic about what we would learn under her guidance, but would unfortunately find her teaching style frustrating and ultimately discouraging. Vanessa uses a rapid-fire method, introducing a new dance step, running it a few times, and then quickly moving on. I have some experience with dance lessons and am used to strongly incorporating a move into our muscle memory before moving on, which was an opportunity I rarely got with Vanessa. What was increasingly aggravating were her regular proclamations that we were "getting it!" or excited announcements like, "You got it!"... as I looked around at my fellow students that seldom seemed like the case. It was my impression that the majority of my fellow students were equally lost. Overall, I felt very rushed through this course and was so unhappy with it that we didn't even bother to go to the final class. In addition to not feeling like we were being effectively taught Salsa, Vanessa was regularly promoting other classes and events as constantly up-sales. Considering my frustrations with the class this was particularly irksome. I feel the focus should have been on delivering what we had already paid for. Vanessa clearly knows how to dance Salsa and while it was fun to watch her execute moves I don't feel she was very good at passing that knowledge on to beginners. Perhaps her methods are better suited for more advanced students, but I wouldn't recommend her for those starting out.

The most amazing school for dance. My daughter has been dancing there for over 8 years and is now…read morein their pre-professional program. The instructors work really hard to make sure the students learn safely, confidently, in an inclusive environment.

This is a really cool little studio in Madrona. It feels somewhat like a high school gym but its…read morehome to Spectrum Dance, a respectable local dance troupe that one of my friends is in. The theater area/practice area upstairs is really small and intimate. I went for one of their performances half expecting to be bored out of my mind like at a ballet. Spectrum's modern dance is much more interesting and the routines often have provocative, sexually charged themes. The pieces kept me fairly engaged through the performance. They also have more interesting costumes than the ballet.

My eight year old niece has been taking ballet here for three years and LOVES it!…read more Both grandma and I have had the opportunity to drop her off/pick her up from class and the place is always organized, friendly and brimming with excited and well-mannered kids of both genders. If you want a fabulous family outing at the holidays, consider attending their annual performance of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" in December at the Shorecrest Performing Arts Center. It's a visually stunning, professional production with live music. It's also family friendly, there isn't a bad seat in the house and it's CHEAP compared to heading downtown to the Nutcracker. I believe tickets are about $14. There are 90 dancers from age five to 18 in the show. Please consider supporting this establishment! The two women who own it/run it have expertise and great energy.

Our daughter has been dancing at Dance Fremont since 2012, and it has been one of the best…read moreexperiences for her in elementary, middle and high school. She even wrote this about her time at Dance Fremont in one of her recent college essays: "Five, six, seven, eight. Glissade, jeté, pas de bourrée, assemblé. Then grande allegro: I explode across the stage, leaving all else behind. I melt into the movements, connecting mind and body. Then removing my stiff pointe shoes, I feel the floor again and take from the studio this momentary peace. " She has learned confidence and discipline through this art, and her teachers at Dance Fremont have been outstanding. I believe that Dance Fremont also really works hard to teach and model healthy body image which can be a difficult thing in the culture of dance, and I have been grateful that they celebrate all sizes of dancers. My daughter has had teachers who have invested deeply in her and who have been so creative in their work with the students- especially during COVID with online teaching. This program provided so much for our daughter and it has given her a lifelong love of dance, a healthy attitude about movement and body image, and an incredible creative outlet during this very formational part of her life.

It's a slow paced option for older people. Music way too soft and all songs and dances I have never…read moreheard or tried. I won't be back but they have some regulars that love it. Not for fast paced sweat inducing workout

Just because I had free time this morning, I dropped in Ida's Zumba class in Greenwood. and I LOVED…read moreit!!! She has such a warm personality that makes everyone around her feel at ease. Her class is for all-level so anyone can jump in and enjoy the class. Another great thing about her class is other ladies in her class who are also very friendly and they asked me to come back soon.

Michelle did an amazing job for us! Even more impressive was she choreographed a lovely first dance…read moreto a Vietnamese song that she did not understand. She pays very close attention to how your dance will look in photos and is very thoughtful to how she places each step to the lyrics In 3 lessons we got it down flat. Cant recommend enough.

Michelle did such an amazing job working with my husband and I. We came to her to learn to dance to…read moreour wedding song and she blew us away by creating a routine we could learn in just 3 sessions! We nailed it during our wedding reception and our guests were so impressed with our dance skills. We highly recommend her!

We have taken a set of 8 online dance lessons with Michael and it was awesome! We have never been…read morebig dancers, but we learned a lot and feel confident about dancing at our wedding now! We also learned how to move together and can take our new skills to any party or dance setting we go to now and have fun dancing together. I was a little skeptical of how virtual lessons would work at first, but it went really well and it is definitely a great way to learn how to flow!

My wife and I recently did a 2-week wedding dance "boot camp" with Michael over Zoom. To say we did…read morenot have rhythm before these lessons would be a massive understatement! With Michael's guiding influence (and plenty of patience), we became confident with our dancing abilities in a couple short weeks and absolutely nailed our first dance at the wedding. If you are thinking about signing up with Michael to sharpen your dance skills, you should just go ahead and do it! P.S. I never thought a Zoom dance class would work so well but Michael has it down!