Go Dance

Elite '09

31

75

Dan A.

Austin, TX

4/6/2009

If you want to learn how to (partner) dance, this should be one of the first places you try out. They offer dance lessons weeknights and weekend afternoons in 15 or so types of dances and at different skill levels. The quality of the teachers, the nice studio, and the steady flow of students are generally unmatched at other places. The most popular classes are offered multiple times each week.

There are negatives. It's not cheap. While you can pay by the class, most people sign up for unlimited monthly classes. You feel somewhat obligated to try out more than one kind of dance. It takes a little practice to shift gears...

Also, the male/female ratio can be very skewed. Obviously it's not much fun to dance without a partner. The beauty of the lessons is that most people rotate partners every few minutes to practice with different people. With an uneven ratio, though, you can be partnerless quite a lot. Even if you bring a partner, that only helps if you choose not to rotate, which I don't recommend. I'm not quite sure what the studio could do to fix this, but it's something to be aware of. In addition, keep in mind that your partners will span the spectrum in terms of age, background, and ability.

That said, they excel at teaching you how to dance. You can sign up by yourself and it won't be at all intimidating. It's fun, well organized, and conveniently scheduled. It can be social, as well.

If you want to learn how to dance Salsa, Swing, Two Step, or similar dances, you definitely want to at least attend the free monthly open house to get a feel for this studio.

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0

9

Bill B.

Austin, TX

3/2/2009

Thought I'd take a minute and write up some of our experiences with Go Dance over in Northcross Mall.   Karen and I have been going there for months now and have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  

Here's some quick observations.

Starting off at Go Dance usually means an introductory month package, which includes unlimited group classes and a couple of private lessons.   When we started, we just focused on a handful of classes and decided we'd learn a few dances at a time.   It's always funny when you see the glazed eye look of some new people when they fully embrace the "all you can dance!" in one month - learning way too many dance steps in way too short a time where everything starts blurring together.   But the advantage is you can quickly and easily try out a number of different dances and figure out what you're interested in.   The breadth of the classes available is amazing.

Our starting experience was I think fairly typical - although we're hardly experts in this.  The first lessons focused on resetting the expectations of couples.   In dancing, the man is supposed to lead and the woman learns to key off of subtle signals and body postures and react/follow his lead.   Months later, we're still having issues with this in a fun way.   I've found the better way of picturing this is:  I'm simply in the process of learning to lead the steps and moves that she wants me to dance.

Classes start with Level 1.   Level 1 spans two months - 4 weeks each month - starting the first week of each month.  Level 1 teaches the basic steps, enough to get comfortable with the  steps, posture, frame, and approach.   There is a lot of repetition in Level 1 - which is nice since it gives you a chance to figure out the steps.

The classes are interesting with respect to rotating partners.   In some of the Level 1 classes, most everyone rotates partners.   In other classes, some or many of the couples "aren't quite ready to rotate" (chuckling).   In our experience, we've found we learn a lot faster rotating partners.  You get a broad range of styles and you have a chance to experiment without annoying your partner.   For what it's worth, there are usually quite a few singles in each class...  and rotating keeps people moving around.

Level 2 is a fun class.  Everyone knows the basics and is focusing on learning the steps.   There appears to be enough moves in each dance realm to keep you busy for months, probably even a year or two (we're still less than a year there).   Each week you're learning a new move, building on previous moves over the course of the month, so by the end of the month you've learned a fairly impressive (at least for us!) sequence.

We do two classes a week and have concluded that we really benefit from a private lesson each week to "clarify" everything we learned.    It works for us.   We've learned basic swing.   We've learned Texas Two-Step and when we were confident with that we started going to Graham Central Station for country dancing on Friday nights.   We promptly discovered that 80% of the dances they are playing are at a rhythm geared for a different country step called Triple Two Step (step step triple-step triple-step).   So now we're learning Triple Two-Step...  

The teachers at Go Dance have all been wonderful.   They're very receptive and focus on level-appropriate details.    As we learn more, they add more of the details to keep us challenged (and some seem to take great delight in that..).     We usually end up laughing with our teachers for half the lesson as we try to mimic the "right" way to do things.

The staff at Go Dance are a lot of fun.   They always greet everyone warmly.   We recently arranged for a group of friends to come out to Go Dance for a private party for two hours where the group learned the basics of Two-Step and then Swing.   We brought in drinks and appetizers and had a really good time.   It's something we'd love to do again - probably for a longer period just to relax and enjoy an evening.

There are actually many more aspects which could be written about.   The bottom line we've both said many times is we wish we had started dance lessons 20 years ago before our girls grew up and moved off to college.   We both wholeheartedly recommend the Go Dance studio as a great place to learn to dance.

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Elite '09

241

498

Susie G.

Austin, TX

11/14/2006

Every night, yes every, the Austin dance obsessed spill into this Austin original. Located at Northcross mall (which makes me wonder what will happen when the "urban Wal-Mart" takes over) this place has been teaching the classes and blaring the tunes for a few years now.

Things I like
- A large amount of people
- Every different kind of dance, come at 6, you can learn cha-cha, and hour later people are waltzing, lots of choices.
- They have workshops some weekends to learn even more skills.
- They have parties (I've never been but heard they are cool) with dance music and themes a coupla times a month.
- The instructors are friendly and well trained. (And watching them dance themselves is quite intimidating!)

Things I don't like
- They repeat the same dance moves over and over. Come to a salsa class, you will only have learned one move (and several variations) by the end of the month. Come to multiple classes a week- they are all learning the same move.
- You don't really get to meet anyone individually, too many folks.
- The price is really pretty out there. People are spending over a hundred a month on classes.

If I were you, I would check out Go Dance's free classes at the beginning of the month and see if it's for you. The repetition of moves usually works quite well for some people, and bores the heck out of others. So got some extra money to spend? Why don't you take another option and buy an individual class card, or two, or 8  :) Learn some moves and then take it to the clubs where the dance really goes down.

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18

21

Mason A.

Austin, TX

7/4/2008

Their new studio is freaking awesome!  One of the best in the nation.  They have the best pricing packages in town and the nicest staff....I may be a little biased, but it's all true.

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