Ballroom Dance Chicago

We loved working with April & the BDC Team on our first dance. April put together choreography that was fun, easy to remember, and made us feel so comfortable during rehearsals. We even got some great tips on our ceremony recessional (including the mid-recessional kiss) and reception grand entrance. Every lesson felt like a date night too, which was so special leading up to the wedding.

My partner and I cannot say enough about the great experience we have had at Ballroom Dance Chicago. We get married this spring, and my fiancee had a very significant dancing background, albeit not in ballet. My dancing experience was limited to a passable few wedding dance floor moves, so we were coming from two very different places. We worked with Matthew, who took a somewhat unique song that we picked and crafted a masterful dance for us. Because of my fiancee's past experience, she wanted to do a technically complex dance (lots of lifts and spins, etc), and Matthew heard us through our vision and helped us every step of the way. We ended up taking 20 classes and a wedding showcase, which was definitely on the upper end of a time commitment, but it became something that we both enjoyed doing and learning together. It definitely took that many classes to achieve our goals, but certainly could have developed a solid, more accessible level in 5-10. We took classes both in West Loop and Ravenswood, and both were great spots. Ravenswood is definitely a larger studio, but West Loop can definitely be more convenient depending on where you are coming from. All of the people who work at Ballroom Dance Chicago were warm, welcoming, and encouraging. I also wanted to mention that working with Matthew, who runs the business, was a delight. He is brilliant, funny, and technically gifted. He challenged both of us despite our very different backgrounds and helped us realize our vision for our wedding, and we look forward to coming and learning other dance styles with him and the whole community at Ballroom Dance Chicago in the future. We were so pleased with the progress we made and are looking forward to wowing some crowds (even if we miss a step or two) at our upcoming wedding. I will post the final product video after we dance for real, but can certainly say even before the moment we would 100% choose this place and process again.

My (now) wife and I attended not only salsa classes, but their wine event as well as had the pleasure of working with Angela and April on our first dance for our wedding. The staff was patient, kind, professional and a blast to work with. Matthew, the owner, has created an incredible team and curated a warm and classy space to socialize, learn and DANCE. We HIGHLY recommend!

Juanita was great in helping us prepare for our first dance on a short timeline. We took our first lesson three weeks before the wedding day and thanks to Juanita, we came out of our sessions with a song and choreography that best fit our skillset and personalities. She listened to our vision and comforts and helped design a dance that was memorable and fun. We really enjoyed our lessons with Juanita and would recommend to any couple who is interested in brushing up their skills before the big day!

Ballroom Dance Chicago is a MUST for your first dance. We learned custom choreography in 7 45-minute lessons that made our first dance unforgettable - all of our guests were blown away! I was honestly shocked at what we accomplished in that amount of time (neither of us have major dancing experience). Our first dance was one of my favorite parts of the wedding day and the lessons made for incredibly fun date nights. Angela was our teacher and she was fantastic to work with. Their multiple locations and online scheduling are also extremely convenient. The owner, Matt, goes above and beyond as well. I cannot recommend this company enough!!

I can rave for literal hours about how spectacular April and the whole Ballroom Dance Chicago Team were. My husband and I had no idea how to dance when we started taking lessons in January 2023 for our October 2023 wedding. We wanted a romantic choreographed waltz- a difficult dance to learn, practice, and perfect. April made the process easy for us. We started small and worked our way through more complicated moves until we had our full dance choreographed and looking perfect. April keeps the mood light and fun and is the best teacher we have ever had. We got married 10-21-2023 and our choreographed dance was a surprise to our guests and they raved about it all night. Those months of practicing truly paid off and we looked nearly professional for our first dance! We could barely do a single box without stepping on toes or looking at our feet in January 2023. April took videos and shared them with us at the end of each lesson so we could practice between lessons. It is so meaningful to look back at the videos from January 2023 to our actual first dance in October 2023 and see the change. My husband and I looked comfortable and confident and we give all of the credit to April. We also took part in 3 of the wedding dance showcases so that we could practice and get used to dancing in front of a crowd- very helpful!! We were much more comfortable dancing at our wedding since we had already practiced our waltz in front of people!

I WAS a terrible dancer. In the weeks before my wedding, I became increasingly anxious about embarrassing myself and my fiancé during our first dance. I was so nervous and dreaded our first dance so much that I did the unthinkable and hired professional help. I’m so glad that I did! Ballroom Dance Chicago was incredible. Despite the short notice they were able to get us in for 6 sessions before our big day with one of their best instructors. April walked us through our first steps and coached us through a custom routine that she choreographed just for us. After only a few sessions I began to feel more confident in my dancing and I even started to enjoy it! We blew everyone away at our wedding reception! The cheers during our final dip made our hard work worth it a hundred times over and the compliments we received throughout the night made me regret not taking dance classes years ago. We’ll be back again soon to learn some new steps with some new friends. Thanks April & Ballroom Dance Chicago!!!

They were a pleasure to work with for our wedding dance. It honestly made a great date night excuse every other Wednesday to dance it up then go out to the Mexican or Indian restaurant just a couple blocks away from their ravenswood location. My now wife and I would happily go back just for their casual dance nights. Shout out to April for being a great instructor!

We worked with Ballroom Dance Chicago in preparation for our September wedding. The intake form asked questions about our song and preferences and from there we were paired with Juanita. She was an absolutely fantastic instructor! My husband had never had formal dance training and she was very good at showing us the ropes. She helped us put together a great cha cha to go with our song (Smooth by Santana). We chose a 10 class package and it was perfect for us. Plus, we had fun at every session - highly recommend!

We worked with Angela for 10 lessons to perfect our dance and feel confident on our wedding day, and she delivered big time! We got so many compliments on how graceful and at ease we were during our dance, and that's all thanks to Angela's help. The entire process was so much fun, even for two people who wouldn't typically take dance lessons! Thank you Angela and everyone at BDC for helping us make our wedding day extra memorable!

Such an amazing experience with Angela! She taught us the dance in tidbits and we were able to nail every single move- she was so supportive and great! We have talked about continuing lessons with her soon. Thanks to the whole team!

We loved our instructors Isaac and David! They helped us feel confident and we received so many compliments by our guests about our dance. I say it was so so worth it, and they created a dance that fit our song and skill level perfectly! I highly recommend them!! We plan on continuing learning new dance styles with them we had so much fun. Booking was easy online or in person.

Our initial goal was to learn enough to be able to fool our guests into thinking we could dance; by the end of our 8 lessons, we were had the confidence to enjoy ourselves at our first dance. Liezl was wonderful to work with, teaching us a bit more each lesson and making us believe we could pull it off. The lessons themselves were a lot of fun; we plan to come back to BDC for more ballroom or ballroom classes. Thank you, Liezl!

Angela is AMAZING!! We worked with her to get comfortable dancing for our first dance at our wedding and to learn how to properly do spins/dips. She not only helped us with our moves but made us confident and gave us wedding tips outside of dancing. Working with her was our favorite part of wedding planning. We recommend her to every couple wanting to prepare for their big day!!!

Josh is fantastic. As a groom, somehow he managed to: 1) make me look forward to our lessons; and 2) convince me I might actually be an ok dancer. Josh is so friendly, knowledgeable, communicative and attentive. Very grateful my now wife chose him.

We loved working with Josh for our wedding dance, he made the whole experience so fun! He was an amazing teacher and we are forever grateful for him and the beautiful memory he helped us create! Definitely recommend.

Highly highly recommend! We worked with Josh and he is an absolute miracle worker. Not only is he a gifted instructor but he truly has a passion for what he does and is so good with people. We had to overcome a lot of obstacles during our wedding planning process and moved to the suburbs in the process which made things challenging but Josh helped us navigate through that and taught us a beautiful dance that wowed all our guests and made our dreams a reality! Highly recommend!

I had a wonderful experience with private wedding lessons at Ballroom Dance Chicago! I worked with them for my daddy/daughter dance and for my first dance with my husband. In both instances, the instructors choreographed a dance that matched out styles and ability levels perfectly. The lessons were relaxed and fun, and we had a great time showing off our dances on the big day! I highly recommend Ballroom Dance Chicago!

We highly recommend Ballroom Dance Chicago! Matthew is the absolute best. He worked with us on our first dance for our wedding. He choregraphed the perfect dance for us that matched our personalities and skill sets. He was patient, encouraging, and made us feel comfortable. He was flexible with his coaching approach and broke things down in ways that made it easier for us to learn. He is a great teacher and turned us into dancers! We took 16 classes and each class was a blast. April joined some of our classes and she is also awesome. By the end we were surprised at how far we had come. Our first dance was definitely one of the highlights of our wedding. We had so much fun doing the dance and our family and friends were super impressed with our moves!

Working with BDC was an easy and seamless process. From registration to signing up on for classes online, it was easy to schedule out our dance lessons. My now husband and I worked with Angela on our first dance for our wedding, and she designed the choreography around our style (some simple moves but nothing overly complicated or overdone). Every class, we enjoyed getting to know Angela, while learning our dance in a fun, welcoming environment. In the end, we scheduled extra classes just for practice, since we weren’t doing it at home, and Angela kept those sessions engaging and worth it! Would highly recommend to other couples, and we’d love to return and take a look at some of their other dance offerings!

Josh is the most positive and life-affirming instructor I've ever met! My husband and I were really nervous to dance together at our wedding––my husband in particular––and Josh made us feel so confident and welcome that we BOTH began looking forward to our weekly class together. In just a few weeks, he had us assured and excited about our dance together. We had such a good time that we're already looking into group classes to join, something I never would have seen us doing pre-BDC. Seriously, if you're in Chicago, end your search here and look no further!!

We joined Ballroom Dancing back in March to prepare for our wedding dance. Our instructor was Matt and he was so patient with us. He really turned us both into dancers. Our dance turned out perfect and we cant wait go back and take more dance classes. Everyone is so welcoming and nice. All the instructors are very knowledgable.

Our experience with ballroom dance chicago was perfection! We were incredibly lucky to be paired with Josh who worked tirelessly with us over 3.5 months to learn a first dance that was unique to us and fit our non-dance background abilities. By the time we made it to our first dance, we had it completely down and it was definitely one of the major highlights of our wedding. We are so appreciative to Josh for all of his patience and guidance and for making our experience so positive and memorable. Would definitely recommend BDC to anyone planning their wedding!

Ballroom Dance Chicago is the most premier dance studio you will find! We were truly blown away by our experience. Over 6 months and 10 lessons, Angela at BDC guided us into achieving a 2+ minute choreographed dance for our wedding that was timeless, beautiful, and the highlight of our evening. It was truly the highlight of our entire year of wedding planning being able to enjoy these lessons together and learn something as a couple. My husband did not know what an 8 count in music was on our first lesson and we were dancing with flow and grace by the end. Angela was FUN and lively. She is skilled and an absolutely incredible teacher supporting us and always ensuring we felt comfortable. Our dance was a custom choreo and she even added in a lift for us at a high point in the song. We could not have been more grateful for the experience and we would love to be back in the near future!!! Andrea & Sam

I would highly recommend this company. They were easy to work with relative to scheduling and Josh made us feel so comfortable to get started. We had to learn parent dances when the bride/groom weren't local to attend practice. Josh made it all work. It was wonderful!

We had so much fun working with Angela at BDC to choreograph our first dance! Angela is very approachable, attentive and creative. She made our dance lessons something we looked forward to every week leading up to our wedding. We loved our first dance and she made us feel comfortable every step of the way.

We worked with Angela to create our first dance and WOW, it was the best decision we ever made for our wedding. From the first class, Angela created a welcoming and comforting environment. She is an amazing instructor - she knows how to break down moves so that even the most novice dancer can understand. After every class, I felt like we had a clear idea of what we needed to practice and improve on. She created such a fun piece for us and we can't wait to show it off at our wedding. Having Angela's class every other week was the joy that got us through wedding planning. I cannot recommend her or the studio enough.

My wife and I were looking to have a choreographed first dance for our wedding and we are both so happy that we found Matthew at Ballroom Dance Chicago! We had such a great time learning our first dance that we have continued to get lessons and we always have a blast!

We worked with Matthew to choreograph and learn our wedding first dance. It was amazing! Matthew was so friendly and professional - and was able to help us master our first dance. Everyone at our wedding raved about how fun our dance was, and we are so appreciative of Matthew. He taught us so much! We also previously took Matthew's salsa class which was also amazing. We highly recommend!

I would recommend Ballroom Dance Chicago to everyone. My now husband surprised me with classes for our anniversary in order to have a choreographed piece for our wedding. We met with Matthew for a consultation and gave him a peculiar song choice that meant a lot to us but was a bit out of the ordinary and he totally ran with it. We loved our dance, but more than that, we loved hanging out with Matthew. Our weekly classes became our date night and I can't tell you how hard we laughed throughout the process and how much we loved talking and getting to know Matthew. To note, we are totally beginners at dancing and didn't know anything and it didn't matter, Matthew guided us along the way and we always felt encouraged and supported. Post wedding we actually miss those weekly classes so much just because they were such a bright spot in our wedding planning process and are also a memory we will never forget. If you are looking for lessons and want more than just a routine, but a total experience filled with laughs, tender moments and lasting memories... go here. Wedding planning can be stressful but your first dance doesn't have to be with Ballroom Dance Chicago on your team.

My husband and I took 8 dance lessons with Angela for our September 2021 wedding and it was by far the best part of wedding planning. Angela became a fast friend, and we looked forward to our lessons every week. Our first dance was special, but not over-the-top (just what we wanted) and Angela taught us at our own pace. We couldn't recommend working with Ballroom Dance Chicago & Angela enough!

My partner and I took dance lessons with Angela for our wedding dance and it was one of the best experiences of wedding planning! We had ambitious goals for our dance, and Angela was so kind, attentive, and helpful throughout the entire process. Our choreographed dance was amazing, and Angela gave us the confidence to pull it off. We had so much fun, we both agreed to take dance lessons just for fun for date night. I'd recommend Ballroom Dance Chicago (and working with Angela!) to anyone!

Angela was amazing! She created choreography that matched our first dance song beautifully and was fun to perform. Not only did we look like pros on our wedding day, each lesson was a mini date night we looked forward to each week. She helped us create a memory that we will ever forget!

We were late to the party on deciding if we wanted dance lessons or not prior to our wedding, but man are we thrilled we signed up with Ballroom Dance Chicago! Not only did they work with our truncated timeline, they paired us with Rachel who was amazing! At first we thought we wanted a twirl or two, but by the end of our classes we had an incredible dance routine for our first dance that we're still getting compliments on thanks to BDC. We couldn't recommend them more highly!

We went into our dance lessons expecting to not do well. Neither of us are great dancers and my husband has zero experience learning dance routines. Angela went above and beyond our expectations. Her methods for teaching us our wedding dance were on a realistic timeline which helped immensely. We were able to pick up new parts of the dance every session while drilling the rest into our brains. We left our last session feeling confident that we will “wow” our guests at our wedding! We STRONGLY recommend Ballroom Dance Chicago (especially Angela)!

We went into our dance lessons expecting to not do well. Neither of us are great dancers and my husband has zero experience learning dance routines. Angela went above and beyond our expectations. Her methods for teaching us our wedding dance were on a realistic timeline which helped immensely. We were able to pick up new parts of the dance every session while drilling the rest into our brains. We left our last session feeling confident that we will “wow” our guests at our wedding! We STRONGLY recommend Ballroom Dance Chicago (especially Angela)!

Angela has been just wonderful! We have been working with her for our November wedding, and I couldn’t be happier. She is energetic, approachable, and a wonderful instructor. We can’t wait to showcase our beautiful dance!

We had a wonderful experience at Ballroom Dance Chicago. Matthew choreographed a beautiful first dance for my fiancé and I. Although we are both beginner dance by our wedding we both felt confident in our dance abilities. We had fun each session. Looking forward to going back for our anniversary.

Our experience taking wedding dance lessons with Matthew at Ballroom Dance Chicago was by far the best part of the entire wedding planning experience! We couldn't have picked a more professional studio. Matthew was able to understand us as a couple and our vision for our wedding night, and his incredible choreography was so much fun to learn and totally impressed our friends and family at our wedding. Also his welcoming and friendly vibe made us look forward to every single lesson.

We had the most INCREDIBLE experience taking dance lessons with Ballroom Dance Chicago ahead of our wedding. Our goal was to simply learn some basic steps so that we didn't have to do the "first dance sway", but Matthew had much bigger plans for us! Our confidence grew with each lesson as we saw our dance come together. We picked a pretty upbeat song and as a result there was was so much energy and FUN in the dance that Matthew created for us. Twirls, lifts (multiple!), dips, and more! The lessons themselves were an absolute blast, and we were SO excited to get to do it at our wedding in front of our guests. Everyone was so surprised and the dance got a huge crowd reaction. We would do this again 100x over. Thank you Matthew!

We started dance lessons with Ballroom Dance Chicago to prepare for our first dance at our wedding. We were BLOWN AWAY by the quality and value of this new experience. The beautiful studio and expert instructors make every lesson a memorable experience. My husband has never danced before and after lesson number one he was hooked! He loved the challenge of learning new steps and seeing the progress from lesson one to lesson ten. I really appreciated how our instructor, Matthew, made the lessons fun, engaging, and exciting. We left the studio feeling energized and more connected to one another. When we performed our first dance we received a standing ovation. It was truly a highlight of our big day! We both agreed that it was the best decision we made throughout the entire wedding planning process because Ballroom Dance Chicago gave us the space and time we needed to connect to one another and have some fun! We plan to bust out our first dance choreography at each anniversary to relive the joy and magic from the first time we set foot on the dance floor. In addition to having an incredible first dance experience, we were so moved by our time with Ballroom Dance Chicago that I started dance lessons with my father. It was so special for me and my dad to spend time together each week. We had such a great time that we plan to start lessons back up in the winter. I can not thank Matthew and Ballroom Dance Chicago enough for these priceless memories. We will cherish them for a lifetime!

We had such a blast working with Matthew and could not recommend his work and studio more! The experience was personalized, it was fun, and it genuinely made us better dancers. We had so a great experience we're continuing our lessons post-wedding.

Worth every penny! Working with Matthew was one of the highlights of our wedding planning. It gave us a chance to get away from the growing to do list and do something fun together. Matthew came super prepared every week we met with fun and interesting content, and helped us design the dance we always dreamed of.

We cannot recommend Ballroom Dance Chicago enough. As an initial skeptic of doing a choreographed first dance, my now wife convinced me to meet with Matthew, and within 30 seconds he had put all of my fears and reservations about my ability to learn and perform a choreographed dance to rest. He’s incredibly genuine and professional, and his style, coaching and choreography put our minds at ease and left us with a rehearsed dance that we both felt confident and natural with going into our wedding day. I’m so glad we decided to work with Matthew for our wedding as its one of the best parts to relive through videos and photos. We could not be more happy with our experience at Ballroom Dance Chicago, and Matthew is an absolute rock star.

We worked with Matthew and he was incredible! Neither of us had ballroom dancing experience prior to starting our lessons. We worked with Matthew over 5 lessons and did about a 2:30 dance for our wedding. He was a very good instructor and helped us build the dance over the lessons. He even suggested an edit to our song to make it flow better with the dance and recorded us dancing at the end of each lesson so we could practice at home. By the end, we felt very confident and had a great time dancing on our wedding day!

What a wonderful company to work with! We had Angela as our instructor and she was the absolute best! Neither my husband or myself are gifted dancers but Angela made feel so comfortable in our first dance. She made it so easy to learn and we had a blast doing it. Working with Angela made our first dance soooooooo much better than what it ever could have been. Even though we were dancing through Covid 19, i was never worried. The extra precautions the company took to ensure safety made me comfortable in the space. I know working on our first dance was one of our favorite parts of the wedding thanks to Angela and Ballroom Dance.

My wife and I worked with Amanda to learn choreography for our first dance and could not have been happier with the outcome! We had a fully prepared routine and felt confident heading into our big day that we would blow our guests away. We had at least 50 people come up to us throughout the night asking how many lessons we took and were shocked to learn that we only took 5! Amanda was so incredibly nice, professional, and knowledgable - it was a pleasure working with her.

We cannot recommend Ballroom Dance Chicago enough! We were lucky enough to work with Matthew for 10 lessons before our wedding and he was an absolute joy to work with. We truly looked forward to our lessons every week and our first dance at our wedding was PERFECT. Matthew makes you feel comfortable and creates a dance that is approachable. Matthew is someone we look forward to hanging out with for beers in the near future and would recommend him to all our family/friends who are looking to dance!

They will send you information via email with an offer to purchase 5 classes for a total of $700, after pressuring you to buy 10 classes during the intro lesson without disclosing the total cost for 10 such classes about $1,200 dollars one finds out after they email you their pricing structure they are reluctant to share in person during the intro lesson. Moreover, if you do not purchase their recommended number of 10 classes, they will write you back, "we are not the dance school for you." They only treat people willing to spend over $1000 with respect.

Angela was great at helping us choreograph our first dance. She worked with our ideas and skill level. The dance turned out beautiful and we had so much fun going to lessons. We are even planning to continue classes after the wedding

Matthew, our instructor, from Ballroom Dance Chicago has been a total joy to work with as we learn our first dance! He is thoughtful with his choreography and very patient as we work through the dance. His positivity and humor helps make the lessons easy-going and truly a fun experience. In fact, we are having so much fun, we plan to continue going for dance lessons even after our wedding!

They were perfect. Our dance was perfect. We went from having 0 dance skills to straight up Dirty Dancing level moves that made our wedding crowd go WILD. We want to get married again just so we can learn another dance from Matt and blow everyone away again.

My husband and I wanted to dance a first dance that wasn't "middle school shuffle" style, so we were planning to find local dance lessons pre-COVID. When the virus hit and we were under strict quarantine regulations, I did some research to see if online dance lessons were a possibility and found Ballroom Dance Chicago. Mandy and Matthew were quick to respond and answer any questions I had about their offerings, so I decided to book lessons with them, and I am SO GLAD. They took the time to work out when lessons should be sent and reviewed based on our schedule and pending wedding, and each individual lesson was easy to follow, fun and unassuming. The result ended with us having a unique dance that truly impressed our guests. We are so thankful to Ballroom Dance Chicago for a wonderful experience and for helping us create beautiful memories to last a lifetime. Not only was the quality of the dance top-notch, but the people behind Ballroom Dance Chicago are even more so.

Our first dance was an experience and memory we will always treasure, and it is 100% thanks to Ballroom Dance Chicago. My husband and I knew of BDC because the gym we met at is just down the block. I'd alway been curious about it, and when we chose a first-dance song that was too fast for a traditional slow dance, they were the first place I reached out to for help. We had a free consultation and were immediately reassured that they would help us come up with a dance that was achievable and completely unique to us. Because of COVID we got to have completely private lessons and appreciated our instructor, Matthew's, commitment to safety. We all wore masks at all lessons. We did the 10-lesson first-dance package and began dancing to our song the first week. Each week we built on the previous, continually adding complexity. Matthew listened to us, was patient, and responded to our feedback about what we felt was working and not working for us. By the end of our lessons we felt confident in ourselves and ready to impress our guests. We got so many compliments on our dance, and we love that it was one of the highlights of our reception. As an added benefit, the lessons were a great way for us to bond during our wedding prep, especially since the months leading up to our wedding were so uncertain and stressful in 2020. Our dance lessons were a time each week we could spend on ourselves, and we knew that whether our wedding was huge or intimate, a pandemic couldn't take our first dance away from us.

We had seven lessons for our (wedding) first dance with Pelin. Overall, we had a great experience with Ballroom Dance Chicago. Initially, we were paired with another instructor with whom we really did not vibe and who pressured us into buying 3x the number of lessons we actually needed and who was not particularly well at explaining anything to us. We contacted the company, and they immediately re-paired us with a different instructor, Pelin, who was fantastic. Each time, Pelin would teach us 1-2 new moves, and it appeared that she was very thoughtful about which moves would actually fit into our dance. She was always positive/encouraging and made us feel comfortable. My husband said that he actually misses our lessons, and he is not typically willing to go onto the dance floor with me! We would recommend Ballroom Dance Chicago, but specifically, we would recommend Pelin.