The Zebra Room

Oliva was absolutely amazing with working with us for our coordinated dance. My husband and I did not have the traditional wedding song, but it was a song that we have both love and she worked with us to have an amazing first dance. She is tough, but that's because she knows what she is doing and ultimately it will look amazing at the end!

Olivia Gale taught such a beautiful dance for our first dance. All of our guests enjoyed it and some even cried! Plus, we enjoyed dancing to it a lot!

We wanted to have a choreographed first dance to surprise our friends and family. We went with Olivia because of the amazing reviews she has on the Knot and we couldn’t be any happier! Both my fiancé and I have no dance experience, but she was able to teach us a dance we are proud and excited to do. It is clear that Olivia is passionate about dancing and does an amazing job at teaching it. She does not waste time and will quickly point out things we could be doing better. We initially booked six lessons which was all we needed, but decided on adding on an extra lesson just to really perfect everything. If you are looking for dance lessons, I would highly recommend Olivia!

Olivia is so incredibly talented! My mom bought us dance lessons as a wedding gift, simply wanting us to be comfortable on the dance floor for our first dance. Olivia did not just teach us some basic dance moves, she personally choreographed a dance just for us to our song and it totally blew away our wedding guests. It was so much more than we were expecting and neither me nor my husband are dancers, but with Olivia’s instruction, we had the dance perfected within 5 lessons. We are so thankful for Olivia for making our first dance such a beautiful experience!

We found Olivia through the Knot. We were looking last minute for somebody to help us choreograph a surprise dance for our wedding. Although we were a month away from the wedding, Olivia was able to fit us in multiple times in order for us to finish planning our dance!! Everybody loved it. We are so glad we did it!!

Olivia prepared an elegant and beautiful first dance for our wedding. Everyone loved our spins, lifts, and routine that went with the words of our song. Olivia also makes sure you put in effort and keeps the proper form. “Resistance!” I can still hear her voice in my head while me and my wife occasionally do random spins in the kitchen to this day!

We had a great experience with Olivia! My husband and I took 7 dance lessons with Olivia to choreograph our first wedding dance. Neither of us had any dancing experience before this and were very beginner. However, Olivia was able to coach us quickly and help us create a beautiful first dance that we were proud of and impressed our wedding guests. Olivia was a great dance teacher and the lessons were always a lot of fun. I would definitely recommend for all experience levels!!

Olivia rocked it! She helped me and my wife leave our guests in awe at our dance skills. Thank you for the amazing service and for sharing your talent!

We can not say enough great things about Olivia! She was so talented and lovely to work with. She personalized our choreographed song wonderfully! Thank you so much for helping us impress our guests and making a lovely memory for ourselves.

Thank you Olivia for helping us to create a beautiful Father/Bride dance and First Dance!

We hired Olivia Gale to help us with our first dance and we had a great time. With no dance experience between us, Olivia choreographed the moves and helped with the music. We met with her weekly for several months prior to our wedding and slowly worked through each step of the process. She was very good at establishing the fundamentals and assuring we were prepared before moving to the next step. Through repetition and Olivia’s watchful eye, we gained confidence and were able to put it all together. Our first dance was beautiful and truly memorable!

We went to the Zebra Room to see if they could help us choregraph our first dance since we did not have a typical slow dance song. We had chosen to mash-up our two favorite metal/rock love songs and since it was a fast tempo we figured we needed help to make sure our dance really stood out. We were not disappointed when we scheduled our first meeting with Olivia. After our first lesson we knew we were in the right place and that Olivia would help us look great during our first dance. She was super friendly, encouraging, and creative. It was super easy to schedule the lessons with Olivia, we told her that we both have very busy work schedules and she worked with us on various days and times to make sure we could fit all of our lessons in before the big day. We love the first dance that she created for us and our guests were blown away! If you are wanting a dance that fits your personality, is simple but looks difficult, and will wow your guests go to Olivia.

We just had our wedding yesterday and everyone was raving about our choreographed waltz! Which was entirely possible thanks to this lovely lady. The classes were well worth it and she was so sweet with our stumbling feet. Absolutely recommend!

Olivia personalized our dance to our dance levels as well as our personalities. My husband and I both felt very confident with our dancing, and the routine was show stopping. I highly recommend for anyone who is looking to make quite the impression with their first dance.

How doth one deliver a site of web review that which compares to the elegance and transcendence of Olivia's instruction in the art of dance? As an engineer who loves a good musical number, there were a few key requirements I had while researching (in great scientific depth) the many dance instructors of Orlando. Like all of my wedding vendors, every possible dance instructor was placed into my 1000+ element spreadsheet for analysis. With a single lesson from Olivia, we knew the following: - Her dance studio is private. As such, you don't have to practice dancing to the "beat" of your instructor yelling "SLOW... QUICK, QUICK... SLOW!" over the volume of three+ other instructors and their music. Let me tell you, I know how to find the beat in any song, so it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to dance to the beat of someone counting while real music is playing on the surround sound. With Zebra Room, you NEVER have to worry about this. - We only pay for the private lessons. We did not have to purchase asinine "parties" or "group lessons. This was a huge plus. Ain't nobody need to be spreading those germs and pay for it. - Speaking of payment, Olivia's prices are extremely reasonable. She is easily 20%+ less expensive that all the big "dance companies." Okay, so that is the quantitative stuff. What about the artsy-fartsy side to all of this? Olivia taught ACTUAL dance styles for pretty much her entire life. She isn't a "ballroom dance instructor." She teaches you how to ACTUALLY DANCE. She doesn't focus on learning steps as much as she does shows you how to move your entire body. While the big name companies sit there and just make you move your feet, Olivia pushes you for posture, core placement, hand pressure, arm straightness, and so much more. As folks who have never danced before, both my fiancée and I decided on 20 private lessons at the Zebra Room. For us (because we are perfectionists who actually practice at home), we learned the basic steps in 2-3 lessons and had our entire 3.5 min song beautifully choreographed by the 8th lesson. Lessons 9-10 were for fine details. Lessons 11-20 are all for us to learn other dance styles and practice our first dance. So what does this mean for you reading this? Are you the one interested in dancing and your fiancée is on the fence? Well, make this a date night like we do! Every dance lesson night we work up a nice appetite dancing then go grab some dinner afterwards to discuss. Completely musically inept? Olivia is patient but firm. So this means don't take offense if she is short when giving directions, she is literally trying to not waste any of your money you spent with her. Both excited to do something completely out of the norm? GREAT! Olivia has you play your song and just magically dances something into existence. If you want drama and acting, she'll make your first dance look like a Broadway musical! If you want more prim and proper style, she'll do that for you too because she taught ballet! I cannot possibly say enough positive things about Olivia as an instructor. I have had many private instructors over the years in many different subjects. She is by far one of the most passionate, caring, and just plain-d@mn good teacher I have ever had. Even after the wedding, we plan on doing the occasional lesson with her to keep our butts moving. None of us need to keep feeding into this new, unhealthy fad of getting fat after your wedding! :p Thank you Olivia for being the best!

Olivia is absolutely wonderful, she is so much more than just a ballroom dance instructor. She has so much experience from ballet to disco and incorporates all her knowledge to choreograph the perfect dance. She listens to the music and creates a beautiful dance that's unique and everything you've ever dreamed of! We did a intro lesson Arthur Murray, Fred Alstaire and the Crystal Ballroom, and did not feel like they had the same level of passion, experience, and knowledge as Olivia does. Also, Olivia's lessons are completely private so there is nothing else going on in her studio at the same time as your lesson (which we found very distracting at the other places). I would 100% recommend, as you will be learning how to dance and not just how to dance a specific dance. Love Olivia as a person, and as the dancing queen she is.

My wife has been an avid fan of ballroom dancing since the day we met and she has always encouraged me to dance with her at times when we were out. So I decided I was going to go over and above the standard "8th Grade Shuffle" for our wedding dance. I was nervous as I had not taken a single dance step in my life, but I was committed to learning because of my wife's passion for dance. When we met Olivia for the first time I told her I was a beginner, but she was patient and worked with me to learn the very basic dance steps. It took a few sessions for me to get the hang of it, but Olivia was patient with me, determined to help us and very encouraging. She gave me the confidence that I could succeed at it, which made all the difference in the world. For our wedding dance we picked the song “Alegria” by Cirque du Solei. Alegria means “joy” and is a beautiful song that expresses the passion for life and each other that my wife and I possess. While this gave me the motivation to give it my all, it was still difficult as the song lyrics are written in three languages, two of which are not my native language. In addition, the version of the song that we chose is five minutes, which I quickly learned is a very long wedding dance, especially for someone who is a beginner. Olivia saw the passion in us to make the dance spectacular and we were blown away with her commitment to helping us. What started off as a basic box step, quickly evolved to a whole new level. Olivia was able to choreograph a dance that included lifts, dips and turns, while beautifully fitting the song as well as to our abilities. In the end the dance was amazing and all of our guests were on their feet with eyes glued to the dance floor. It was magical and still gives me goose bumps. We are fortunate to have met Olivia and grateful for her dedication to help others and passion for dance. I enjoyed dancing so much and plan on continuing to learn more dances, making it a regular activity!

I need to say “thank you Olivia for your time and made this moment happen beautifully “ you take everything like a part of the family, real care. Thank you again.

Olivia was amazing and made our lessons so much fun. We were very prepared for the father daughter dance thanks to Olivia. Can’t wait to go back with my wife and learn more dance moves.

Thank you for the dance for my granddaughter, it was beautiful, looked like from a movie

Olivia is an incredible dance instructor. She artfully tailored and choreographed our First Dance and gave us the confidence we needed to perform in front of our friends and family. We had a lot of fun along the way and would strongly recommend her to anyone.

We really enjoyed our first dance lessons with Olivia! It was a fun way for us to spend time together while getting ready for our wedding. We took 6 lessons with her, which was the perfect amount to learn the choreography. Our song was not typical and we could tell she really listened to the music to create a perfect dance. Our wedding was postponed from April to November due to COVID, so it was about 8 months after our last lesson, but we continued practicing our dance each week at home using a video she took of us, which was really helpful. It was amazing seeing and hearing the reaction of our guests during our dance. We are so glad we decided to take lessons with Olivia for our special day.

Olivia is amazing! She’s super passionate about teaching and designed us a custom dance for our first dance. We’re so happy with how everything came out - I’d absolutely recommend The Zebra Room to anyone.

Let me just say, I am someone who will go out of my way to write someone a stellar review when I have a good experience, and I was hoping this would be one of those good reviews, but unfortunately, Olivia has left a TERRIBLE taste in my mouth. Let me start by saying when we arrived at her "private dance studio," she REEKED like alcohol and we are 99.9% sure she was drunk as she kept asking us the same questions over and over and her breath had a strong scent of alcohol on it. The dancing was decent though. So we paid on the spot for 4 sessions upfront, which we felt very pressured into doing. My fiance has a career that is extremely demanding, and highly unpredictable, so it's very hard for us to find time to do things and plan. Not to mention we decided to proceed with our postponed wedding 2 months prior to the date, so we had A LOT of planning to do in just two months and were getting bombarded with last-minute things he had to do for his job. It has been a very stressful and extremely busy wedding planning process. I called Olivia to say we were 3 weeks out from our wedding and my fiance was called to head out of town for the next couple of weeks and will return right before the wedding, so we'd be unable to attend future lessons and would like to recieve the unused funds back. She had the nerve to say "Oh you think you're busy? Well so is everyone else!" And then had the nerve to say "Well it sounds like he's very successful so I'm not refunding you" insinuating that we could afford to lose the money for the dance lessons we paid for upfront but would be unable to attend. Then she said she could not talk about this right now and hung up on me! I was literally so shocked and absolutely appalled at the horrible customer service and unprofessionalism, especially after seeing so many of her good reviews. I felt so mistreated as a client and will 1000% NOT be recommending this business as no one who is paying for a service deserves to be treated this way, especially in this stressful climate we are in in this world. Especially a freaking BRIDE. Like where's at least a sliver of compassion? Take this for what it's worth, but just know what you're getting yourself into. She might be good at dance but she is INCREDIBLY unprofessional and did not leave us on a good note at all.

Having danced with Olivia off and on for over 20 years, I was excited to finally work with her on a special dance for my wedding. She created a beautiful dance that both an experienced dancer like myself and my non-dancing husband could do. We started with a basic step and built from there. Now we can also dance at other events with confidence.

Olivia was great. Very patient and was willing to work with us on moves that didn’t feel as comfortable and adjusted as needed. She made us feel as our dance was unique and made for us.

We wanted to give our son and his new wife the gift of dancing together, which is truly a lifetime wedding gift! Olivia taught them how to dance and choreographed their first dance to the song they chose. It was so personalized, including the gift card she created that we gave them as their engagement gift. From a parent’s perspective, it was the best gift we could have given! The video and pictures capture the memory of their beautiful day; and their having dancing skills will be enjoyed for years to come!

I look forward to classes with Olivia. Each one so far has been a great experience, personal, fun and informative. My partner and I have worked with her toward forming our first dance and we are so excited to share this new expression of our love on our special day. The Zebra Room is a great value and Olivia truly knows how to bring out your love for your fiance on the dance floor!

Olivia has been wonderful guidance as a dance teacher. My fiance and I had very little previous dance experience and I really wanted our first dance as bride and groom to be graceful on our wedding day. Olivia choreographed our dance effortlessly and even added in lifts with our song of choice. She made it unique to our skill level. Olivia was there to give us private one on one lessons so that we were able to polish the dance moves. She had alot of patience for us. I can't wait for our wedding day where we will be able to show off our dance moves as bride and groom!! Olivia you have now become our life long friend. We can't thank you enough.

We are currently taking classes with Olivia for our special day. It has been a fun and unique experience. It is very personal and tailored to our style and mood. My partner and I are not good dancers at all and we have never taken a dance class, so we had to start at the very basic. Now we can move with confidence! Olivia is very passionate about her work and her dedication shows. We are excited to continue learning and will likely end up buying more classes! The stuff she is teaching us will definitely last with us a lifetime. We cant wait!

Honestly what can I say besides I am SOOOOOO overwhelmingly happy that we chose the Zebra Room for our first dance classes. We had done a class at a different dance studio and were so disappointed by not only the generic class we were given but the outrageous pricing! My fiancé and I were so nervous When we went to the zebra room because of this, but Olivia made us feel so comfortable and we laugh every class. We have learned so much and feel so great about dancing that we have actually discussed continuing dance classes even after the wedding! I LOVE that Olivia creates the dance for us as she listens to the music so it was wonderful to know that this dance was unique to us, no one has ever seen it before. She caters the dance to what moves you’re comfortable with. There was a certain dip I couldn’t do because of a neck issue and she worked to find a different move that worked. If you are considering dance lessons for your first dance, look no further you will not be disappointed. I am beyond thrilled and look forward to our classes each week! Our first dance is going to be EPIC!

Olivia has been amazing at helping us prepare for our first dance at our wedding. She’s been patient, fun, collaborative, and has incorporated our personality into the dance. We can’t wait to surprise our guests with our new skills.

We just love our instructor. Olivia has a way of breaking down the steps and make it fun. She is very accommodating when scheduling classes. Very patient with a person who has two left feet. We liked the fact that we always had completely private lesson. Her rates are awesome too. Josephine Millet

My husband and I are definitely NOT natural-born dancers. But after six super helpful lessons with Olivia, I must say--we nailed the first dance at our wedding! Thanks to Olivia's expertise, patience and guidance, we felt totally comfortable (and had a lot of fun) dancing in front of 130 people--which is not something I ever thought I'd say. Thank you so much, Olivia, for everything you taught us! I cannot recommend Olivia more, especially for those with two left feet, such as I.

Olivia has done a great job creating a special dance for our Father/daughter dance. Having never danced before, my husband was put at ease and taught the basics first. He is feeling more confident every lesson we have with Olivia. She was flexible with work schedule and created opportunities for lessons when our daughter was in town for a weekend. This will be a special moment and memory!

An experience of a lifetime! I came here to learn my wedding first dance. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to finish my classes learning an entire dance that was breathtaking and so magical. I’m no experienced dancer by any means. Olivia made things easy and understandable for me. She’s a true artist in many ways. She created and put together the dance from start to finish, customized to our song choice. She taught me a dance that I never knew I would have the ability to learn. Olivia is very patient and has a way of teaching that helps you understand the dance moves and not over think things. She really simplifies it. My wife and I had so much fun! The wedding guests were very impressed by our first dance. Thank you Olivia and The Zebra Room for the memory of a lifetime!

My fiancé and I can’t thank Olivia enough. We we both have zero dance experience but wanted to have a first dance that was more than just swaying back and forth. Olivia created a beautiful dance for us, that we both feel confident to perform. She guided us through the basics and and added in some “wow” moments which is just what we were looking for. We’re now interested in dancing just for fun, since we enjoyed the experience so much.

Olivia is an absolutely amazing instructor and choreographer! She is patient, smooth, and pulled together our first dance within a very tight timeline. We had our first lesson with Olivia 2 weeks prior to our wedding and I had almost written off the idea of doing a first dance due to our tight timeline. This proved to be NO PROBLEM for Olivia! She created and taught us a dance, created specifically for us, and we were able to wow our crowd at our wedding! So grateful to Olivia and I highly recommend her to anyone looking for an incredible dance and teacher!

It was so wonderful working with Olivia. We decided to have a choreographed dance two weeks before the wedding. Olivia did a wonderful job of creating a dance routine for us in such a short amount of time and she was also very flexible with her schedule. I highly recommend the Zebra room to everyone, no matter the level of dance experience you have.

Olivia choreographed the best routine for our first dance at our wedding! We have received so many compliments from our guests on our first dance! It was truly a special moment for us and one of our favorite memories from our wedding day. We had zero formal dance experience and Olivia was so patient when working with us. By the end of our lessons, Olivia had us looking like professionals! She was also so accommodating with our busy schedules. Truly a wonderful person and extremely talented. Thanks again Olivia!

Olivia was amazing! My wife and I had never taken any sort of dancing lessons before and she made the process so easy. We had a great time during each session and she helped choreograph our whole first dance. Everyone at the wedding was super impressed with our moves! Could not recommend her more!

Olivia was amazing! She took my non-dancing groom and my “wild free spirit” sort of dancing and choreographed a beautiful piece for us. She is super patient and easy to learn from. We enjoyed our first dance together and our guests loved it even more.

I am the mother of the groom, and he currently lives in another state. He decided a few months before the wedding that he wanted to do more than just a slow dance, which was the plan for the bride & groom dance. Olivia was so knowledgeable and helpful in working with me to determine the dances, the music and putting several different pieces of songs together perfectly for the final presentation. She never complained about our skill level ;o) or choice of dance. We would highly recommend her for any dance challenge!

Olivia is great. She is amazingly talented and knows what she is doing. Our first dance was amazing because of her! Our song was a little unconventional and Olivia worked with us to come up with a great dance routine. If you are anything like us and don't have dance experience, take TONS of videos every lesson. It is definitely your responsibility to remember the dance and steps. She has will introduce the dance flow/steps but she will not memorize it for you. That is your job. If you need someone to plan out every step for you, make sure you tell her. Our first dance turned out AMAZING! Everyone was in awe and we are still getting compliments on it a month later!

Olivia was great! Really enjoyed our dance lessons with her.

We enjoyed our dance lessons and had fun doing our dance routine for our wedding. Olivia is simply amazing!

Olivia is AMAZING! At our first lesson, I warned her that I have no rhythm and I cannot dance. She assured me that she could get through to me. I was blown away, she has incredible talent and finds a way to connect with you. Taking lessons with Olivia was the best decision we made, now my husband and I will have our special dance forever! Olivia, thank you so much for giving us that gift! If you are considering dance lessons and are hesitant, book a lesson with Olivia I promise you will not regret it!

Working with Olivia was absolutely fantastic. Having a gymnast background, I always knew how to 'dance like a gymnast' and my husband new absolutely nothing about dance! We decided to do a full choreographed dance and loved every second of it. We knew we needed lessons leading up to the big day and knew it would be incredibly awkward swaying back and forth clueless in front of all our guests during the first dance so taking lessons was the right thing to do. Olivia went above and beyond our expectations! She did a great job comparing dance to what we knew (gymnastics and tennis) and helped us relate it to our practice. We received so many compliments following our dance at the wedding - including our cateror, videographer and photographer whom clearly have a lot of experience in the area! I could not recommend Olivia enough. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I am the bride with two left feet and lacking confidence. My fiancé is a software engineer that refuses to sway back and forth during our first dance. We found Olivia through the Knot and are so grateful we did. The first class we started with fundamentals and once we were able to glide on the floor she began to teach us our choreography. Olivia has helped me gain the confidence and grace for the big day; as well as added such a fun element to our first dance!

Olivia is an incredible instructor! I teach software engineering for a living, so while I can recognize solid pedagogy, I'm about as far away from a dancer as you can get. My fiancée and I decided that before the big day, we would find someone to work with us on a first dance. Olivia taught us the fundamentals, along with wonderful choreography that she created to match our song. In just a few short weeks, my partner and I went from being sedentary desk workers to gliding across the dance floor with confidence. Olivia has added a very special and unique element to our wedding, and we couldn't be more grateful. I don't think our family and friends are going to expect a choreographed dance from us!

Our wedding is not till December, 2018, However our dance experience with Olivia has been nothing short of amazing. We are really enjoying the dance lessons and cannot wait until the big day!

Wow, this gem is tucked away but it shines bright!! My husband and I hired Ms. Olivia to teach us and choreograph our wedding first dance. She quickly identified our natural strengths (rhythm!) as she worked with us over six weeks teaching us a sexy Rumba to the Prince song, Te Amo Corázon. It was AMAZING! Our guests were in awe of us during our first dance. Ms. Olivia is THE BEST! She is a true professional with a genuine passion for dancing. I loved her natural theatrics and what she added to our dance. It was so fun working with her weekly and we miss those times. My husband and I plan to take other lessons from her in the future. The Zebra Room is second to none so don't even think about going to any of those other dance studios who offer less. Ms. Olivia gives you way more for your time and money—not just a new dance but a new friendship! Thank you, Ms. Olivia! We love you. I will always think of you when I watch Flash Dance! ;)

We had the pleasure of having Olivia as our dance instructor. We wanted to do a little choreographed dance for our first dance at our wedding since our dancing skills were a bit rusty. Olivia is so sweet, beyond patient, and always willing to change some moves around to make the couple feel more comfortable at the last minute. Her dance studio is adorable and the space to dance in is HUGE if you wanted to bring a few family members to practice with as well. She had no problem editing our song to fit our dance and everything was perfect! We were well prepared with Olivia's experience for our first dance at our wedding! We miss you dearly Olivia!!

Olivia is just the best. I've seen her teach dance to children, people with two left feet, newlyweds for their first dance, people recovering from cancer ... She is a truly gifted instructor and I believe it's not just talent, but a true desire to connect. Recently, our daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law went to see her about the first dance at their wedding, at my recommendation. They went from "really never danced before" to "we've got this" at the first visit.Their first dance was beautiful, not a dry eye in the room. Thank you, Olivia, for everything.

Olivia was such a pleasure to work with as she helped us choreograph our first dance! With only 4 lessons, we were able to dance comfortably and confidently and we absolutely loved it. The lessons were fun and we want to go back for salsa now!