Silva Dance Academy

This was such a bizarre experience. I got married this past September and called to ask about private dance lessons. It was four weeks till our wedding. The man that took my call was one of the strangest people I’ve ever spoken to. He was clearly flustered when he picked up the phone, but I’m friendly so I told him what the situation was and said I was very interested in lessons. He proceeded to tell me why my husband-​to-​be wouldn’t be interested in lessons, and that he could already tell that we wouldn’t be able to retain any of the steps we were being taught. He then talked his way out of us paying for private lessons because in his opinion it really wouldn’t be worth it. One of his reasons was that we would be getting off the train and we’d be tired. Hello??? It’s our wedding. Even if we’re tired we’ll make the sacrifice to have a nice dance at our wedding. He also explained that he had to catch a flight the next day and that he really couldn’t deal with my request unless I booked the lessons then and there.
Who would want to book lessons after being told that MY fiancé (who this guy doesn’t know at all) wouldn’t be able to remember the steps? The sad part was, I was really excited to take lessons and so was my fiancé. I told this to the guy, but it was like I was annoying him just by asking. Such a bad business practice.

Great for adult instruction in ballroom!!! Private lessons are absolutely worth while and the socials they have on week nights are fun. Older children will probably respect and appreciate classes more so I agree with the previous post. It is probably a better investment to enroll a 10 year old or even older to handle the classroom atmosphere. However, many techniques develop strength the more you practice so a young student could benefit from the early instruction as well. I guess it really depends on your son or daughter’s maturity level.

I have 2 children enrolled in one of their dance programs (1 hour once per week).
I’ve noted that class always starts 5 – 8 minutes late and the first 30 minutes of the class are spent stretching and chatting. I understand stretching and warm-​ups are necessary, but I’d rather see more time for instruction.
The instructor is skilled at dancing — less so at managing & teaching children. The class assistant is usually dancing off on her own. I don’t see any benefit in that.
After several months of dance lessons, my kids learned 4 beginner dance moves — each of which an adult could master in about 3 seconds.
Get a hip hop video from Netflix (or watch free youtube clips) and learn 25 moves in an hour instead.
I’m giving 3 stars only because this was our first experience with a dance school.
Not recommended for young ones. Just not worth the time and $.