SuperShag Dance Studios

A top of the line place All instructors are very very good.

My review is of the Waltham facility where we took a total of 30 private lessons. They are a good marketing machine, but they fall short in a number of areas:
— My wife and I signed up for a ten lesson. We knew nothing about what we were doing and the instructor recommended that we learn a few steps of eight different dance styles. Net result is at the end of ten lessons, we didn’t know enough of any dance style to be able to dance to anything (you need 8 – 10 moves to be able to dance to anything). I would have preferred if the dance instructor had offered us the option to focus on one single dance style, but then again the goal is to have you keep signing up for lessons and not to have you become self sufficient.
— No effort was made to teach us the names of the various moves making it more difficult for us to practice on our own and create our own routine. Again, I suspect the goal is to sell you more lessons.
— They have only two rooms: a large one and an attached smaller one with no door between the two. That means whenever you have multiple lessons being given you hear everyone else’s music. Not good when you are just starting.
— They have a limited number of instructors and very few female instructors.
— They had no availability for private lessons on weekends. My wife and I both work and we are raising a family so getting away weeknights was tough.
On the plus side:
— we liked our instructor Daniel who taught us lessons 20 – 30.
— there are a lot of restaurants in the area so you can dinner following your lessons.
Dancing is fantastic couples activity and excellent exercise. I recommend:
1) that you and your partner agree on a single dance style and focus on that until you have enough moves to be able to dance to a 3 – 4 minute song.
2) that the guy to take the initial lessons by himself until he is proficient as he will need to lead. If your wife/​girlfriend starts at the same time as the guy she will invariably try to lead and tell you what you are doing wrong even though she is learning herself. The guy needs to know more than the gal for this to go well.
3) Learn either chachacha, hustle, or east coast swing (in that order). At least 50% of pop tunes today are to a chachacha beat so you will be able to dance all night at clubs. Hustle and swing beats are prevalent in music from the 80s and 90s. If you are into Latin, learn salsa & meringue.
Have fun!

I began dancing here with the Brandeis Ballroom Dance Team about three years ago and have no intention of switching to another studio. I have taken group lessons, private lessons, and had a pseudo-​business partnership with the studio and all experiences have been amazing. Just as a warning, this will be a long review, with some close looks at the people that I’ve interacted with the most.
I began with Brandeis’ group bronze lessons with Danielle, who breaks down all the steps and makes sure every student understands the choreography before moving on. She (and other instructors) are more than happy to add to the dance or begin another one if asked. Erik, who teaches the group silver lessons for Brandeis has a unique sense of humor that takes a bit getting used to (only he sees the humor. You learn to just laugh at how amused he is) but is an excellent teacher as well. He moves at a faster pace and focuses more on technique than Danielle does, but that could also be because he’s teaching a higher level class.
I have also taken formation lessons with Aaron, which were a key part of my falling in love with ballroom dancing. He always picked fun songs to dance to and was always aware of the dancers’ levels (the Brandeis formation team has a mix of levels ranging from beginner to champ at times) and patiently explained the more advanced steps to beginners while emphasizing technique for more advanced dancers. Formation lessons with Krisztian were similar, though he wanted the dancers to pick the music and theme. He likes to challenge the dancers and often adjusts the choreography as they become more advanced. At the 2012 Harvard Invitational, the formation team was actually praised for its choreography and most people didn’t believe it when they were told that more than half the dancers had been dancing for less than a year.
This past year, I’ve been taking private lessons with Krisztian. My partner began dancing after I did and we were on completely different levels, both of which were lower than 2 years of dance should have put us (our fault. Not enough practice), but Krisztian somehow magically shrank the gap between us and bring us up to a level expected of us. Besides being full-​time students and running our ballroom team (more on that later), we both saw significant improvement in our technique, repertoire of steps, and partner-​connection. When there was some inevitable team drama, Krisztian encouraged us to continue dancing and work out our differences and our dancing has only gotten better since. We look forward to the studio-​hosted Boston Ballroom Conference and Competition in September!
Now on to the pseudo-​business aspect; as competitive captain, formation captain, and occasional acting vp of the Brandeis Ballroom Dance Team, I got to know several of the staff and other instructors that I did not have the opportunity to take lessons with. First off, Andy, the manager, is magical. There were several times when the team was in financial trouble and he went above and beyond what he and the studio were asked to do including prize donations, event sponsership, and other services. He, and other members of the studio, are very understanding when it comes to financial difficulty and usually a serious conversation with either him, your instructor, and/​or the receptionist results in fair accommodations. Also, don’t underestimate how important the receptionist is. Of the three I know best, I won’t speak of two of them because they were members of the team and that would be extremely biased, but Carrie is wonderful. She truly cares about the studio, its staff, and its students, and always takes the time to follow up on lesson time-​changes, answer questions, etc.
Everybody at the studio makes an effort to get to know you and help you improve. I’ve had instructors watching me and the formation team practice and practically give a free group lesson (thanks Jess!) and everybody says hello to everybody else on a regular basis, even the students! The environment is extremely friendly and the Friday night parties encourage interaction, with people switching partners and dancing with people that they’ve never met before. I brought a friend with no dance experience once and when asked if she wanted to go again a year later, she suggested that we bring a big group of people. All the members of the RPI ballroom team who came to compete at Brandeis’ competition attended the Friday night Supershag party the night before and they left with glowing reviews.
I highly recommend trying group lessons and going to the Friday party (in which there’s free food and beverages) to start so you can get to know more people and begin to incorporate into the community. Whether you want to dance competitively or socially, Supershag is a great place to not only dance, but get to know some great people that you may otherwise never meet.

I have been dancing for about 7 years and the last 5 at Super Shag. The last 2 years I have been primarily taking lessons there and I love it. If you are a serious dancer, a social dancer, getting ready for a wedding, or a trip on your shoe laces type, this is your place. Male and female instructors fro every person here. They take the time to show you at your pace. Friday nights they have a social party and on Saturdays they run a dance party at Ryles in Cambridge.
If you are a competitor this was the # 2 dance studio in the US in 2011 and in 2012 will probably be #1.
They offer complimentary lessons so give it a try.
This is as good as you will find in Greater Boston.

I started taking ballroom dancing lessons here several years ago and got hooked! The instructors here are top notch and the studio wins best studio awards at almost all their national competitions. With them I have progressively reached new levels of performance and, lest I get comfortable, my instructor makes sure I get challenged every time I return.
There is a real family atmosphere here and they have regular shows and parties. I have made so many great friends through this studio because we all have a major thing in common… we all love to dance!
For the longest time I thought my instructor, Dave, was the best, but it seems they keep getting new instructors, all of them great dancers and fun personalities. Eric, not my instructor but always there working when I go in for classes, is a top-​notch guy… really nice and such a great instructor! (he taught a couple of group lessons when he first started). Tibor, another instructor, is a crazy, fun guy but also very serious when it comes to taking care of his students and teaching others about ballroom and competitions.
They have Friday night parties with mixers that ensure that every person gets to dance. There is usually a show or more on Friday nights to allow competitors to have a trial run on their routines. Then they turn on the lounge in the back room and the crowd really starts to let loose. Free food and beverage and you realize what a great time you can have for short cash.
They recently renovated the studio and it looks great! The dressing rooms are bigger and they have competitions playing constantly on the big screen tvs.
I took lessons at a very well-​known ballroom studio before dancing with Supershag and I have to say that the Bronze level students here dance better than the gold level dancers there, so, if you love ballroom, this is the place to be in Boston!!!

I’ve been taking ballroom lessons at SuperShag for about 5 months, sometimes at the Charlestown location, sometimes here. This spot is a lot bigger which can be good (more space) or bad (not as cozy) — I like both. I was a spaz on the dance floor when I started and the staff went out of their way to make a newby comfortable. The atmosphere is laid back and students are all ages and levels.

Ugh. I tried this place, I really did. I came in person during their open hours, I waited patiently to speak to an instructor, and even though the place was pretty much empty (it was Monday), it took the guy five minutes to either notice I was there or finish contemplating his navel and come over.
He said he was too busy (?) to answer my questions, but told me to call tomorrow after noon and speak to ‘any of the managers’. Tuesday afternoon I called and left a message. I called the Charlestown studio and left a message. I called the main line just for the hell of it. Nothing.
Now the rest of the story– I was surprising a friend of mine with a dance lesson, and she had no idea what was going on, but she had agreed to meet me at a mysterious place and found some time in her schedule to do it, and it had to be Tuesday PM, so I had to schedule it in that window.
At 4:00 PM I called Arthur Murray Dance Studios, and a human answered, scheduled us for a free private lesson that evening, and answered all of my questions with candor and politeness. Now was that that hard?
So Wednesday I get FOUR calls from an instructor at Supershag (apparently it takes them 24 hours to check their voicemail) when I’m in a client meeting. When I call the number he keeps leaving in my voicemail and leave him a message to stop calling me, his answering machine hangs up on me. When i finally was able to answer his repeated annoying calls, I explained to him that my time was valuable and I didn’t have time to play phone-​tag, they lost my business, and to please stop calling me.
Who knows, maybe they’re a great studio. But their business practices suck. AMDS may be expensive, but at least they don’t waste my time.

I really wanted to learn how to dance which then lead me to Supershag Dance Studios. Unfortunately my experience wasn’t what I expected it to be. I came in for a free introductory lesson and felt thinking that I’ll probably never go back because of it. I don’t want to name any names but my private instructor wasn’t that friendly and seemed frustrated with me when I would get things wrong. I’m a headstrong female that likes to take the lead and I can’t help it if that also shows when I dance with a partner. Another thing was that at the end my instructor sat down with me and gave me a critique which wasn’t very encouraging. He basically told me that everything «needs work» but also slightly rolled his eyes every time he said «needs work.» Well there’s a reason why I wanted to take lessons! Dancing is suppose to be fun, not a life commitment.
Edit — 10÷26÷07
I added a star because I received a message from the owner of Supershag saying that he was sorry to hear that I had a bad experience. He also offered another free introductory lesson in place of the previous one I had. Two thumbs up to an owner who is being proactive!

I went here with some friends on friday night and we had a blast. Everyone was so friendly, sharing dance partners and such. The owners were really nice too, taking time to meet us newbies and talk up the studio, making an effort to remember our names and such. The beginner class before hand was easy to follow and a nice help for the next two hours. Well worth the $ 15 for the night (8:30 to 11+).
Oh, and they serve free refreshments on fridays, too.

Yep, the name of this studio is a bit strange but it was founded by a bunch of guys so go figure. This studio is a great place to hone your skills as a dancer. They offer everything from social and competitve Ballroom and Latin to wedding prep to performance groups.
The staff is really fun and energetic and totally competent to teach. They host the Saturday night parties at Ryle’s Jazz Club in Inman Square where they also teach an intro lesson.
At their Waltham studio they have regular Friday night parties and always offer an intro lesson at the beginning of the party.
You’ll see me at the studio on Thursday nights and Saturdays and at Ryle’s on Saturday nights. Save me a dance. Check out the photos and more at