Center Space is amazing. The occasional House dance class here is SO FUN! Donna, the studio owner, is one of the best teachers in Portland. She is a devoted dancer that has trained for most of her life, and it shows. The House Dance classes she has taught have changed my life in regards to dance. Super high energy, we learn a ton of drills for footwork that you can practice at home, a true foundation class. Donna really pays attention to all the students in the class and teaches for each person at their level, and then will challenge you based on where you are at without pushing you away by forcing too much of a challenge. She teaches house dance sometimes as part of the Wednesday night street dance series, which changes the theme focus pretty much weekly right now.
This is one of the only adult dance studios that I've been to that has classes focused on Technique in dance. At least, Donna's classes focus on that a lot.
Maricella's Hip-hop class is also fantastic here; You get a longer class here than you would at other studios in town for your money, and you repeat the choreography a LOT, but heads up she never does it to a specific song (just ongoing to a mix of hiphop songs). It's a great practice for drilling choreography memory regardless, but you are not dancing for the emotional choreography within a specific song. It's similar to her class held at NWDP but there are much fewer teens here, if any at all. There are a diverse range of people that show up to this hiphop class which is also cool. I think it's among the easier hiphop classes in Portland for beginners, noting you would be expected to keep up with remembering a choreography, and despite being long you drill it over and over so much that you'll get it if you try. She is a great teacher too, if she notices most of the class is having trouble with a specific movement she breaks it down over again. read more
