LOVE this neighborhood studio. What a refreshing change from a stuffy gym to get in a variety of fun and challenging workouts. The space is beautiful and the staff is friendly and personable. The owners get to know you by first name which puts such a nice personal touch on a workout place. My favorite is 'kickin it cardio' at 6:15 am with Kate. She truly gets you sweating before seven and you just feel great and toned. I also like barre fit on Monday night, it is a great change to my typical workouts. I highly recommend checking out this place! read more

Literally the only part of my kids' childhoods I wanted to fast forward through was their time at Dovetail over the last year, previously in classes there it was better tho!. The teacher had the kids sign a contract about commitment, teamwork etc (cool!) my daughter took it super seriously bc she's like that. The teacher himself then proceeded to come late or not show up at class at all (no notice or group txt would even come from dovetail after the fact- we just show up and it would empty the majority of times. After months of this they gave us a $100 credit and 1 email about it. They transitioned it to a new teacher who was really dependable. They told my daughter they "thought we would place in top 10, like 6 or Better." My daughter is type of person who latches onto that so when they didn't place, she felt it more Than needed. It was clear her time at park district (McFeteridge) brought out waaaaay more talent and she grew waaaay more there and with very strong routines. Great artistry from Dovetail tho. Teachers were nice. They txtd us during paid sessions they wanted to walk the kids to 7-11 instead of class time. The other families were nice and we vibed with them- not competitive etc. did pizza with them couple times over year. my wife took a class at dovetail for adults and loved it. My daughter had classes (not completion) that went well and she really loved all the teachers. read more

VERY hard to schedule private classes and I was asked for my credit card through email which is HIGHLY dangerous, but great teachers as far as I can see. read more

this is a home for dancers run by dancers... an absolute gem of a spot. the room spacious and comfortable. the floor is perfect... its clean with a glyde friendly surface. the surround sound lets the music take control. the staff is very welcoming. the lounge/rest/waiting area is a perfect compliment to the dance rooms. the restrooms are well kept. joanne and tbuggz are amazing people to work with. highly recommended read more

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Fantastic experience. The studio is clean and bright and the teachers are high quality. Highly recommend to all ages and ability. There is something for everyone! read more

My daughter absolutely loves her dance classes at Dovetail! Even with having to transition to virtual classes, she still looks forward to her class ever week. Also she is very shy, and I was impressed with her first teacher's (Ms MK) approach to helping her feel comfortable when she first started. We've had such a great experience. read more

Dovetail is a community of movers that I will never stop recommending. The classes are led by highly favored professional dance teachers and the space is full of potential to grow networks! read more

A terrific dance studio for all levels of dancers. There are many classes offered for preschoolers up to college students. Look for a class with Molly Strom as she is an outstanding instructor and choregrapher in addition to being an avant garde professional contemporary/modern dancer in Chicago's performing arts scene. If you come to Dovetail by car and need to park, allow a couple minutes to find a spot on Montrose. If you are just dropping your child off, then there is always a designated space right outside the studio. read more

I LOVE Dovetail Studios!! The environment is warm and inviting and the space doubles as an intimate performance venue. The owners are hands on and really care about their clientele and the overall experience of everyone who walks through the door. Go support local dance and instruction! read more

My daughter just started ballet there a few weeks ago & I have nothing but great things to say about this studio. I have a very active child and she wanted to try ballet. I wanted a place that was convenient and will really challenge her. She goes there excited and comes home happy and talking about ballet and all the things she's learning. Everyone there is friendly and welcoming. I got a hand written thank you note after we signed up. Such a lovely touch to a fantastic place. They also have fitness classes there. I should really try that. They make it look so fun. I highly recommend Dovetail read more

Dovetail Studios - Ballerinas having fun - Dance Studios Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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This is the third dance studio I have taken my daughter to, and definitely has been the best experience! While it is a new-ish studio, it is not lacking in professionalism in any way. Miss Molly is wonderful and my daughter adores her. Even though it is only pre-ballet, I feel like she is actually learning skills, as opposed to just having structured play time. That said, she has a blast! read more

Dovetail was so incredibly communicative and receptive to my children's needs and expectations. They communicated in a timely and friendly manner. While, it's not our home studio my children enjoyed the drop-in class options. I would highly recommend Dovetail for younger children. My older children needed a little more rigor but the drop in classes offer diversity for older students. The studio space is clean and open. The instructors come from diversified professional dance experiences which is wonderful for learning & perfecting technique. read more

Mercedes is a rockstar! If you are looking for an amazing way to start your Sunday, you need to come WERQ with her. I guarantee you will sweat the hour away and leave with a huge smile on your face, ready for a mimosa! Such a good time. read more

Nothing but good things to say about Dovetail. The owners are passionate, dedicated, and committed to providing the best experience possible for little dancers and their parents. The classes for adults are challenging and fun too! This is also a great location to host birthday parties or small gatherings! read more

My daughter has been attending Dovetail Studios for some time now. We were really impressed with their ability to still keep the classes going via zoom during the pandemic. We truly appreciate the wonderful instructors they have and how they are able to keep the attention of the young dancers. read more

Any adult beginner wanting to learn ballet PLEASE read. I want to preface the following by saying that I'm not angry at all I'm just really disheartened and as an adult desperately looking to seriously learn the art of ballet with very very minimal learned experience in the art but looking to fully learn,  I don't want this to happen to you. I'm so incredibly disappointed with my experience here. I've always so badly wanted to learn ballet and was never able to as a child. Now as an adult I decided to finally just go for it and had been looking up so many dance studios in the Chicago area. Dovetail Studios had great reviews and the website looked so professional with great photos so I bought the $225 semester pack in good faith: Thursdays 6:30-7:30 W21 Adult Ballet: Beginning 1 (IN-PERSON) (17 classes in total) taught by Molly. I was so super super excited, like beyond excited. I took the first class last night and not even 10min in I wish I could have just left. The class was being taught in conjunction with the online adult beginner ballet (wish I'd known that) which made it so us in-person students (only me and one other person) already didn't have the undivided attention of the teacher. Then I also could see that us in-person students were struggling to follow the teacher on the bars because the way the bars are set on the walls make it so you have to crane your head around to see what the teacher is doing when you're facing the wall or when you're clueless about the terminology so you can only really learn by watching and mimicking the teacher. I wish at least that the teacher had at least offered to set up the portable bars for us on the center of the room where she was situated with her own portable bar, but she didn't. I didn't bother to ask because I felt like if she had genuinely cared she would have done it from the get go. I honestly felt like I just spent lots of money to flail around awkwardly in an empty room and be ignored, which honestly is what happened and there was only one other in-person student too so it wasn't like there was lots of us to watch at all. I've taken a few ballet classes as an adult elsewhere in the far past and something I was immediately taught was to always turn out my foot when pointing it out and don't stand crunched up to the bar. I found myself doing these a lot last night and not once was corrected for it which surprised and disappointed me a lot. And made it clear that I was in the wrong place for an adult wanting to learn seriously. Im just so heartbreakingly disappointed and disheartened overall. I just really want to find a place that adults can seriously learn ballet and be taught by teachers who genuinely want to teach you as they would any young professional or little child with future potential lucky enough to be growing up taking lessons. And to not feel like your teacher doesn't really care since you're a grown adult with no real career potential in the art so no point in making such an effort to teach you correctly. I'm leaving this review to warn any adults seriously wishing to learn ballet to look elsewhere. I wish I could get my money back but I'm sure they won't refund me if I ask. Even though I already paid for this whole semester package I'm not coming back to take the rest of the classes. I hope any adults out there luck finding a place to meet our genuine wish to learn this art. read more

I absolutely love Rachel's Hurt So Good Barre class on Thursday mornings. She is an adorable, energetic and friendly teacher that creates a different routine each week to fun music. It's a fun class and a great workout. read more

I purchased a Groupon on a whim to try out the fitness classes at Dovetail Studios, and I'm so thrilled that I did! The space is gorgeous, the classes are so much fun, and the teachers are motivating and kind. Try Rachel's barre class, Eddie's fitness class, and the Friday night yoga class (especially awesome with a LIVE DJ!) Don't worry if you have no dance experience and haven't been to a gym in awhile. The classes are for all ability levels, shapes, and sizes. Love this place! read more

Recently moved to the neighborhood and have been looking for a new gym/studio to go to. I tried Dovetail today for the first time and I'm glad I did! The class was led by Kate and it was a great! I'll definitely be frequenting Dovetail now that I know how awesome the studio and staff is! For anyone who lives the neighborhood or for anyone looking for a new studio that offers a variety of workout classes - check out Dovetail! read more

My family can't be happier to have found this dance studio. In summary, we have participated in a 3-4 year old dance class, adult body sculpt AND we had my 4 year old's birthday party here. All of our interactions have been positive and we will continue to come back. I will provide a bit more detail below. First, my pre-schooler has been taking dance class here for 5 months so far and she loves it. She looks forward to class every week. She shows people "first position" when we are on the el train. She has had a lot of music (with some movement) classes in the past, but this class is teaching her movements that go along with music. It's teaching her the foundations of dance in an entertaining way. It is rare for us to leave without her having an enormous, energized smile on her face. Shout out to Miss Kat for being the best - but the two times we have had a substitute (often a troubling thing for younger kids) I have still come away with a happy kid. Second, I take my daughter to class and take advantage of the AMAZING opportunity to have my own simultaneously-run adult fitness class. Eddie is fun and always varies the workout enough to keep things challenging. We do body-weight or light-weights workouts with lots of lateral movement thrown in. Fantastic total body work and great cross-training for runners. I look forward to my class every week. Lastly, we have had such great experience with Dovetail that my daughter wanted to have her birthday party here. Again, this was a smooth and fun experience for all involved. My daughter's friends all had a blast. The owner was on-site making sure everything ran perfectly. They had tables, benches, trash cans. They helped with setup and clean up. We had lots of discussions on how best to handle the order of events (Miss Kat was on hand to lead the children in a dance class), but Miss Kat and Joanna were also very willing to go with the flow of the party (breaking up cake and pizza and class activities) so the kids stayed active and engaged. The time flew by. I can't recommend this business enough for all of the above, and I can't wait to see what the next levels of dance bring for my daughter - I'm sure that we will be supporting this wonderful local business for a long time to come. read more

We just celebrated my daughter's 5th birthday here and it was amazing! My 5- (going on 15) year-old had very specific ideas of what she wanted and we had almost 30 kids representing a wide range of ages and Rachel had them fully engaged and on-board with my daughter's baseball meets ballet concept. No easy task! She also allowed my daughter a moment to lead the class which was icing on the cake. Great space and very accommodating team! read more

I went to the dance recital that they have every year. I was just ashamed for these kids. Even the older ones. It was just horrible. If these kids went against any other studio they would be put to shame. ALL the instructors are sub par. I was thinking more like volunteers. It was painful to watch. As parents if you are paying for this Studio. STOP go somewhere better. You are doing your child a dis service having them waste their time and your money in this Studio. Simply Pathetic. Putting only one star because you have to put something. I would actually give them 0 stars. I am a professional trained dancer and I was just shocked at the development of these children. Teachers shame on you! read more

Dovetail is such a refreshing change from your typical gym classes. The teachers are incredibly motivating, the space is amazing (and so much better than one if those over-crowded classrooms at a gym), and the owners are incredibly friendly and kind. I loved the Body Sculpt class with Eddie as well and look forward to trying others this winter! read more

LOVE the ballet classes our daughter has taken at Dovetail! Wonderful teacher, small classes, personal attention...all so close to our house too! End of year recital was absolutely adorable, and I was thrilled to find out their costume for it was quite inexpensive (after hearing stories from other moms). Joanna and the team are incredibly kind and easy to work with-great experience all around. read more