I have found Glenwood Dance Studio to be a much needed component in not only the Far Northside Chicago area, but in the arts community in general. Started by a group of dance students with no extensive professional experience, GDS has managed to cultivate and grow pretty much exactly what a good dance studio should be: a welcoming space with a variety of classes taught by capable and professional instructors. GDS is an adults-only studio which can be nice for students who are in a different headspace than their younger contemporaries. This also means that class times are purposefully created to be accommodating to most's usual 9-5 weekday schedule. There's also plenty to do on the weekends, so you have the option to dance every day if you want to. The bulk of the students tend to be beginners and non-professionals so this can help provide those who have no professional/performative aspirations a less-stressful environment in which to learn. Shy and new dancers don't worry - you're not the only one. However, despite this, GDS is also very welcoming and able to accommodate dance professionals and has had students from various Chicago-land companies come through. The studio is quite small - fairly wide though only roughly 3-4 panels deep, but for the most part (of course depending on enrollment) the teachers do their best to keep it a safe and effective learning experience - even for long-limbed dancers over 6'! I've attended classes at GDS for about seven years now and though I of course take classes elsewhere every now and then, I am happy to call it my dance home. read more

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Glenwood Dance Studio truly is an amazing place! I took my first dance class of my life in March 2023 and I can absolutely say I am a happier and healthier person because of it! This is a safe space full of friendly knowledgable instructors and a warm welcoming community! I have loved every class I've taken! Truly Glenwood Dance Studio has changed my life! read more

I love this studio! I appreciate that it's geared toward adults of all abilities and bodies. I always feel supported and never judged and feel totally comfortable being in the space. I also love that they will still honor your class spot even if you have to miss it. They also have a fantastic deal for new students, and I recommend them to everyone. It's right off the red line and is fairly easy to find street parking (depending on when your class is!). read more

Love this place, great, friendly, unique instructors and a good value for the price! It's so great to dance again!!

Glenwood came into my life at a time I really needed it. I took 2 years of modern dance in middle school and have lamented over the years that I have not done anything as an adult. I'd even pinpointed Glenwood a few years back, but never ended up going (the search for RP parking scared me a bit. But, let's be real, we all make ridiculous excuses for not very good reasons). Enter Covid and the advent of the online class. As soon as I saw the offerings, I signed up. I've taken contemporary, sassy heels, social dance, musical theater, and the stretch/move class. Contemporary with Kim Baker is my absolute favorite! The teachers are talented and put together fun and manageable routines. Most of the combos they create are used over two weeks and then a new one is introduced. I've found that even if you miss the first week of the combo, the teachers explain enough for you to pick it up in the second week if need be. They are very attentive to who's in the class and their needs. There is something very special about connecting the movement of your body to music, and I am so grateful that Glenwood offers these opportunities for adults and beginners like me. You can tell in the classes that people know each other, but I've never really felt like an outsider. A big shout out to Erin, one of the founders, who made me feel very welcome in the first couple months of my involvement. These are good people who do good things for our community. If you are at all interested in exploring dance, I highly recommend checking this place out. Even if you are completely new! They also now offer their tap classes in-person, masked up :-) Most everything else is still online as of the time of this post. read more

I have been coming to the Glenwood Dance Studio since Oct 2019 and love it! Great classes for an affordable price -- for adults! Win! Teachers are great and love the welcoming environment. I take Ballet, Sassy Heels, and soon Jazz technique love them :) read more

This space changed my life. I'd been looking for something for years and didn't know it existed just a few blocks from my house. I'd give it 10 stars if I could. read more

Glenwood Dance Studio - Glenwood Logo - Performing Arts Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I went many months ago and am late to getting this review in. I really wanted to like this place, but truthfully, the class I took at least is not actually for beginners. I've never danced before but think contemporary dance is really cool and was excited to learn something new. The group in the class is people who already have been dancing for a while. The pace for choreography is quicker than an actual beginner can follow, and the instructor made no attempts to support new students or catch me up so I could follow properly. At the end, I expressed my frustration and they tried really hard to be kind about it, saying things like "it's totally okay if you don't get it, no pressure! Don't worry!" while neglecting the fact that my frustration was not with myself for "not getting it." It was with a class intended for beginners that doesn't actually gear to and support beginners. Maybe some people like learning by scrambling to swim in the deep end for hours until they "get it," but if that's not you, then the beginner classes here maybe aren't for you either. read more

The Glenwood dance studio is a fantastic community dance studio. The space is quaint and welcoming. All bodies of all ability levels are welcome in these dance classes. The teachers are kind, accommodating and fun! If you've been dying to try a dance class, this is a great place for first timers. Most classes are drop in style so you don't have to worry about committing for several weeks. My favorite classes are ballet, the workshops, sassy heels and anything taught by Brennen Renteria, Josh Fletcher and Amy Williams. read more

A really nice, adult-focused studio! I take ballet here (they offer both absolute beginner and more advanced classes), but they also have tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, yoga, and a few other things. The teachers are really great: they have great technique and they really know how and WANT to teach. Prices are really reasonable ($10-15 a class) and the studio is directly off the Morse El stop. The other students are really supportive and friendly. Some of them are actually the owners! It's a super welcoming place for everyone. read more

I am taking 4 weeks unlimited. This is my 4th week. A great thing is this dance studio offers a wide variety of dance classes. I enjoy taking sassy heels, musical theater and basic ballet. The instructors are professional and great. It's a small nice community dance studio and Friendly ambiance. One bad thing is the parking. It is always a headache... read more

This is the best dance environment I have ever been in! I started ballet as a pre-teen, and had stopped for 10 years! I had been wanting to start classes again for several years but was too afraid to jump back into it. The thought of starting ballet again as an adult is both soul breaking and terrifying. I finally came here and was surprised by the welcoming feel in the classes. Every teacher I have ever had has been phenomenal and I have never been made to feel uncomfortable or awkward. You do not have to have any previous dance experience to come to a class, just show up and enjoy the learning process! They also offer students an opportunity to participate in a casual recital a few times a year. It's great to be able to work towards something! I just started taking beginning tap on Thursday evenings at 8:00pm, which Glenwood just added to their class schedule. It's a blast! Another GREAT class with another GREAT teacher! read more

I started coming here because it fit my schedule! But then I stopped because the atmosphere got cold. So firstly, it's a small studio but it's warm and relatively clean. There's a water fountain too! Parking....it's all street parking but at least it's free. Be prepared to circle the block though. What you're not really told right away is that you're expected to partake in a showcase in several weeks. I wasn't coming to do that so I didn't think it relevant, but the teacher, I forgot her name but she teaches basic ballet, was teaching us a specific routine for this showcase thing. This is a class of adults, mind you, who are mostly older than her, and she started getting really impatient and pissy when people were getting the routine wrong. I think I took one or two of the choreography ballet classes too that this happened in actually. I thought it would be fun, but she got a bad attitude because we weren't practicing at home and such. I came to learn ballet, not routines for some showcase. I stopped going to the choreography class. I stopped going to the basic class after she barked at me for checking my phone while I was stretching after class ended, and she was going over routines with students taking the choreography class (which I wasn't part of). Honestly that teacher's attitude put me off from ever going back. If you don't have the patience, just don't offer the class. I don't come to have someone get pissy with me, I definitely don't pay you to get pissy with me. 3 stars because aside from the routine stuff, it was a decent Barre exercise. Barely did any turns or anything involving jumps because it's a small space I guess. If you like learning a routine, this is the place for you! Not my thing. read more

I was very excited to take dance classes here because it's so close to my house and I really love to dance even though I'm super uncoordinated and bad at it. I was really interested in getting into jazz dance but the beginner class was scheduled late in the evening and included a pretty heavy (for me at least) warm up workout which ended up keeping me up all night when I have to work in the AM - so the scheduling just didn't work out for me. Also, it could be just that I am spectacularly clumsy but the other people taking it seemed way too good to be beginners and they were working on an advanced routine they had obviously been practicing for a while. Which is fine, but I was told that the classes were "drop in". I think it might be better if they were clear that classes each build upon the previous class leading to a performance and it's best to start with the first class, especially if you're a beginner. I ultimately ended up taking the Fundamentals of Dance which seemed more truly geared toward beginners but was all ballet. I found the instructor very nice and helpful but I just was not that interested in ballet. I would definitely try again if they offered more class times (I know this is hard because the staff are all volunteers). I also think they could benefit by reaching out into the neighborhood more to non-dancers who might be interested in trying it. As it is, the studio has a kind of "closed community" vibe that kind of goes against their stated mission. read more

I've been part of the GDS community for years! It's a place full of passionate dancers of all experience levels. It doesn't matter if you're completely new to dance or if you're a pro. There's a class for everyone. Plus! New members get the first class for free. read more

This is the perfect dance studio for someone like me. They specialize in adult drop-in classes, fostering a warm and welcoming community of dance based in the Glenwood Arts District. Whether you've been dancing you whole life or you've never taken a class before, this is a great place to dance! read more

I attended a drop-in modern dance class for the first time a few months ago, and it was okay. Everyone seemed to know each other and it appeared to be a very close community. The teacher was great and very talented, but one thing that really bothered me was that they filmed part of the class. I was not sure what the filming was for (nor was I told that this part of the class would be filmed and then posted on the internet), and it made me uncomfortable. I did not say anything, but I still found it a bit strange. In addition, this was supposed to be a drop-in class, but they continued a routine that they were already working on. I'm an experienced dancer, but I definitely felt a bit awkward being the only one not knowing what was going on. The people were overall very nice and warm, and if I lived in the area, I might go back (but not before expressing my concerns about the video recording). read more

Awful service! I arrived at the facility only to be turned away a few minutes after 8 because they started class (they were still stretching). The door was locked so I knocked several times and when they finally answered the door they said they wouldn't let me in and offered me a schedule. I told her that I drove around for 30 minutes to find parking and it was 8:05 when I got there. Don't waste your time here and go somewhere with good customer service and dedicated staff. I wish Fisher was still around, that's where I trained back in the day. I shouldn't have been adventurous and stuck to welcoming studios like Visceral and Vaudezilla. read more

Glenwood Dance Studio a great place to dance. I used to live in the area in the summer of 2013 and went down the street to try out Jazz and Hip-Hop dance classes. I loved the studio and the people instantly and did my first dance rehearsal three months later for Hip-Hop. Every teacher and class is a unique and warming experience. If you want to try dance or are looking for a friendly place to hone your skills as a dancer then try GDS! read more

I love this place! I started dancing here back when it was still Northside, and I've loved that it has continued on as Glenwood Dance Studio. I've taken jazz, tap, ballet, hip hop, contemporary and modern classes here, and they were all pretty great. I've been a dancer since I was three, but took a four-year break when I first moved to Chicago. GDS has allowed me to get back into dancing, and I'm able to take both beginning classes to improve my technique, as well as intermediate classes to stretch myself. The atmosphere might be my favorite part about Glenwood Dance Studio. It's more informal than some other studios in town, and the students and teachers are all very accepting of different body types, ages and skill levels. I've always felt included and appreciated here, even if I'm not the best dancer in class. You also get a chance to have a little performance every few months in end-of-term showcase, so your friends/family can see what you've been working on in class. Definitely highly recommended! read more

A great studio for adults who are interested in returning to dance after a break, learning to dance for the first time, or continuing their dance training. The staff is extremely welcoming. Check out their Facebook or YouTube pages for sample videos if you're curious as to the skills levels of each class. read more