I am a regular at this studio for years now. I am not sure how I missed leaving a review for you…read moreYelpers! I can promise you there is something for everyone - from non dancers to professional dancers. I personally have grown so much here and I love all my instructors. They offer dance classes in many styles. I've tried a bunch of their classes like hip-hop, bolly-hop, Jazz, salsa and contemporary. Oh! they offer fitness classes as well, you won't regret it. Check out their Instagram for videos! :) @danceid, @difitwithshaira

*Rediscovering Myself Through Dance: A Journey for New Moms*…read more As a child, I found joy in Bharatnatyam and Hindustani classical vocals, with performance feeling like second nature. But as a new mother, I realized how much I missed that creative outlet--something just for me. Stepping into Dance Identity in Sunnyvale reignited that passion. It's not just about learning new dance styles; it's about reconnecting with myself, embracing movement as an expression of joy, and finding a supportive community along the way. Some of my fellow dancers have become dear friends, making this journey even more rewarding. To all the new moms (and anyone else seeking to be part of a community while learning to dance) out there looking for an energizing escape, a space to move, express, and connect--come dance with us. You deserve this!

I have tried the Thursday Beginner Ballet and Strength and Stretch classes here. Both are taught by…read moreMacKenzie and she is incredibly patient, kind, and sweet! I do think the Beginner Ballet sessions are on the short side (they are only 45 mins) and as a result are better suited for people looking to refine their technique than complete beginners who need to build foundations. Strength and Stretch is also probably best suited to experienced dancers, as the class has students doing crunches for consecutive minutes with no breaks and going into straddles, side splits, and advanced yoga poses with very little preparation and no modifications (this class is also only 45 mins, so warm up and cool down are quite brief). I would rate my experience as a novice to dance as 3 stars, but more experienced dancers may get more benefit from these particular classes, and it seems the ballroom classes are much more popular and well reviewed. This is a convenient location right off Foothill Expressway with ample parking in the back. There are classes in other dance styles (especially ballroom) almost every day of the week, so I may try those another time.

About 8 months ago, I resumed ballroom dancing after a long hiatus and started taking group classes…read moreat Arete Dance Center. This place is great! Not only are the teachers very good, but they also create a very welcoming environment. Most of the group classes are small enough that students can get some individual attention. At the outset, I had no intention of taking private lessons, but one thing led to another and now I'm also taking a weekly private lesson.

The schoolmaster Lu laoshi is a very rude and ill-bred teacher. She takes the insult to her…read morestudents as a form of strictness. If you want your kids lose confidence, be humiliated, you can sent your kids to the school. I just give you an example, she asked some students to take off their ballet skirts, and show their hip to the other students.The reason is she want other students know how fat they are. Even in China, there are no teachers treat students like this! If a teacher does this action , the parents will prosecute her. She also said your mom is very fat, do you want like your Mom? She not only disrespected the students, but also disrespected the students' parents. In addition, she discriminated against Chinese Children even though she is a Chinese! So ridiculous!

My daughter has attended New Century Dance for around 4 years and this review will be a mixture of…read moreboth her experiences as a student and mine as a parent. 1) Classes are increasingly going back to in-person and although all students wear masks (and will be provided with one if not), there is no social distancing protocol - Students will be very close together at times - During an online dance competition, students did not wear masks while recording all pieces - Even when the county is in purple tier, advanced students will be expected to go to in-person (especially for competitive team classes) - As of recently, it is required to get COVID tested if student want to be in person - Upon entry Lu Lao Shi (the main teacher) will take student's and faculty's temperature - Equipment is sanitized and hand sanitizer is available 2) There is a lack of planning and communication between the school and parents - Often Lu Lao Shi will expect parents to drive students to school on demand or expect students to show up to new classes with very little notice - Competition dates will not be announced until a few months before - Families are expected to put dance first and everything else second (i.e. missing recitals, events, and tests for a dance event) 3) Lu Lao Shi often demeans her students and lowers their self esteem - I have witnessed Lu Lao Shi telling students as young as 7 that they are fat and should eat less - Students are expected to fit in the body type of professional dancers and students who don't are shamed in front of the whole class - Teens with developing bodies are told to lose up to 10-15 pounds and threatened that if they didn't they would not be able to have private lessons 4) Lu Lao Shi speaks in mainly mandarin and most of the students are of Chinese heritage - Lu Lao Shi can speak English but typically uses very little and only for her non-mandarin speaking students - Ms. Jocelyn Lu, Ms. Asia Bui, and most of the other teachers can speak english fluently and is their primary language in class 5) Class time is wasted with long lectures (regularly 30+ minutes and waste valuable class time) - This is only in Lu Lao Shi's classes, where when I have sat in on my daughter's online lessons noticed that she would talk continuously about things unrelated to the class - These spiels can be centered around specific students and their flaws and Lu Lao Shi embarrasses them (sometimes to the point of tears) - Technique classes will start 5 minutes late and end 10 minutes late on a regular basis 6) Students are accelerated due to their race, body type, or height - As touched upon before, many students are put into a more advanced class or being given more opportunities because of things they cannot control - Older students attend most classes based on height and students of the same age but of differing height don't get the same opportunities to improve - Students with the more ideal "ballet body" will be given solos and will be given more attention compared to everyone else - Most of the Non-Chinese or biracial students will be "showcased" to show the "diversity" on the school's social media and will also get more attention 7) Students with better financial support and who can afford multiple sets of dance clothes/hair supplies will be preferred and Lu Lao Shi will expect all students to be that way - I've witnessed a student with only one pair of leotard or tights get mocked by Lu Lao Shi in front of the class - Advanced students are also expected to be able to spend $100+ on new pointe shoes every 2-3 months 8) Most of the teachers are encouraging, supportive and helpful - Lu Lao Shi has good intentions and as mentioned in previous reviews, truly does want to push students as much as she can. However, since she was brought up in a professional and outdated environment, many of her views and teaching methods harm students more than help - Ms. Jocelyn Lu is trained in both classical Chinese dance and ballet and is a patient teacher who helps students grow their technique. Often times I find my daughter learns more from Ms. Lu than Lu Lao Shi herself. Unfortunately, Ms. Lu only teaches the competitive team dance classes and not the usual technique classes. - Ms. Asia Bui, a professional ballet dancer with the Sarasota Ballet, was only a regular teacher for about 3 months before teaching exclusively adult classes. In this short time, her teaching style was much more laid-back than Lu Lao Shi but also helped my daughter with her basic ballet technique. All in all, the studio has helped my daughter grow as a dancer, but also helped contribute to her low self confidence and her self consciousness (comparing herself with other dancers in her class). The first step towards making this studio better would definitely start with Lu Lao Shi fixing some of the things noted on this review.

My son is really enjoying Noreen's Dance Collaborative studio. This is one of the only things that…read moreI don't have to push him to do! The other day I tried to wake him up and he wouldn't budge because that's what most teenagers do . So I said "ok, we won't go to dance today if you don't get ready in 20 minutes." Before I know it, he was done in 15!!! Quite amazing actually. Noreen is also flexible and understanding about my son's hockey schedule which sometimes impede in the dance session. Overall it is a great place to thrive to help kids develop their self-confidence and performance skills. Thank you Noreen!

Noreen choreographed my Cotillion and the dances were…read moreamazing. She is a wonderful teacher and makes sure we know each step one by one. Her techniques are very effective and everyone on my court loved her. From slow dance Waltz to hip hop, her dances were enjoyable and fun. We really admired her as a teacher and by the end of the lessons we felt like we were expert dancers!

Ananya choreographed a sequence of four songs for my wife and me for our wedding. It was an amazing…read moreexperience. She is a great dancer and can adapt the steps to whatever your requirements are without compromising on the quality. My wife is a non-dancer and was extremely stressed about dancing in front of hundreds of people. Ananya took utmost care of her anxiety and focussed a lot of practice on making her comfortable with the steps. At the end, my wife was confident about dancing and I was happy with the quality of the choreography. Needless to say.. We rocked it! Thanks for making our special day more special.

Ananya is great. She's a very good instructor, very patient and very pleasant. I highly recommend…read moreher class, especially, anyone who is new to Bollywood dancing. I enjoyed the lesson tremendously! Tehreem S

A great way to introduce your budding little dancer to ballet. There's time for fun when the kids…read morecan express themselves and their individuality. And time for serious learning about positions, movements and their proper names. Our instructor, Miss Alana, is very sweet while communicating attention to technique and respect for the rules when doing bar work. There are plenty of options if you'd like to purchase ballet attire/slippers. **My only gripe is no fault of the school, but if they could send a message to parents reminding them to use common sense and to be respectful during classes, that would be helpful.... unfortunately, there is a mother in my child's class who repeatedly causes distractions, such as taking FaceTime calls, and bringing her smaller unruly child to class. So instead of keeping an eye on her child that is taking the class, she is busy talking on the phone and caring for her smaller child who is small, so naturally difficult for him to stay quiet for the 45 minutes of class. Common sense would dictate that if you feel the need to participate in a FaceTime call, you would stand outside so as not to disrupt the class, because it is a quiet environment, and nobody needs to be listening to somebody's FaceTime call, or their child who is not in the class, making noise. It's disruptive and our instructor is there to teach the children, not instruct the adults who are viewing on how to be respectful of class time. Other than the one disruptive mother, it's a great fun little school. And my child looks forward to her sessions every week.

My 3 year old daughter loves this class! Teachers are patient, kind and engaging. We come every…read moreweek, and if we have to miss a class it's really easy to make up classes.

2 daughters have danced here since age 3. One danced more recreationally and focused on sports and…read moreone joined the dance company. What I have loved is that Dance Connection supports kids and families at whatever level they are in their dance journey. The studio has been part of Palo Alto for 40 years. I know parents of dancers who danced here! My dancer has tuned her area of deepest interest but loves all genres - tap, musical theatre, lyrical, jazz and hip hop. While she does not focus on ballet, the studio has an amazing program for ballerinas at the most senior level. My daughter builds a strong foundation and body through ballet classes, which supports all of her dancing. She has grown in confidence, discipline, and teamwork.

A terrible first dance class experience for my child, and a waste of time / money for us…read more We signed up for a trial class for the 3-5 combination dance. First of all, we weren't told the regular teacher would be replaced by a substitute. The substitute was inexperienced and didn't engage my child, who was attending for the first time. We walked up to the teacher before the class and told her that we are here for a trial so she knew that we are new. Yet, the teacher ignored my child the entire time, even when it was clear that my child was struggling to understand what was going on. She made 0 efforts to help her fit in; my child was left alone standing at the corner the entire time. Zero teaching, zero caring. Will definitely not come back.

My son is taking Devin's hip hop class with Showstoppers 4 Kids through his school's enrichment…read moreprogram after school. He was really disappointed at first not to get into the Lego class which was his first choice but I have to give Devin and his teaching staff SO MUCH credit for motivating my 8 year old boy to get into hip hop dance after 2 years of not taking any dance classes. He even showed us his dance moves this past Monday after we got home (the hip hop class is on Monday afternoons). I can't wait for their performance next week. It's amazing to see how far he's come from whining about not wanting to do hip hop the first week to showing off his moves this week in December. Thanks Devin and team for working your magic with my son. I'll be sure to remind him in his middle and high school years when he can show off some moves on the dance floor

Devin of Showstoppers 4 Kids comes to my kid's school every Thursday to do hip hop dance class. My…read more6 year-old loves it! Devin is so committed to these kids, he truly goes above and beyond to make dancing accessible and fun for everyone. I am so incredibly grateful for Devin! We hope he will be back every year to do afterschool dance at our school!