We were dreading our first dance, so we knew we needed professional help. Working with Erin ended…read moreup being one of the most fun parts of preparing for our wedding! Erin had no problem working with us despite our complete lack of dance experience. She listened to our song choice and made it happen. She patiently taught us foundational partner dance moves, then helped us create our first dance from there. Our dance blew our guests away! Learning fun moves like lifts and dips was honestly so much fun. Erin also helped me create a special family dance with my parents and sister. We couldn't recommend her more!

We are so thankful that we found Erin to help us with our first dance! It was one of the highlights…read moreof the wedding that our family and guests still talk about! We were nervous about it since my husband and I had little to no dance experience, but she made us feel so comfortable and confident - from teaching us basic ballroom steps to choreographing our very own personalized dance with a few dips and lifts. We had so much fun in every class and practicing in between. It was such a fun couple activity that brought us even closer. And now we have our very own choreographed dance that we can do every anniversary :) If you're thinking about getting a choreographer or deciding between a few, we would without a doubt recommend Erin! And if I had known that she also choreographs Indian Sangeet dances, we would've worked with her on our sangeet dance too! Thank you Erin!!

Mynx keeps deleting any reviews that shed the truth about her and her "school" she ran so I will…read morekeep posting until she stops deleting. This is not a safe place to go to learn burlesque. When I was new I saw that she had such a good rating. That's the only reason why I went. This current rating is not accurate of the experience you will have.

Really disappointed with my experience of mynx and the fishnet follies. A lot of vulnerable people…read morecome to take classes and mynx was abusive, manipulative and inappropriate towards her students. On multiple occasions. I hope mynx gets the help she needs, but until then students and performers are not safe in her classes or shows.

It was my pleasure working with you Desiree, thank you is not enough for the hard work you give on…read moremy daughter's dance number on her 18th birthday. The amazing performance of her court was all because of you. Also for the help you gave me preparing and organizing on her big day. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your hard work. Highly recommended.

I could not recommend Desiree enough to couples who want to choreograph a first dance for their…read morewedding. In fact, I've already sent 2 couples her way! Desiree was recommended to us by friends who got married a few years ago. We were hesitant to book dance classes with her just because of the drive. We live in the peninsula and she's based in the East Bay. We are SO glad that we decided to book with Desiree. She is worth the 40 minute drive across the bridge! She helped two very amateur dancers perfect their first dance. From the first time meeting her, she's always been patient, open to feedback and friendly. She is great with breaking down hard moves into digestible pieces. She listened to us when we told her we weren't feeling a move and replaced it with something that felt more natural to us. Our wedding guests were wow'ed by the first dance. We felt so comfortable and had so much fun dancing!

My fiancé and I had such an amazing experience with Cynthia as we prepared for our first dance at…read moreour upcoming wedding! She was incredibly fun, energetic, and made us feel totally comfortable right from the start. Neither of us had much dance experience but her guidance and encouragement made it easy to follow along! I also loved how she takes pictures along the way to show us how the two of us would photograph, it was extremely helpful! I would highly recommend Cynthia to any couple looking to make their first dance extra special!

Cynthia Glinka is AMAZING!! She has you dancing by the time your lesson is done…read more My husband and I took dance lessons two different times from two different people only to come away realizing we can't dance and stopped dancing altogether. Very sad because I thought I enjoyed dancing. After working with Cynthia and her technique, we can dance!!! Thank you Cynthia!!! You are amazing and enjoyable, fun to work with. I would never hesitate to refer Cynthia!!

We were total first-time dancers and hired Ava to help us with our wedding first dance -- she was…read moreamazing! In just 3 classes, she gave us a full 2.5 minute choreography and taught us everything we needed to know. She was super patient, professional, and made us feel comfortable the whole way through. Thanks to Ava, the dance went great on the big day and we didn't feel nervous at all going into it. Highly recommend her if you're looking for someone to guide you through a first dance. Thank you Ava!

An honor to learn from a legend and her experienced partner. I appreciate the technique and vision…read moreto be a great dancer

My daughter was in this camp the year before last and also takes violin/fiddle lessons with Briana…read more She Loved Camp Fiddle and Fun! It was thoughtful sweet and helped my daughter really become excited about learning violin while giving her a social network of friends with common interests. Briana is a patient, innovative teacher with a natural gift working with children and I love that my daughter can learn both Suzuki violin in tandem with fiddle.

My daughter has had private lessons with Briana for the last four years and done camp three times…read more Briana always makes my daughter feel positive about learning violin, giving encouragement, making her feel at ease and making it fun. She even created these cute cards, called silly cards, that make a game out of learning violin. At camp, my daughter has always had a blast and asks to go back every year. You can see the kids are drawn to her and she always treats everyone like family. The camp is a chance for kids to get immersed in music, make some friends and have fun. On the last day of camp, the parents are invited for a performance so you can see all they've learned.

Jasmine was amazing with us, we told her our song, she came over and helped made a whole dance for…read moreit. We enjoyed every min of it. Thank you! S & S

My now wife and I booked Jasmine way back in June. We just had our wedding a couple of weeks ago,…read moreand Jasmine taught us a beautiful first dance. She was so accommodating, meeting at our house for a 90 minute session. We told her the song in mind ahead of time, a slow song. She came prepared with a routine. I'm a bit of a stiff dancer myself, but Jasmine was very patient with me. Taking it step by step. I would wholly recommend her for any dancing needs you might need :).

Our 8-year old daughter just completed a week of musical theater camp at PAA of Marin and is now…read moregoing back for the "Triple Threat" (singing, acting & dancing) course. She loved the experience and we - the parents - loved the way she developed both her artistic talent AND collaborative skills in working as an ensemble/team. We highly recommend this for kids who want to have fun while learning important life lessons applicable to everything we do in today's world. Performing in a musical theater production involves creativity, self-expression, discipline, practice, attunement to what's going on around oneself, and working with others. A great way to build multiple skills while having a great time.

-----Adding to address Annie's comment below: Annie - if…read moreindeed you want to apply consistency across all performers, then when we fly in for the performance on Sunday we will join the show just like a number of other caucasian ensemble performers who had lower attendance and are still being allowed on stage. I plan to have my video on, so will record any interactions in which we're stopped from going on stage, and point to the caucasian students who have missed tech rehearsals this week yet still being allowed on stage. If paam is keeping our money, then we are performing on Sunday. Paam can also issue a refund and we'll be happy to go separate ways. But Paam does not get to take all our money and disallow us to be on stage yet allow others to be on stage who have lower attendance than our kids. Appreciate you doing the right thing. -----Original post: Our experience with the Performing Arts Academy of Marin (PAAM) has been deeply disappointing -- both in terms of fairness and the overall learning outcomes. The program feels heavily commercialized, prioritizing revenue over education or student experience. Tuition is extremely high for what ultimately amounts to very limited technical instruction, the pressure of buying vanity products aimed at parents who think their kids a star is everywhere, and the refund/credit policies are rigid to the point of being unreasonable. I've never written about race or discrimination in a review before, but I feel obligated to address it here because it has affected my daughters repeatedly. In the lyrical squad, choreography has been super simple and non-technical, yet cast placements have shown a clear pattern: the same Caucasian dancers are routinely placed front and center, while my older daughter -- who is a good dancer but not Caucasian -- is continually placed in the back or off to the far side. My younger daughter was once put in the front purely due to her small size in a formation, but it wasn't part of any fair or rotating system that would give all dancers a chance to shine. The final straw has been this: Multiple Caucasian dancers have been allowed to miss tech rehearsals and still participate in shows. Meanwhile, my daughters, who need to miss a single 24-hour window for a required ski team race and assessment (and for which we arranged to return early at significant cost of flying in, tickets already purchased), were told just 3 days before that they would not be allowed to perform once they fly in -- despite knowing their choreography thoroughly and being disciplined, capable dancers. The rigidity applied to them simply hasn't been applied to others. The pattern is painful to watch as a parent. It's demoralizing for kids who have worked hard and earned their place on stage. It's their right and not someone's at the front desk to strip them of who doesn't even see them. At the start of the year parents also receive an extremely one-sided agreement through DocuSign -- which I declined to sign because it was so imbalanced. I can't say I'm surprised. But it is disheartening to pay thousands of dollars for a program that delivers minimal instruction, selectively enforces rules for preferential kids, and ultimately allows discriminatory dynamics to persist. I wish our experience had been different, but based on what we've seen, I cannot recommend PAAM for families seeking a fair, inclusive, or educationally meaningful dance program.