Sophia In Sapphire

My fiancé and I about a month before our wedding realized we wanted to squeeze in a series of lessons before our wedding. We had no experience and had picked a song most people had never heard. I contacted Sophia and she was extremely responsive and accommodating to our specific requests. We went to the Mountain view studio where we met our instructor Yana. Yana was ABSOLUTELY amazing! For being complete novices, she guided us through our first day effortlessly, helping us to quickly get comfortable, and building our confidence all without not pushing us. She then came up with a custom choreography based on how she saw our potential. It ended up being a 3 minute long piece, perfectly timed with the music. It was something that stretched us just the right amount, such that when we finally got the dance, we felt like we had really achieved something, and the new the dance would be incredibly fun for us and our audience. She wrote out the choreography for us step by step, and took videos of us doing it so that we could practice at home. With only 30 minutes of combined practice outside of lessons, by the 4^th lesson we were completing the whole dance on our own exactly to the music. Yana flexed to our unusual schedules and met with us 4 times in 3 weeks, in the evening and on weekends. She was very easy to reach also if we had to change anything. Every class was incredibly fun thanks to Yana’s easy going and fun teaching style, and my fiancé and I actually got even closer through the process.

From the very first lesson, Sophia was quick to adapt her teaching to my learning style, and she exuded positive energy. Over time, I had occasion to see Sophia with other students, and how different her lessons were with each student, depending on their needs. I never bought lessons in advance, so I never felt committed to taking lessons, but I kept coming back every week for 2 years — and I am taking my first break for the moment because I’m taking a sabbatical. I consider Sophia a friend, in addition to a truly unique and wonderful dance instructor.

My husband and I took dance lessons for my wedding (first dance) from Sophia at Cheryl Burke Dance. We were able to fit in 5 lessons before the big day.
Sophia is a great teacher. She is very patient and makes the lesson fun. My husband and I were super busy at the time (wedding planning and finishing up a dissertation), so we probably weren’t the best students (read: should have practiced more) but we always had a great time during our lesson.
We should have taken more advantage of Sophia’s offer to record us while we were practicing (we finally did it in our last lesson) but it makes a difference seeing how you look (and it’s easier to visualize why Sophia is giving you the feedback that she is). The 45-​minute lessons went fast so be sure to utilize every minute if you take lessons there!
Oh, and the first dance went well! Not sure if it was recorded (we’re not a very sentimental couple) but we had a great time dancing and I think we surprised some people!!! :)
In summary, I highly recommend Sophia!

Sophia is amazing. She is very creative in developing the choreography that fits us. All our guests love our first dance. It was my husband’s first time to learn dancing but Sophia made it very easy. We had a great time learning the dance together and will totally recommend her to any couple for your wedding dance! As we had a tight schedule, she also managed to use one lesson to teach the mother and son dance so they could dance through the whole song. Thank you Sophia.

Everything you will read here about Sophia is 100% true. She is such a gifted instructor: patient, kind and fun!
She did such an amazing job choreographing our first dance for our wedding. My husband who was very apprehensive and nervous in the beginning about doing a dance at all, ended up loving it.
Our dance was a huge hit at our wedding!!! I highly recommend Sophia for any type of dance lessons!!!

We signed up for 14 lessons with Sophia for our wedding 1^st dance. Our 1^st dance was definitely the highlight of the wedding and we’ve gotten tons of compliments from the guests. Sophia was amazing! She was fun and patient and the lessons were paced just right for our skill level. Also, how the routine matched the music was incredible. We felt like performers in «dancing with the stars». Her attention to detail such as facial expression and hand postures made the dance extra special and this was noticed by many of our guests. Many raved that it was the best 1^st dance they’ve ever seen. Best of all, she paced the lessons perfectly so that we had enough time to practice and perfect the moves. Even though both my now wife and I had plenty to drink, the dance went without a hitch because we felt so comfortable with it. On top of that, she built in moves into that dance that made for amazing photo ops. Our photographer was blown away. Highly, highly recommended!

My wife and I wanted to do a first dance at our wedding and my wife found Sophia online. We had a total of six lessons over about two months and Sophia helped us put together a routine that was easy for us to learn, tailored to our first song and that made us look good at our wedding. She was very patient and taught us the dance moves progressively and in a way that even someone with no dance experience (like me) could still learn it and make it look good. Thanks Sophia!
Her scheduling was flexible and she was able to see us both in Foster City and Mountain View.

Sophia is a wonderful dance instructor. We only decided in the last three weeks that we wanted a choreographed first dance at the wedding and she was able to accomodate our schedules. We ended up having 3 lessons with her (2 of them were in the same evening, again cuz of work schedules) and we still managed to get a great 2 minute dance put together for our first dance. It was fun to work with her and she was very patient with both of us (between the two of us we have 2 left feet and 2 right feet, they’re just not in the right combination!)
We could never have done this without her! By the end of of our third lesson we were confident we would make it look good.
Our friends said that our dancing was lovely and I can’t wait to see it on the wedding video!

Sophia is absolutely fabulous! With 3 weeks left until our wedding, my fiancé and I realized that we needed help with our first dance. Adding to our problems was the fact that we both live far away from each other and the only time that we could do dance classes was ONE weekend where I flew up to see my fiancé. I frantically called/​emailed a few places around the bay area a few days before coming up, and Sophia was the only instructor who replied right away. We asked her if she could squeeze us in for three classes and she happily agreed. We then emailed her the name of our song and by the time we had our first lesson, Sophia had already thought out the choreography for our first dance.
The dance lessons themselves were fun and very helpful. Even my fiancé, who hates to dance, enjoyed himself. We both felt very comfortable with Sophia. We would have loved to have taken more classes with Sophia but alas, time was not on our side.

Sophia is simply the best. She’s great for beginners like me, very patient and supportive. Some teachers assume you’ll somehow pick up the steps as you go along, but so far Sophia’s the only instructor I’ve worked with who cheerfully and caringly works with you on the steps for as long as it takes to get the hang of it. She makes me want to run home and practice so I can make her proud in our next lesson. If marriage was in my plans she’s the first professional I’d call, because she’d help make the wedding dance truly memorable and make any couple feel ready to handle anything. What a princess!

The business is the people who work there. Sophia, founder of Sophia in Sapphire, has danced since she was 4! While her passion and focus is teaching dances, she is no slave driver! I remember the first time I stepped on Sophia’s foot, and she said, «It was a rock.» That was funny. She is always smiling and great company!

My fiancée and I took private lessons from Sophia to learn how to dance for our first dance at our wedding. She has been amazing! She choreographed fun and beautiful routine to our song, and is such a good teacher that our routine was fun easy to learn. We both found ourselves looking forward to the days when we had class. I can’t believe how much progress we made (neither of us really could remember even a basic step before our first class, so we were true beginners). Thanks to Sophia, we went from hoping to survive our first dance, to now looking forward to it as one of the highlights of our wedding. I could not recommend Sophia any more highly!

I love dancing and working with Sophia. She has helped me improve my technique and timing in several of my ballroom dances. She is highly professional and always makes her students feel comfortable and relaxed when learning how to dance. Her quality of instruction is top notch. I was always greeted with a smile and felt every minute of lesson time was put to good use. I felt when I was struggling Sophia recognized this and worked to help me overcome the road blocks. Sophia is a wonderful instructor who will make you feel relaxed, confident, and help you truly enjoy your dance experience.

Sophia has a very easy and relaxed way of teaching that made it a breeze for me to learn a very complex dance routine. A consummate professional, well mannered and not overbearing. She takes pride in teaching others the art of Ballroom dancing. Her students are a reflection of her ability, passion and love for Ballroom dancing. She gives each student the confidence to enjoy being on the dance floor. I always looked forward to my dance lessons with Sophia!