Ballroom Dance Chicago

My fiancé and I took lessons for our first dance, and they were worth every penny. Everyone at Ballroom Dance Chicago is welcoming and helpful. We worked with Liz during our time at BDC, and she is absolutely fantastic. Nick and I had no prior experience with ballroom dancing, and she turned us into confident and graceful dancers in 10 lessons. We can’t wait to wow all of our guests at our wedding this month!

Ballroom Dance Chicago (BDC) is AMAZING!!! I really cannot say enough good things about them. If you need dance lessons BDC is the THE place to go. We took lessons for our first dance at our wedding but we enjoyed it so much that we are continuing to take lessons with BDC. I cannot believe how much we learned from them. Everyone at our wedding raved about how amazing our first dance was and people still talk about it now. It was one of the best parts of our wedding. And we both started out with zero dance skills. We took lessons for 5 months, approximately once a week but increased that to two lessons a week in the few weeks before the wedding. It was impressive to see how much we learned/​advanced from the first lesson to wedding.
Also, the group here is so warm and friendly and inviting. We were always so happy to go to our lessons because they have created such a fun and welcoming atmosphere. As others have mentioned, they also have great parties periodically, which are a lot of fun. All in all, BDC has been a great experience. It has added a new dimension to our lives and we’re enjoying continuing our dance lessons now that we’re married!

My husband and I took lessons at Ballroom Dance Chicago in preparation for our wedding. I’ll be honest, my husband did not want to go initially but then I realized he was really enjoying it. We even returned for additional lessons after our wedding just for fun. All of the instructors were really great at teaching people of all levels and breaking down choreography. Matthew and Rachel are amazing. This is a very classy place and it’s always a fun experience. They always take your coat for you and offer you a beverage when you arrive. I really think taking lessons was a fun way for my husband and I to spend time together. We no longer live in Chicago but if we did we’d be at Ballroom Dance Chicago every week. Also, the parties the studio hosts are fun. I really enjoyed getting watch some of the couples Matthew has taught.

I love Ballroom Dance Chicago! My fiancée and I decided to get serious about putting together a choreographed first dance for our wedding in July, but neither or us had any dance experience. We decided to approach Ballroom Dance Chicago as they offered a free consultation and basic lesson, and we were paired with Liz. From the moment we entered the studio, she and all the rest of the staff were professional and welcoming. Liz is wonderful, and only a week after we settled on a first dance song she had choreographed the whole thing! My fiancée and I were touched that she was so excited to work with us, and every lesson is both challenging and invigorating as we push ourselves to master the footwork. Moreover, our dance lessons have become something that my fiancée and I look forward to, and dancing is a wonderful skill that brings couples together. I can’t wait for my wedding where my fiancée and I can show off the fruits of our labor and shine on the dance floor for our guests!
So in short: go to Ballroom Dance Chicago! What are you waiting for?!?

I had taken dance lessons for my wedding a few years ago and decided that I wanted to get back into it. I decided to return to Ballroom Dance Chicago because Matthew had done such a fabulous job helping us prepare us for our wedding. This time around I was taking lessons by myself. I was very impressed with how quickly I was able to pick up new dances and techniques while working with Matthew one on one.
In addition to the private dance lessons, they also have dance parties that are lots of fun. They teach a group class and then have social dancing, which really helped me get more confident in my dancing and get comfortable dancing with different partners.

BDC is fantastic. We took lessons in the months before our wedding so that our first dance wouldn’t consist of us just moving around in slow circles. Mission accomplished.
Liz & Lydia were so stinkin’ nice, as was everyone else there. I really started looking forward to seeing them every week, picking up a new move, and enjoying a splash of wine as well. We’re not pros now, but we weren’t aiming to be. They made us feel super-​confident about dancing in front of everyone we know!
I could not recommend BDC more highly.

My husband and I came to BDC about six weeks before our wedding with the goal of learning a first-​dance routine that would hold our wedding guests’ attention. We had no prior dance experience, but we accomplished that, and much much more! We had so much fun that we kept coming back after the wedding, and now, four years later, we still look forward to our private lessons with Matthew and to the practice parties that the studio hosts. BDC’s teaching philosophy is to teach not only particular steps and patterns, but also to teach the skills of social dance and the joy of partnered movement. Matthew and his team have curated a unique physical and artistic space that truly nourishes the soul. My only regret is that I wish we had started dancing with BDC much, much earlier!

My husband got me lessons to Ballroom Dance Chicago as a birthday present: we planned to get married as soon as it was legal in Illinois, and we wanted to be prepared to foxtrot for our first dance! The amazing BDC team, particularly Matthew, turned us into very good dancers indeed — but even better, they taught us to love dancing and have a lot of fun doing it.
We took lessons for a few months before the big day. Though the wedding was looming Matthew was always a breath of fresh air, never stressing us out or pushing us too far. But despite his casual and friendly demeanor, he is an excellent and thorough instructor. We learned quite a lot, and really quickly. And then, at our wedding, we knocked our guests’ socks off with our dance. We still hear about it today, a year after the wedding — that’s how good it was! And it was entirely choreographed and taught to us by Matthew.
Now, a year later, my husband and I still go to dance lessons every week. Dancing at Ballroom Dance Chicago is incredibly fun, and they make it seem easy and effortless to learn a new and difficult skill. Since starting, we’ve done more than learn foxtrot. Now we can swing, bachata, waltz, tango, and we’re learning salsa and rumba. It’s been an exciting adventure to learn new all these dances, and it’s brought me and my husband even closer together than before.
Everyone at BDC is an incredible talent when it comes to dancing: we’ve seen all the instructors bust out some amazing moves, and we’ve watched students (and we ourselves) progress rapidly from rank amateurs to looking great on a dance floor. We consider ourselves lucky to have found them through their sterling Unilocal reviews, and so hope to pass on the torch to other couples lucky enough to find them.
If you’re considering ballroom dancing for your wedding, or even just for fun, then congratulations! Your search is over. This is the place you want to go and these are the people you want teaching you. Enjoy yourself… we definitely did!

My wife and I asked Ballroom Dance Chicago to help us choreograph our first dance for our wedding. Ever since, when our friends tell us about their upcoming weddings, they always apologetically say something like, «Well, our dance isn’t going to be as good as yours, but…» And my suggestion to them is always to get in touch with the folks at BDC.
What we appreciated most was how attentive Matthew and Kathryn were to our personal goals, which included putting on a good show. They helped us select from a few candidate songs based on which ones lended themselves to more exciting choreography. Over the several months we spent working with them, they crafted an exciting dance for us that was both realistic for our skill level and packed with finishes that – as they predicted – drew cheers, oooohs, and applause from our guests. I can’t imagine a better, more personalized experience.
Ballroom Dance Chicago gave us premium instruction. Though we hadn’t danced much before, we loved it so much that we’ve continued taking lessons there ever since our wedding. My caution to prospective students is that you might just find yourself with a new hobby on your hands.

My now husband and I reached out to Ballroom last year in hopes of impressing our guests with our mad dance moves. Thanks to Rachael, Matthew and the rest of the team at BDC we made it through our first dance and then some.
We were so happy with the lessons, the ambiance and the good company that we’ve been going back for some more ballroom dancing (waltzes are where it’s at) and some salsa. Rachael has made it almost idiot proof for us and, when it isn’t so idiot proof, she’s been super patient with a great sense of humour (= awesome dance teacher).
We highly recommend BDC whether you’re prepping for your wedding or just looking for a good space to do the two-​step or practice your swing dancing.