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What Our Students Say About Us… Lada, I always thought any studio that you ran would be something special, but I must say that my expectations have been surpassed. I am tremendously impressed by your instructors and your group sessions have been so much fun! Mr. B. M. We wanted to thank you so much for all you did to make our wedding special and memorable. We appreciate your studio and all that it did for us. We hope to see you all soon. Our feet need to get dancing again and we need to come for more lessons. Thanks so much for everything!
Sincerely,
Mr. & Mrs. S My husband, Dave, and I would like to take this opportunity to say “thank you” to your dance studio and especially our instructor. She was wonderful. She was very patient and had a great attitude. Our daughter was married just before Christmas and my husband wanted to surprise her by learning to dance. It worked! She was so surprised, she cried when she realized her dad had taken dance lessons just for her. It was a wonderful moment and one we will never forget. We have been giving out your studio’s name and info to our friends and family – anyone who would like to know where we went.
Best Regards,
Mr. & Mrs. G Any dance studio can show you steps. Having been past dance students many years ago, through another studio, we learned we wanted quality instruction and yet have fun doing it. Fred Astaire delivers at all levels, whether you are just starting or advancing upward. They challenge you to learn new steps and with the group lessons offered, you can learn many various dances at your own pace. Best part is the instructors, friendly, funny, witty, charming and elegant with many being international champions. If "you" want to learn in a relaxed but high quality atmosphere, you need to spend an evening at Fred Astaire. Not only are they wonderful dancers and teachers but they have a commitment to the community and often help special needs students from the FAR Conservatory free of charge. This is a special studio. The teachers are wonderful, the owners are nice and the students are excellent. I found very good friends here. The way the classes are designed and taught is very systematic. Excellent way to learn dancing and socializing. I recommend this place to anyone wanting to learn dancing and have fun. I am currently taking classes at Fred Astaire's Dance School with my fiancé. Both of us love the classes that they offer and think each and everyone of the teachers are fantastic. The group lessons and parties are a blast. I recommend Fred Astaire’s to my friends and family constantly. This is a studio where you leave your worries at the door and are totally absorbed by a new world. Can't beat that, and you learn how to dance from some truly gifted dancers. I like this studio because of the great instructors and the active involvement of the owners who listen to the feedback from their students. This is a very friendly, fun studio. There are group lessons every night and a practice party every Friday. Posted by: annapavlova, 8/13/2008 The most friendly bunch and with really good instructors I like this studio because of the great instructors and the active involvement of the owners who listen to the feedback from their students. This is a very friendly, fun studio. There are group lessons every night and a practice party every Friday. Student Stories “I guess she realized my potential a long time before I did.” Student: George Zahul Dancing since: Dec. 2008 It wasn’t HIS idea to start dancing -- but his teacher drove him to it. “When I first saw her, I immediately thought ‘there is something different about this person.’ Anastasiya kept pointing her finger at me, telling me I could do better. I knew she was right – but I just wasn’t into it.” After a few lessons, George realized that Anastasiya’s passion came from a deep-seated love of dance, a love of teaching and an uncompromising demand of her students to give their best effort. George remembers one of the first practice parties when, dancing with Anastasiya, he lost his concentration and missed every step. “She (Anastasiya) gave me that look I’ve come to admire, and walked away. Without saying a word (I knew I wasn’t putting forth my best effort) she let me know that she wasn’t going to be bothered with wasting her time and energy unless I put forth my best effort.” Health issues forced George to take the next couple months off of dancing, but he found himself setting a seemingly impossible goal: Recover from quadruple bypass and hone his dancing skills to perform in front of a crowd of 400 at Detroit’s Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts. “I wasn’t going to let a quadruple bypass stand in the way of what I wanted” Needless to say, everyone at the studio was a little hesitant, along with the doctors, about George’s return to dancing. Normal recovery time for the procedure was three months, but George wanted to start practicing after three weeks. “It took a lot of effort on my part to convince everyone that I felt good enough to resume. But Anastasiya assured me that if I wanted to learn and put forth the effort, she would make sure I would know everything I need to know.” Both George and Anastasiya kept their word, spending countless hours working and practicing on the Showcase routine. Some days would get tense as they forged a unique learning dynamic. “I have never really been around anyone who gets so frustrated because someone is having a difficult time learning something. I realized that it us a very special personal that blames themselves for not being able to teach something that another person is struggling with.” Students: Julia Black and Tadd Harburn Dancing since: Oct. 2008 It began with a desire to “try something different.” Written by Julia Black Tadd is a CPA partner at Plante Moran. He is a former college athlete in several sports who says he always wanted to learn to dance. Although he had no prior formal dance experience, he has always been the king of the Alligator and the Hustle at work Christmas parties. He is trying to go from excelling in athletics, where he says he relied on instinct, to learning finesse, which he says definitely has to be taught! Put it this way: Tadd says this is so out of character for him that the reactions from the few people who have seen just the first eight counts of his performance have ranged from rolling on the floor hysterical to huge tears from laughter. He says even his teacher, Karla, bursts out laughing every time she sees his "flair' (wait and see yourself) - yet he keeps on dancing (just please don't throw tomatoes).
Julia is a workaholic attorney. She started dancing in winter 2008, having taken tap and ballet as a child, plus a few community dance lessons over a decade ago. She started dancing again because, when she complained Tadd never planned anything and she wanted to do something "different" for winter, not to interfere with her weekly men's basketball games (since summer spare time is packed with sports and boating), he signed up for four lessons. Now, many months later, Julia, who started out not admitting to taking lessons, and Tadd who said he would NEVER dance in public are trying to get all of their friends and family to dance. Julia says since she and Tadd have been trying to keep this show a secret, as she is blaming mistakes on sleep deprivation because the majority of practice time has been between midnight and 2 a.m.! Word of advice: if you want to test a relationship, dance together. If you really want to test it, agree to perform together - then see if you are still speaking! Julia thanks family and friends for sharing this crazy, special, stressful day. Julia says, "Although I won't quit my day job you really should learn to dance.” (Editor’s note: Tadd and Julie’s tango in Fred Astaire’s Showcase at the Detroit’s Music Theater Hall for the Performing Arts brought down the house!)
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